Dear Friend,
 

October  is Crime Prevention Month, and at Saving Innocence, we recognize that  education and awareness are powerful tools in preventing human  trafficking. Here are some important safety tips to help keep our  children and communities safe from human trafficking:

• Be aware of your surroundings: Whether walking to school, waiting at the bus stop, or hanging out with  friends, always stay alert. Nearly 60% of human trafficking victims in  the U.S. were approached in public spaces. Avoid distractions like  headphones or phones, and if something feels off, trust your instincts and seek help.
   
• Educate and empower: Teach children and teenagers about healthy relationships and how to spot warning signs of unhealthy ones. Red flags can include relationships that are controlling, secretive, or involve any form of violence. If someone is pressuring them to keep a relationship a secret  or making them feel uneasy with certain requests or conversations, it's  important to trust those feelings. Encourage open communication and  remind young people that it’s always okay to speak up if they feel  uncomfortable or notice something that doesn’t seem right.
   
• Staying safe on social media: The FBI estimates there are over 900,000 predators online at any given  moment. Set profiles to private and don’t share personal information or  posts that reveal your location. Private messaging with people you don’t  know or chatting on online gaming apps are often dangerous. Never meet  anyone in person that you’ve “met” online. If you receive messages that  make you uncomfortable, tell a trusted adult.
   
• Know Who to Contact: If you suspect someone is in danger, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text "HELP" to 233733. In 2023, this hotline received over 2,300 reports from California alone. 

Dear Friend,
 

Our team at Saving Innocence recently celebrated 14 years as an organization! To honor this milestone, our Executive Director sat down for a Q&A conversation with Saving Innocence Founder, Kim Biddle.

“I  realized these kids were hidden in plain sight and the most vulnerable  in our communities…The heart of Saving Innocence is seeing a human  being, mind, body and soul, as valuable. Regardless of what has happened  to you, you are a valuable, precious, unique human being that is worthy  of respect and honor.” (Kim Biddle, Founder)

In  fourteen years, Saving Innocence has served and supported nearly 2,000  survivors of human trafficking and otherwise at-risk and vulnerable  people. We’re thankful to our incredible Advocates who have worked 129,000+ hours to make that impact possible.
 

Saving Innocence also played a critical role in the passing of SB 1322,  a bill that affirms there is no such thing as a child prostitute.  Rather than locking kids up to face criminal prosecution when they’re  recovered, youth are now connected to services and support they need.
 

As we reflect on these fourteen years, we’re thankful for the impact  we’ve made in partnership with our community and recognize the important  work still ahead of us!

Alongside  the celebration of our anniversary, our staff spent a day in Long Beach  biking and laughing together. One of our five values as an organization  is “relational.” It is important to connect as a team through  meaningful relationships, and our work overflows from that starting  place. We’re thankful to the generous donors who make team days  possible.

LEARN MORE HERE

Los  Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, U.S. Attorney Martin  Estrada, Mayor Karen Bass and Justice Partners Detail Sustained Human  Trafficking Operation on South Figueroa Street

On September 4, 2024, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto joined United  States Attorney Martin Estrada, Mayor Karen Bass, LAPD Chief Dominic  Choi and  justice partners to discuss an ongoing and significant  collaboration aimed at disrupting human trafficking and the sexual  exploitation of children on the Figueroa corridor in South Los Angeles.  Partners included in this Figueroa Human Trafficking Initiative include  Council President Pro-Tempore Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the LA County  District Attorney’s Office, the FBI and Homeland Security  Investigations. 

Central  to the success of this ongoing effort is the participation of federal  and local law enforcement partners who are working together to target  human traffickers and those who perpetuate illegal sex work, especially  of minors.

The goals of this initiative include:

• Helping human trafficking victims, particularly children, 
• Disrupting the johns and the demand along the “kiddie stroll,”
• Stopping the illegal activity in complicit motels and other crime magnets through the use of civil enforcement actions; and 
• Holding predators and profiteers accountable. 

“We  are so proud of this unprecedented strategic collaboration, with all of  our justice partners leveraging their resources. We have made  tremendous progress in our efforts to combat the human trafficking and  sexual exploitation of minors that has plagued the Figueroa Corridor for  far too long,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.  “By disrupting the illegal activity and the businesses that have  harbored it and with our U.S. Attorney taking the lead on federal felony  prosecutions, we are declaring loud and clear that our children are not  for sale, and our community will not be a hub for sex trafficking of  minors.”  

“The Figueroa Corridor area is ground zero for human trafficking and victims are abused and exploited there every day,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.  “With this initiative, we are combining federal and local resources to  focus on prosecuting more cases federally, particularly those involving  victims who are children, and coordinating with our local partners to  hold perpetrators accountable. It is imperative that we take an  all-hands approach to stop the human trafficking happening right in our  backyard.”

“Often, people think of human trafficking as  something that happens only in other countries, but it happens in our  own City,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “This is an issue  that community leaders and former foster youth have been working to  fight back against for decades and today’s announcement continues a  commitment to protecting children, many of whom have spent time in the  child welfare system, and hold traffickers and abusers accountable. I  thank our law enforcement partners, especially the hardworking officers  of LAPD’s 77th Division, for their continued work on this important  issue.”

“From the local to the federal level, we're united and using every tool to end trafficking on Figueroa,” said Council President Pro-Tempore Marqueece Harris-Dawson.  “There is an amplified energy to this mission from elected officials,  City and federal agencies, and, most of all, the commitment on the  ground from outreach workers, organizations, and families. Together, we  will root out the systems that have exploited children in South LA for  decades.”

“Our women, youth and communities deserve better, and  this is just the beginning of our focused multi agency effort to stop  human trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi.  “I am grateful to our federal, state and local partners who have come  together with the same vision and tenacity on this topic.”

Feldstein  Soto has made protecting children a cornerstone of her work on public  safety from day one of assuming office. In addition to addressing the  sex trafficking and exploitation of minors along the Figueroa corridor  in South LA, and expanding this initiative in other parts of the city,  she has worked with the California State Legislature to introduce a  number of measures to strengthen laws related to child prostitution, the  sex offender registry and sex offenses involving minors.

Any  member of the public with information related to child sex crimes is  encouraged to call the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at 310-477-6565 or  report tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.

San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program (SDVLP) is honoring Free to Thrive with the Outstanding Community Partner Award at their Justice for All Celebration which will take place on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 5:30 pm at Park Commons by Alexandria in Sorrento Valley. We hope you will join us and support  SDVLP’s incredible work in the San Diego community. You can purchase  tickets here.

Dear FTT Community,

I’m  thrilled to share that Free to Thrive recently published the  first-of-its-kind California Vacatur Practice Guide. This practice guide  is intended to serve as a resource for attorneys representing survivors  in vacatur petitions, prosecutors, judges, court staff, and survivors  entitled to this relief. Despite the fact that California’s vacatur law  went into effect in 2017, it is still relatively novel and often unknown  by key stakeholders. 

As  many of you know, Free to Thrive began representing trafficking  survivors in vacatur cases in 2017, shortly after California’s vacatur  law (P.C. § 236.14) went into effect. We also served on the Justice for Survivors Coalition to expand the vacatur law in 2021 to include survivors of interpersonal and sexual violence (P.C. § 236.15). 

In  the seven years since we began doing this work, we have worked  tirelessly on behalf of trafficking survivors who were criminalized as a  direct result of their exploitation. We have worked alongside other  organizations throughout the state doing this work. Several of those  organizations contributed their insights to the practice guide  including: 

· Immigrant Legal Resource Center

· Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice 

· Office of the San Diego Public Defender 

· Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

· San Mateo Bar Association Private Defender Program

We  are hopeful this practice guide will shed light on this area of the law  and help more survivors access the justice they deserve. 

With deepest gratitude,

Jamie Beck

VACATUR LEGAL PRACTICE GUIDE

You  can help us spread the word by forwarding this practice guide to  attorneys working with survivors, organizations serving survivors,  prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, court staff and anyone else you  think would benefit from this information. Also, be sure to save a copy  of the practice guide as a reference tool when you need it.

Download the Guide

“When my inner voice says something is wrong, then it probably is.”

This is the foundation of preventing human trafficking.

When I took the PROTECT curriculum, I wondered how you talk to a kindergartner about such a complex issue. The short answer is that you don’t. Preventing human trafficking starts with teaching basic, essential  concepts, like helping a child trust their needs and sense of safety.

The more a child trusts their inner voice, the more they will listen when someone makes them feel unsafe.

Your support helps us provide this critical education, empowering children to protect themselves from harm. Together, we can create a safer world for every child.

EMPOWER CHILDREN TODAY

Thank  you so much for the care you have for us, this mission, and joining us  in this. We’re so grateful for you, and your support.

With all my heart,

Kala Clark

KalaC@3sgf.org

916-234-3090

We are delighted to announce that Vincent Tenaglia has joined the  Board of Directors for SACT International. Mr. Tenaglia is an  accomplished educator and leader with a strong background in advancing  educational initiatives.

As a graduate of Fairfield University, one of the 26 Jesuit  universities, Mr. Tenaglia completed the SACT College Course in 2021.  Upon graduation from Fairfield, he demonstrated exceptional leadership  by helping to establish an Ambassador Club and organizing a campus-wide  meeting that engaged faculty members who had also taken the course. His  visionary leadership was instrumental in making the SACT course a  prerequisite for graduation at Fairfield University. 

Mr. Tenaglia currently teaches the 7th grade in Connecticut and has  previous experience teaching the 6th grade in New York. He is a  passionate advocate for education and firmly believes in the potential  of developing a dedicated course for middle school students. Having a  teacher's perspective in our efforts is crucial, as it provides  invaluable insights into the needs and challenges faced by students and  educators alike.

Please join us in welcoming Vincent Tenaglia to the SACT  International Board of Directors. His expertise and commitment to  educational excellence will undoubtedly contribute to the growth and  success of our organization.      

READ THE FULL NEWS RELEASE HERE

Dear iEmpathizer,

We're ALMOST there! We are close to reaching our campaign goal and need one final push to bring us over the finish line. Help us reach our summer goal of $25,000 for the Intersect Response Campaign!

If you've been considering making a gift to create a large-scale community impact, see the video above. Every dollar goes toward human trafficking prevention training for youth and adults in vulnerable communities using our Intersect Response Approach.

“What  we wanted for the Summit was to bring together the people who are  actually helping solve the problem, so they can be better equipped,”  said Dan Jennings, founder of 100% Chaves County, a local non-profit.

Empower Your Community

If  you are interested in hosting a similar summit in your community or you  want to help us expand our free multi-media library with training in  new sectors, you can give the gift of empathy by making a DONATION HERE. You can download THIS INTERSECT RESPONSE PLATFORM PDF to share with local stakeholders.

GIVE HERE 

You  can also contact iEmpathize’s Co-Director, Mariana Loboguerrero, by  email at mariana@iempathize.org or by calling (407) 620-1311.

The  Senate Judiciary Hearing with five “Big Tech” CEOs (Chief Executive  Officers) earlier this year brought much attention to a growing problem  that has many gravely concerned about our children (view hearing here).  Multiple family members appeared with photos of children significantly  harmed (some lost their lives) through online platforms. In one shocking  moment, a senator exposed Instagram warning viewers what they were  about to see “…may contain images of child sexual abuse” and allowed them to choose to see it anyway.

Despite  the defensive arguments of Big Tech CEOs, these companies are not doing  NEAR enough to protect children from exploitation on their platforms.  In a 2018 study that made my stomach turn, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution  and Trafficking) showed 56.2% of CSAM cases online were of prepubescent  children. In 2022 over 88 MILLION images and videos of child sexual  abuse were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited  Children (NCMEC).

While  this number is staggering, it vastly underestimates the true number.  Many cases go unreported, and this report is from only one organization.  In 2021, the Internet Watch Foundation reported a 64% increase in URLs  containing or advertising CSAM from 2020. Sadly, the United States  surpassed the Netherlands and now leads the world in hosting Child  Sexual Abuse 

Material (CSAM). Chains Interrupted has seen a significant  increase in referrals in our area (Cedar Rapids) for online exploitation  over the last four years. While the internet can be a confusing place,  adults can no longer afford to take a naïve or passive role in  protecting children from exploitation online. There are some critical  things we can do to protect ourselves and teach kids.

Check out these  resources:

Shared Hope

Protect Young Eyes

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)

In  good news, survivors are fighting back! A judge recently decided a  lawsuit against Mind Geek (parent company of Pornhub) regarding minors  exploited on the site can move forward. Also, an updated KOSA (Kids  Online Safety Act) was introduced in the Senate in February with 62  co-sponsors, including both senators from Iowa.

The Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) established the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) to  provide financial assistance to state and local programs supporting  crime victims. The fund is not supported by tax revenue but by fines and  penalties imposed on people and corporations convicted in federal  cases. However, funding for the CVF has decreased drastically, putting  programs like Cast's at risk of reducing services or shutting down  entirely. These cuts will impact programs serving survivors of child  abuse, elder abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual  assault, and more.

Cast’s 2024 Policy Agenda

California State: Cast is excited to co-sponsor Assembly Bill 2432,  authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel. The goal of this bill is to  create a new source of funding for crime victims in California. If  passed, this bill would hold corporations accountable for any financial  or legal wrongdoing and use the fines for these crimes to provide  continuous funding for crime victim services. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has joined us as a co-sponsor.

Cast is also a proud co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 1956, authored by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes.  This bill would make sure the state covers any shortfall for VOCA  funding if the amount awarded in a year is more than 10% less than the  previous year.

Cast  is a member of the VOCA Advocacy Alliance, which was formed to address  the funding current funding crisis. We are urging the state of  California to provide $200 Million in ongoing funding to ensure stability for these critical services.

National: Cast has endorsed the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, which would provide  long-term funding for programs supporting victims. It will take money  from those who defraud the government and use it to help victims of  crimes. The government can make these bad actors pay back up to three  times the amount they defrauded. The Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act has already recovered almost $5 billion in the past two years. With this law, any funds left over after repaying relevant parties will be used to help victims of crimes until 2029.

• Thanks  to the generous support of our donors, partners, sponsors, and  volunteers, iEmpathize can use the four free adult training programs  currently available on our Intersect Response Platform in addition to  our Empower Youth Program and portions of the training developed through  our Health Cares Campaign,  to team with 100% Chaves County, a nonprofit partner in Southeastern  New Mexico, bringing free, county-wide exploitation prevention training  to the area during a three-day summit this April 10-12.

100% Chaves County's Pushes & Pulls Summit combatting child abuse, neglect, exploitation, and trafficking, offers iEmpathize training for sectors that  intersect trafficking, including law enforcement, first responders,  labor, youth-serving organizations, medical professionals, faith  leaders, and the general community. These trainings will dive deeper  into industry-specific training, red flags, and more. The summit will  include keynote speakers from local leaders and nonprofits, breakout  sessions, and action planning for future community efforts, protocols,  and strategies. The event is an excellent example of how over a decade  of collective work and contributions by the iEmpathize community of  donors, partners, sponsors, and volunteers continues to create a  powerful multi-media library of exhibits, documentaries, and  multi-sector, immersive online and in-person adult training courses,  empowering communities to empathetically recognize and respond to  exploitation, step out of their silos, and seek paradigm-shifting  solutions.

On  February 16, 100% Chaves County hosted an educator-focused, pre-summit  training introducing attendees to the tools provided in our Empower the Youth Program,  a media-based curriculum empowering youth aged 12 and older against  exploitation tactics. Over 100 attendees representing five school  districts were in attendance. Protecting youth from exploitation is a  timely conversation in New Mexico. On December 6, 2023, New Mexico's  Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a career prosecutor who specialized in  internet crimes against children, filed a lawsuit against Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, and Mark Zuckerberg to protect children from sexual abuse and human trafficking:

"Over  the past few months, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office carried  out an undercover investigation of Meta’s platforms, creating decoy  accounts of children 14 years and younger." The Office gathered evidence that those platforms have:

· Proactively  served and directed underage users to a stream of egregious, sexually  explicit images — even when the child has expressed no interest in this  content.

· Enabled  dozens of adults to find, contact, and press children into providing  sexually explicit pictures of themselves or participating in  pornographic videos.

· Recommended that the children join unmoderated Facebook groups devoted to facilitating commercial sex.

· Allowed Facebook and Instagram users to find, share, and sell an enormous volume of child pornography. 

· Allowed  a fictitious mother to offer her 13-year-old daughter for sale to sex  traffickers and to create a professional page to allow her daughter to  share revenue from advertising."

EMPOWER  YOUR COMMUNITY if you are interested in hosting a similar summit in  your community. If you are interested in giving the gift of empathy,  allowing us to expand our free, multi-media library with training in new  sectors, such as our 2024 Health Cares Campaign, please donate today.

As  we begin the new year of 2024, we wanted to take a moment to express  our sincere gratitude for your incredible support. Your dedication has  made all the difference this last year. It has not only ignited our  mission to equip adults and empower youth to end child exploitation but  has reached thousands of lives to prevent exploitation and human  trafficking. Thank you for being an initiator of change and a pillar of  support. We have included our Annual report for 2023 so you can read the  highlights of the year.

In  2023, with your support, we extended our reach in multiple sectors with  our specialized training from our Intersect Response Platform. The  training is used by industry professionals from the following sectors,  youth-serving spaces, health care, hotels and casinos, first responders,  emergency services, law enforcement, and multi-family/apartment  professionals. One successful story is with this incredible story from  Kendra in Wooster, Ohio. Kendra, a paramedic, and firefighter, had gone  through our first responders training and used what she learned to  identify a victim of human trafficking. You can watch the live interview  with Kendra here.

This last year, we concentrated on a very important initiative to train medical professionals. iEmpathize was proud to introduce the launch of the Health Cares Campaign. The  goal is to raise $100,000 to produce a Human Trafficking Prevention  Program tailored for the healthcare industry. Once completed, this  program will be available on our free Intersect Response Platform  library, accessible on the iEmpathize website, and will make training  available to over 14.7 million healthcare professionals across the  country.

Check out our Health Cares teaser video HERE

January 11th was Human Trafficking Awareness Day and to celebrate, Cast published its 2023 Impact Report. Since Cast just turned a quarter of a century old, the report’s theme is 25 Years of Justice, Healing and Inclusion for Survivors of Human Trafficking. We detail how Cast’s commitment to justice, inclusion and healing, and  centering our services around survivors make us unique among  anti-trafficking organizations. When survivors of human trafficking come  to Cast, they can get case management, housing support, and legal  services under one roof. We focus on the role of survivor leadership in  helping us support survivors and tailoring our services to meet their  needs. Survivors Fantayjah and Amber share their thoughts on Cast and  their experiences of trafficking as well.

In the year ending June 2023, Cast:

• Served 1,273 survivors and their family members
• Took 1,751 calls to our 24-hour hotline 888-KEY-2-FREE (888-539-2373)    
• Made sure that 100% of our clients who graduated from services had safe housing.

Please take a look and share the report with your network. Thank you for your support!

Read the report here.