By: Camryn Peterson, Advocacy Manager
In 2020, Shared Hope opened its doors to the Institute for Justice & Advocacy only a few blocks from the White House. This physical location has been symbolic in our journey to bring justice to victims of sex trafficking across the country and our ultimate aim to eradicate child and youth sex trafficking. The Institute aligns our various programs to empower you to join us in this movement to seek justice at a systemic and individual level. Together, we are preventing this injustice, bringing restoration for survivors who need trauma-informed care, and advocating for victim-centered responses.
Our policy team works diligently with elected officials and key stakeholders across the country to create legislation that prioritizes victim protections, while also educating leaders on the realities of child and youth sex trafficking in the United States. Since 2011, we have graded states’ laws to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their legal frameworks for addressing child and youth sex trafficking, and in nearly 10 years, we have seen incredible improvement. We saw so much growth, that in 2020 we released an advanced legislative framework to take our state grades to the next step in sex trafficking policy reform: the Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking. With the advanced legislative framework, we are pushing states further toward better, more informed victim protections and increased preventative efforts.
Through our Grassroots Heroes, key initiatives are elevated to state and federal legislators and victims receive vital support on petitions via our Advocacy Action Center. Further, Ambassadors of Hope educate their communities on how to identify trafficking so community members know how to respond when red flags are present. Without your support, we would not be as successful as we are in spreading awareness and bridging the knowledge gap to ensure more just responses for child and youth sex trafficking survivors.
Shared Hope’s training program provides education and networking opportunities to key stakeholders and professionals working in the field as direct service providers, criminal justice and first responders. Our online and in-person training highlights the values reinforced throughout our policy work like ensuring appropriate, trauma-informed responses to victims, an essential component of justice reform.
Without this, victims continue to be traumatized and essential services are withheld from them.
Bringing justice is a broad term that continues to anchor Shared Hope and reminds us that our goal is to bring ultimate justice, which is an end to child and youth sex trafficking. We will continue to stand in the gap alongside you and push for victim-centered responses and advocate for essential preventative training and awareness.
Take Action –
Thank you for helping us bring justice in many ways. Please continue to join us in this movement by participating in one or multiple of the action items below:
- Review the Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking and then send it to your elected officials.
- Learn more about Responding to Sex Trafficking Victim-Offender Intersectionality and review our field guidance tool for criminal justice stakeholders.
- Check out our Federal Advocacy Action Center to find out how you can contact Congress about supporting bills that establish needed protections and resources for victims of trafficking.
- Follow us on Social Media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- View some of our policy related webinars like:
