Latest News - Page 32 of 121 - Shared Hope International

January 14, 2019 by Jo Lembo

Ambassadors of Hope Share their Stories

As a part of Human Trafficking Awareness we want to bring you the stories of Ambassadors of Hope, our trained volunteers, who are working hard on the ground to prevent sex trafficking. Follow our series, releasing every Tuesday this month! You can apply to become an Ambassador here.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Follow our series on Ambassadors of Hope, releasing every Tuesday this month in observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Month!” user=”SharedHope” hashtags=”HumanTraffickingAwarenessMonth”]

Ambassadors show Shared Hope’s Chosen film to educate kids to prevent trafficking. Most youth are completely unaware that sex trafficking occurs in their town, or that it could happen to them or their friends.

Here are a few stories from Ambassadors in the heartland of America about the impact of Chosen presentations:

One of the major themes of Chosen is to tell someone if something seems wrong. In one Midwestern school, an eighth grade girl was visibly upset and made concerning comments to the Ambassador presenters. They relayed their concerns to the principal and in following up with her to hear her story, he found that she was fine, but was scared because of a situation taking place at a neighbor’s home. Now she knew what she was seeing and was able to talk about it.
Our Ambassadors received an email after a Chosen showing from the leader of the group they presented to, asking about a girl who had viewed the film and left abruptly, saying nothing. Two weeks after that incident, she was picked up during an FBI sting in Detroit, MI, where she and 15 girls from across the state had been trafficked, and were rescued. When she saw Chosen, she was already involved with a guy and fell for the offer of $1000 to go to dinner with some men. The girls were sold, Saturday through Tuesday, until they were rescued. She is grateful she’s safe now.
In another school, a girl was so upset she asked the teacher if she could leave the room. The teacher followed her out into the hallway and the girl asked for help – her father had raped her and she had never told anyone. Now she felt safe enough to talk about it and is getting the help she needs.

Chosen gives teens the courage to speak up and tell someone instead of keeping dark secrets. These are just three stories we have from Ambassadors of Hope showing the Chosen video in their community, but there are so many more. During Human Trafficking Awareness month we encourage you to respond by becoming an Ambassador to reach the youth of your community and help end sex trafficking.

November 26, 2018 by Susanna Bean

Empower their dreams this #GivingTuesday

Giving Tuesday is here! We hope you’ll take part in this tremendous day of global giving on behalf of children like Ajay.

As a little boy, he had no hope. Dreams of a future? Not for this little Nepalese child. School wasn’t an option … and he had to keep his mind focused on merely surviving.

And then, a kind person helped this little boy get to the protection of our Village of Hope in Nepal. With your support, our partners offered him a safe home, fed him, helped him complete school (where he was a soccer star!), and watched him grow into a young man. When Ajay shared his dream of becoming a chef, we helped get him in college, where he is now working to make this dream come true.

And it started with you giving the gift of hope! Survivors of sex trafficking, and children who have been kept safe from sex trafficking, are dreaming of what they want to become. Help support their dreams with a gift on Giving Tuesday! Your gift will be tripled today as part of our Hope Restored Matching Challenge and Facebook and Paypal’s Matching Challenge as well!

3 ways you can give on #GivingTuesday

TRIPLE your gift – Thanks to a remarkable $150,000 Hope Restored Matching Challenge offered by several generous friends, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar, its impact literally doubled. But in addition to this Facebook and Paypal are matching donations today given to Shared Hope on our Facebook Fundraiser here. This means your generosity will go three times as far to provide love and restorative care, a safe home, and hope for the future for young children and women all over the world — and yes, even here in the United States.
AmazonSmile – Knock out that Christmas shopping AND donate to Shared Hope! When you start your shopping at smile.amazon.com, you get the same prices as the regular Amazon.com, and Amazon donates 0.5% of your purchases to Shared Hope! Simply go to smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com, enter “Shared Hope International” as the charitable organization you want to support, and shop as you normally would! We’ll get a check at the end of the quarter that includes the contribution from your purchase.
Donate through the Combined Federal Campaign – The Combined Federal Campaign allows Federal civilian, postal and military donors to pledge a financial contribution to support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits. The CFC is the world’s largest annual workplace charity campaign that helps to raise millions of dollars each year. To contribute to Shared Hope International through your organization’s CFC, submit this number: #60601 to your human resources or payroll department. The minimum monthly contribution is $1.00.

November 20, 2018 by Susanna Bean

How to Tweet Your Legislator

On November 16 we released the 2018 Protected Innocence Challenge State Grades. This year, with our new tools, you can be a grassroots hero by sharing your state grade with your legislator! Click the Take Action button to visit our new Advocacy Action Center to tweet your legislator.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, you also have the opportunity to share the campaign on Facebook to encourage your friends with twitter to tweet their legislator.

We’ve made a quick clip to show you how quick and easy it is to take action!

Here are the steps:

Visit the Advocacy Action Center and select your state’s grade.
Fill in your name, address and information.
Send out the pre-written tweet that will automatically go out to your state legislators. (Note: you will have to authorize our system to post to your twitter the very first time you do this).

Thank you to all of you who have already taken action! It’s makes a difference when legislators hear directly from those who elected them. Thank you for being activists and using your voice!

November 14, 2018 by Susanna Bean

Bipartisan Grassroots Advocacy Drives Change to End Child Sex Trafficking

PRESS RELEASE

On the heels of a divisive mid-term election, a new report released today by Shared Hope International reveals an encouraging bi-partisan trend: individuals are coming together to fight child sex trafficking. Shared Hope’s annual Protected Innocence Challenge State Grades analyzes state laws to protect juvenile sex trafficking survivors and hold buyers and traffickers accountable. Through 8 years of empowering grassroots action, Shared Hope is leading a movement and has changed the map from 26 states with F grades in 2011, to 35 states with A and B grades in 2018. Across the nation, Shared Hope’s advocacy tools provide a bridge for anyone to reach out to their elected officials and effect change.

Nonprofit Partnership in South Dakota Leads to Groundbreaking Law

In 2017, South Dakota passed a groundbreaking law to ensure survivors of sex trafficking, ages 15 and under, are protected from criminalization. This effort began two years ago when Becky Rassmussen, Executive Director of Call to Freedom, an awareness-raising and survivor-serving organization, recognized the important perspective she could bring to the legislative process. Seeking to address South Dakota’s D grade, Becky reached out to Shared Hope for technical assistance, and together with local partners, three critical pieces of legislation were passed strengthening the state’s response to child sex trafficking.

“Shared Hope is a valuable asset to what we are doing here in South Dakota,” said Becky Rassmuseen. “We are extremely grateful for their ability to create awareness and help us in our research of what other States have done successfully and how we can make our legislation more effective.”

State Grades Empower Lawyer and Law Enforcement Officer to Change Tennessee Law

Towards the east in Tennessee, another passionate individual became aware of the scourge of child sex trafficking in his state and committed to fight it through the rule of law. Ryan Dalton, a Tennessee attorney, who was already working to combat humanitarian violations in Sudan as a law student, learned about Shared Hope’s state report cards from a friend. Having seen firsthand through his advocacy work how state laws could both help and harm survivors, he started studying how to address the gaps in Tennessee’s laws. Ryan’s desire to improve Tennessee’s laws eventually led him to connect with Margie Quin, who at the time was Special Agent in Charge at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI). Leaning on Shared Hope’s analysis of Tennessee’s laws, Ryan, Margie, and a coalition of lawmakers and advocates succeeded in strengthening Tennessee’s laws over the next 8 years.

“Tennessee benefited from a bi-partisan activist General Assembly and a combination of state and nonprofit leaders to craft a comprehensive strategy,” said Margie Quinn. “Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge framework provided the roadmap, all we had to do is find the will to effect change.”

Today Tennessee has an A grade and the highest score in the nation. But that hasn’t stopped these committed Tennesseans from working to improve their state’s laws.

“When Margie and I first began to advance new laws to fight human trafficking, Tennessee was a safe place for traffickers and buyers, yet a dangerous place for victims,” remembered Ryan Dalton. “Today, thanks to a hard-working coalition of devoted advocates and Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge, our state is a dangerous place for traffickers and buyers, and a safe place for victims. Though we have come far, our effort to build a slave-free Tennessee remains unrelenting.”

New Jersey Community Activist Reaches out to Lawmaker

Back in 2012, Karen Fenkhart, active community member and New Jersey resident, was holding a presentation on preventing sex trafficking. She reached out to her local Assemblyman Ron Dancer to attend. While he was not able to make it, he was curious to learn more. Karen, a volunteer with Shared Hope, contacted the policy team and connected them to Dancer. That connection lead to a multi-year effort by Asm. Dancer sponsoring and co-sponsoring critical pieces of legislation related to child sex trafficking. Because of Karen’s outreach to her elected official, Asm. Danser remains a steadfast champion for juvenile sex trafficking survivors.

In a divided time, Becky, Karen, Ryan and Margie are heroes of grassroots activism, and the tools of the Protected Innocence Challenge State Grades lay the framework for all people to work together and spark change in their state.

“2019 is our opportunity to send a message that we as a nation stand together with survivors of child sex trafficking,” encouraged Linda Smith, Shared Hope International Founder and President. “There’s still work to do, and while many issues are dividing us, this problem is bringing both sides of the aisle together. We must continue to take action in every state and work together to protect children.”

Shared Hope International’s advocacy tools, from tweeting your legislator to in-depth legal analysis, empower individuals from all backgrounds to join the anti-trafficking movement and fight to end child sex trafficking.

The official release presentation of this year’s grades will take place at the National Foundation of Women Legislators Annual Conference via Facebook Livestream on Friday, November 16 at 12:45 ET.

November 14, 2018 by Sarah Bendtsen

Nonprofit Partnership in South Dakota Leads to Groundbreaking Law

In 2017, South Dakota passed a groundbreaking law to ensure survivors of sex trafficking, ages 16 and under, are protected from criminalization. This effort began two years ago when Becky Rassmussen, Executive Director of Call to Freedom, an awareness-raising and survivor-serving organization, recognized the important perspective she could bring to the legislative process. Seeking to address South Dakota’s D grade, Becky reached out to Shared Hope for technical assistance, and together with local partners, three critical pieces of legislation were passed strengthening the state’s response to child sex trafficking.

Read our interview of Becky Rassmussen, one of our grassroots heroes! You can become a grassroots hero by taking action to tweet your state’s grade to your elected official. Take action here!

Can you provide a brief background on your role as an anti-sex trafficking advocate?

As Executive Director of Call to Freedom of South Dakota, I have had the privilege of working with some of the most amazing people that are dedicated to helping survivors of Human Sex Trafficking. We strive to cultivate relationships and link arms with others who are dedicated to helping create a cohesive community model of care and support for victims, bringing communities together while educating and legislating to stop human trafficking.

…and what sparked the genesis of Call to Freedom?

Call to Freedom was birthed out of love and deep concern to affect real change starting here at home. Like many of us, I have encountered countless individuals who needed a lot of support if they were going to be successful in transitioning out of this nightmare.

Navigating a healthy path for victims of human trafficking is not just a clever motto on our website, but has become our creed. We take it to heart every single day, knowing this atrocity is very real and happening in our own backyard. We take comfort and remain motivated in knowing we really can do something about it, if we all work together.

As an advocate, I am inspired everyday by working directly with those who have been victimized and with all the individuals who authentically love and serve those in need. I become an advocate because of the inspiring unsung heroes who showed me the overwhelming need to help and empower survivors so they could know and believe they have a voice, a choice and that they really do matter.

What drove you to seek change in this area?

For me, it really hit home at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in SD, with over a half a million people in attendance over a period of 10 days. I was shocked how many gaps in services there were within the United States for those who were coming out of human trafficking. 3,287 individuals are pulled into human trafficking on a daily basis and there were less than 300 beds designated for women trapped in human trafficking and only a handful for boys at the time. Trafficking victims were falling through the cracks and they weren’t getting the help and support they needed to be successful in transitioning out.

What approach have you taken? On a grassroots level, how have you mobilized fellow stakeholders to develop an agenda that seeks improvements in both policy and practice?

We first focused our efforts on the local level, working with law enforcement, creating open dialogue and building relationship so we could all ask the right and difficult questions. We had to find healthier ways to work together that would accomplish each of our individual missions and at the same time help avoid re-victimizing those in transition in the process.

What does grassroots collaboration look like for you?

Unfortunately, we soon discovered there were lots of different legislation gaps – in services, responses, screening questions, etc. that had not yet been implemented in the State of South Dakota.

Our response was to begin holding weekly luncheons and talk to people about what we were experiencing, first hand, here in South Dakota. We began to ask for input, feedback and ideas, empowering them to stand in the gap with us and become part of the solution.

Over time we earned the trust of most of our community leaders both locally and across the state. We were consistent in education and opportunities that helped build up the community and empowered everyone who wanted to know how to become proactive.

It wasn’t long before more and more community leaders and legislators began responding to the call. Soon individuals like State Representative Tom Holmes and Senator Jack Kolbeck were willing to carry three important pieces of legislation that unanimously went through the House and Senate, and have since been successfully integrated into South Dakota law and are now making a real difference.

Since then, many have stepped up to fill in the void. Legislators have supported our efforts. Law Enforcement, US Attorney’s office, and all those who are involved in prosecuting and supporting victims, have tirelessly worked together for the greater good. It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we don’t care who gets the credit.

We all continue to work together to create and refine laws that protect survivors and will ultimately send a clear message to the traffickers and Johns… “Stay out of South Dakota or suffer the consequences.”

How have the Shared Hope Protected Innocence Challenge tools (report cards and related materials) influenced or empowered your efforts?

Shared Hope is a valuable asset to what we are doing here in South Dakota. We are extremely grateful for their ability to create awareness and help us in our research of what other States have done successfully and how we can make our legislation more effective. They have been an invaluable partner, helping us to get the most out of our collaboration with our States’ Attorney and Attorney General’s office and helping us find the right words for our legislation in South Dakota.

What, in your mind, are the most notable legal and practical achievements that are a result of your advocacy and collaborative efforts?

We are now in the process of developing and strengthening a task force, which brings everyone to the table for the first time with a single focus; to work together and end human trafficking in South Dakota.

The support now from law enforcement on a state and federal level and many other service providers is so encouraging. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and filled with hope to see how many communities have responded. Everyone is eager to learn all they can about human trafficking so we can best incorporate protocols, procedures and responses within our own communities.

We have successfully worked together to change and strengthen legislation in South Dakota, create public awareness, effectively support and protect survivors, change the public view about victims and their unimaginable plight and successfully help survivors find the support they need to start over.

We continue to learn everyday how we can best work together in this process, promoting collaboration and unity so we might become a braided cord and effective advocates. If we stand together, each of us doing what we can, we will accomplish our mission and erase human trafficking… one community at a time.