PRESS CENTER
Press Releases
- Children in sex trafficking still unprotected by laws in most states, Shared Hope’s Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking show (11/15/2023)
- Shared Hope’s 2022 Report Cards Release: Kids Can Still be Charged with Prostitution in Almost Half the Country, Highlighting Need for Steady Legislative Improvements (11/1/2022)
- Just released – Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking (Press Release) (11/17/2021)
- Omni Hotels & Resorts steps up to fight sex trafficking through multi-year partnership with Shared Hope International (1/27/2021)
- Shared Hope International launches Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking: State Action. National Change., an advanced legislative framework and blueprint for action. (11/18/2020)
SHI in the News
“When foster care kids are sex trafficked, some states fail to figure it out,” Stateline, 11-22-23
“Washington [state] is failing to aid child sex-trafficking victims,” Crosscut, 10-2-2023
“‘We’ve Been Inundated’: Anti-Trafficking Advocates Build Off ‘Sound of Freedom’ Momentum,” CBN, 8-4-2023
“Homeland Security Launches New Center to Investigate, Prosecute Human Trafficking Crimes“, CBN News – 10-20-2020
“Invading the Darkness of Child Sex Trafficking” Stanford SOCIAL INNOVATION Review – Summer 2020
“Nebraska AG: State well-positioned to stop human trafficking” Associated Press -Jan 06, 2020
Media Contact
Stephen Padre
Director of Communications and Public Relations
(based in Washington, D.C.)
stephen@sharedhope.org
202-963-2601, ext. 405
X: @sharedhope
Facebook: /sharedhopeinternational
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Shared Hope International
Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate sex trafficking
Our Mission
Shared Hope International strives to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, restore victims of sex slavery, and bring justice to vulnerable women and children. We envision a world passionately opposed to sex trafficking and a community committed to restoring survivors to lives of purpose, value and choice – one life at a time.
Our Vision
Our vision is to coordinate a national U.S. network of protection to improve the response to victims of trafficking. We believe we can create a world where every survivor is surrounded by trained professionals, an alert community, just law and policy, knowledgeable service providers and appropriate shelter options.
Our Founder
Linda Smith, a former Washington state legislator (1983-93) and U.S. Congresswoman (1995-99), is the founder and president of Shared Hope International, whose mission is to eradicate sex trafficking.
Linda Smith is a leader in the global movement to end sex trafficking. In 1998, while serving in the U.S. Congress, Linda traveled to a notorious brothel district in India where the hopeless faces of women and children forced into prostitution compelled Linda to found Shared Hope International. Linda is the primary author of From Congress to the Brothel and Renting Lacy and co-author of “The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking” and the DEMAND. Report. Linda has testified before Congress, presented at national and international forums, and has been published in news outlets and journals. Linda served as a Washington State legislator (1983-93), before she was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1994.
