The Polaris Post

Dear John,

We hope you had a happy, healthy start to the new year! As we wrap up another National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we are excited to keep the momentum going through the rest of 2024. 

Toward that end, please check out the following stories, including an introduction to new board leadership, a recent Polaris report, and some exciting media features. We also hope you'll forward The Polaris Post to others who share your values. 

Together, we'll create a world where everyone is free to choose how and where they live and work. 

We are excited to share that Jean Gilbert has taken the helm as our new board chair in 2024. Jean has been a member of Polaris's board since 2018, including serving as Treasurer.​​

She recently retired as key partner in Marcum's Managed Accounting Services team and shares her expertise in nonprofit management and finance with Polaris. 

We also welcomed four brand-new board members, including Sarah Angel-Johnson, Maria Gollayen, Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, and Sangeeta Naik. To learn more about all of our board members, visit our website! 

Our latest report, "Human Trafficking During the COVID and Post-COVID Era," examines National Human Trafficking Hotline data from January 2020 through August 2022, when we identified almost 27,000 trafficking situations involving nearly 43,000 likely victims. 

Take a look at the report, and please share it with your networks. It's part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness about how trafficking happens, who is at risk, and how everyone can help.

Polaris's Financial Intelligence Unit works with financial institutions and law enforcement to disrupt trafficking and make the crime riskier and less profitable for traffickers. 

Its work has informed several investigations for financial crimes by traffickers — an approach that reduces burden on victims and survivors to testify. 

Recently, Comcast Newsmakers interviewed FIU Director Rafi Aliya Crockett about how Polaris and our partners are using money laundering monitoring processes, artificial intelligence, and other tools to hold traffickers accountable.​​​​

Our goal is to provide better insights for the anti-trafficking field, using the unique data we manage from the Trafficking Hotline, National Survivor Study, and Nonechka, alongside other sources. 

As we evolve, we're also contributing to the growing nonprofit knowledge base on AI. To see what we've learned so far, check out this article in The NonProfit Times! 

These resources are critical for enabling survivors to safely exit trafficking situations, return home, or enter other service programs. 

Last year, we used these resources faster than ever. As we head into 2024, we need your help to make sure survivors can take their next steps on their journeys toward healing and thriving.