Dear Friends, 

After six life-changing years, today is my final day at Polaris. Since I made the decision to step down in early November, I have heard from many of our partners and supporters, and I am in awe of the community that surrounds the Polaris team and the work we do together. 

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to lead the tremendous team at Polaris, and I have great anticipation for all that they will continue to accomplish in the years ahead. After looking back and reflecting on some of our biggest accomplishments during these six years, I am most proud that:

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• We pushed ourselves to be a different kind of ally by launching the Polaris Resilience Fund to provide 18 months of direct cash assistance to survivors of trafficking. The results are staggering, with 100% of recipients now employed, and the team is currently raising funds to support a new cohort.

• We conducted the nation's largest survey of survivors — the National Survivor Study, co-designed, implemented, and analyzed with survivor leaders. 

• We launched Nonechka, a platform in 6 languages that has supported more than 8,000 migrating agricultural workers with information about their rights, changing laws, and ways to get help from frontline farmworker rights organizations.

• We helped pass the Debt Bondage Repair Act to help survivors repair their credit and launched the Financial Intelligence Unit to support 19 of the largest financial institutions to tackle human trafficking.  

• 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, we answered the National Human Trafficking Hotline. In the midst of exponential growth in demand throughout the pandemic, we overhauled the Hotline’s operations so our team could continue to provide confidential, trauma-informed support to thousands of people each year.