Dear John,

“Shocked and horrified.”

That’s the reaction we hear most often when people reach out to us wanting to help after attending a January Human Trafficking Awareness Month event and learning about the issue for the first time.

We get it. Human trafficking is indeed horrifying. But the more you know about sex and labor trafficking in the United States, the more you realize that it is not - unfortunately - shocking. Indeed, it is entirely predictable. Believe it or not, that is actually good news - because understanding that trafficking is not random, that it doesn’t happen in vacuum, allows us to craft strategies to keep it from happening at all!

We’re sharing this important and often misunderstood reality this month in partnership with the United Way, the largest charitable organization in the United States, to spread the word to communities across the country. 

Together, we are making clear that human trafficking is the end result of a range of other persistent injustices and inequities in our society that make people vulnerable to the manipulations and machinations of traffickers. That means fighting human trafficking is not only the job of law enforcement and prosecutors, it is the varied and complex work of ensuring that everyone in our society has what they need to thrive: A safe place to live; a caring family to grow up in; workplace rights that are protected and defended, and so much more.

We have created social media graphics that we encourage you to share and help spread this important message far and wide. 

We are, as always, grateful.

In Solidarity,

Caren Benjamin
Chief Communications Officer