Human Trafficking Prevention Month: How to Stop Failing Survivors
+ Invest in Survivor-led Nonprofits: Everyone wants to “save” us but no one wants to see us thrive beyond victimhood. It’s important to listen to survivors, invest in survivors, and donate to survivor-led nonprofits.
A Few Survivor-led Nonprofits: You Are More Than Inc. / Survivor Alliance / Atlanta Redemption Ink / Beautiful Feet Wellness / Rebecca Bender Initiative / We Rise (This is not an exhaustive list - there are so many orgs you can invest into - Google “Survivor-led Organization + City/State + Human Trafficking”
+ See Survivors For More Than Their Trauma:
Recognize that survivors bring more to the table than their survivorship. This means hiring survivors for more than speaking engagements about their trauma. This means when you meet survivors, don’t just acknowledge their trauma narratives. Look at them as a WHOLE person.
Check out this article from the National Survivor Network: Meaningful Engagement of People with Lived Experience
+ LGBTQIA+ survivors, male survivors, non-cis gender/ heteronormative survivors matter in this space.
Prevention starts with gender-affirming care, LGBTQ+ affirming care & cultivating safe spaces for men throughout the anti-trafficking movement.
YAMT operates as one of the ONLY national survivor-led organizations throughout the anti-trafficking movement that is cultivated specifically for LGBTQ+ survivors of the commercial sex industry. Our work has no gender, and we recognize the importance of cultivating affirming care for survivors who are LGBTQ+ and male-identifying to move the needle forward in the movement for more equitable and safe care for underserved populations.
Learn more from YAMT Survivor Expert Series through these two webinars; Intersectionalities of Trafficking within the LGBTQ+ Community / Addressing Needs of Male-Identified and LGBTQ+ Populations.
+ Acknowledge racial trauma, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism
We can not do this work without discussing and dismantling the oppression many survivors face throughout the sector.
Learn more from YAMT Survivor Expert Series to understand how racial trauma impacts survivors throughout our work: Black and Brown Like Me: Navigating the World as a Survivor of Color. (Webinar)
You can also check out a Webinar Panel From the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center on Human Trafficking and Disabilities: What We Need to Know. Our Executive Director, Ashante, spoke on this panel! (Webinar)
+ Invest in parents impacted by the Commercial Sex Industry & Acknowledge Familiar Trafficking Survivors are REAL!
This supports the overall family, so cycles of exploitation do not continue the family unit.
Prevention starts with the Family Unit - Not all trafficking looks one way, and we have to stop ignoring this demographic of survivors.
Learn more from YAMT Survivor Expert Series: Unpacking relationships between parents who survived trafficking and Child Protective Services. (Webinar) // Listening to the Silence: Hidden Elements of Familial Trafficking (Webinar)
+ Take Survivors Seriously, no matter what the age
If an individual discloses to you that they’ve been harmed, take them seriously - Prevention starts with believing
Check out this article from the National Survivor Network: We Name it So We Can Repair It: Rethinking Harm, Accountability, and Repair in the Anti-Trafficking Sector. Our founder collaborated in cultivating this report with NSN.
+ Provide flexible funding, education, and economic empowerment opportunities to support survivors in getting back on their feet
Do you want to break cycles? That can’t be done without stability so invest in survivors with cash grants, support them in going back to school, and obtaining gainful employment.
Learn from Survivors through this article: National Economic Justice Report: Beyond Workforce Development for Survivors of Trafficking. // Freeform Report Building an Effective and Inclusive Cash Assistance Program
