2nd Day of Freedom: Let’s start a chain reaction! Tell one person about the issue of human trafficking and how it affects people in the U.S. Encourage that one person to tell another person about human trafficking. Encourage that person to tell someone else. Let’s try to educate as many people on this global issue as possible!
To me, this is probably the most important tactic in the fight against human trafficking. Similar to the First Day of Freedom (https://fcaht.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/first-day-of-freedom/), this is all about spreading awareness. How are people to fight an issue they may know nothing about? Arming yourself with information and sources of where that information came from will add credibility to case and make people listen. Simply saying “human trafficking is bad” isn’t going to spark interest in trying to stop it. People will just store that tidbit of information in their brain for nine or ten seconds and dismiss it. Now, telling someone that “right now there are approximately 20.9 million people enslaved throughout the world” (stophumantrafficking.org) might be a little more powerful. I’ve found that humans are very responsive to numbers. Amounts of trafficking victims. Ages of victims. Amount of revenue trafficking makes. That trafficking is the 2nd largest criminal industry after narcotics. Numbers give things more meaning, make phrases more concrete and give your point more standing. Humans are notoriously social beings and social networking sites have only perpetuated that, even if those interactions are only digital. So tweet about, post about it, or blog about it. The chance of someone being affected by that is far greater than if you just keep it to yourself.
If you want to get more involved with the cause, I’m a big believer in starting small. Trying to tackle the entire issue of trafficking is just too daunting a task for a single person and you’ll quickly become overwhelmed at the sheer magnitude of such an endeavor. There’s nothing wrong with starting on a smaller scale. Contact a local organization (you need only type into Google: anti-human trafficking organizations and (your city)) and see how you can help locally. The idea is that if everyone helps out on a small, local scale that we can begin to chip away at the problem in our own country and inspire those in other countries to do the same for their countries. We can of course, focus our efforts globally,, but In my opinion, seeing them make such a small dent or no visible dent at all isn’t going to motivate the same way that seeing a big impact in a small area will. Everyone working together on a small scale is going to be much more impactful.
Here is a list of just some of the coalition partners that the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking has:
- Alliance with Fundacion Maria de Los Angeles, Tucuman Argentina
- Alliance with RED Alto al Trafico la Trata, Argentina
- Amigo’s Center – Bonita Springs, FL
- Argentina RATT
- Beacon College – Leesburg, FL
- Bonita Assistance Program – Bonita Springs
- Broward Human Trafficking Coalition
- Cafe of Life – Bonita Springs
- Caffa – Miami, FL
- Catholic Charities Of Central Florida – Orlando, FL
- Catholic Charities Of St. Petersburg – St. Pete, FL
- Central America Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking (Co-Founders)
- Child Rescue Network
- Childrens Advocacy Center – Ft. Myers, FL
- Christian Care Counseling Center
- Clay Behavioral Center – Middleburg, FL
- Coptic Orthodox Charities
- Courtney’s House
- Dominican University – Rockford, IL
- Dr. Luz Estella Nagle – Stetson School of Law, St. Petersburg
- Eden Fellowship Church – Pensacola, FL
- Edison Community College – Collier Campus
- Familia Mora Arriaga
- Families First – Jacksonville, FL
- Family Resource, Inc. – Pinellas Park, FL
- Florida Abolitionist
- Florida Commission on Human Relations
- Florida League of United Latin American Citizens
- Florida Migrant Interstate Program
- Florida Salvation Army
- Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights
- Floridian Hotel, Inc. – Homestead, FL
- Free International
- Fundacion El Otro, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fundacion Maria de Los Angeles in Tucuman, Argentina
- Global Child Rescue
- Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services – Clearwater, Fl
- Harbor House – Orlando, Fl
- Inter-American University, Peurto Rico
- International College
- Jacksonville Community Task Force – Jacksonville
- Justice at the Gate – Orlando, FL
- Klaas Kids
- Kristi House
- Marco Island Knights of Columbus
- Maryknoll
- Member of Triple S Network
- Membership: Florida State University Presidents Club, Tallahassee
- Miami Movement Against Human Trafficking – Miami, Fl
- Not For Sale Campaign – Los Angeles, CA
- One Way Out in Ft Myers
- Organization of the Americas (OAS)
- Orlando Rescue and Restore Coalition
- Orlando Youth for Human Rights
- Project Help – Naples, FL
- Ricky Martin Foundation
- San Diego Bilateral Safety Corridor
- South Brevard Women’s Center – Melbourne, FL
- South Texas College
- Southwest Florida Women’s Digest
- Stand Up for Kids
- Stop Child Trafficking of Tampa Bay
- SW Florida Episcopal Diocese
- SW FLorida Historical Museum, Ft. Myers
- Tampa Bay Youth For Human Rights – Tampa
- Tampa Human Rights Walk-a-thon
- Tampa/Clearwater Rescue & Restore Coalition
- Tiny Stars
- Women’s Center Of Jacksonville – Jacksonville, FL
- World Relief
While not all of these organizations that you can volunteer with, many of them are and it just shows a fraction of how many organizations there are around the country and the world that you can join in the fight. The first step is awareness, the second is getting involved.
By: Danae Zimmer
FCAHT's Blog 