MAP’s Empower conference goes virtual in 2020! Attend our first-ever
two-day Webinar Series from the convenience of your home!
We are excited to invite experts from around the country to share best practices, research, and innovative ways to impact the anti-trafficking movement in Michigan and beyond!
Thank you to Soroptomist International of Greater Macomb for sponsoring this event!
SPEAKER LINE-UP & TOPICS:
Buying and Selling Women – A Human Rights Violation
Taina Bien-Aimé – Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
The Demand Side of Prostitution
Alisa Bernard – Organization for Prostitution Survivors
Pete Holmes – Seattle, WA City Attorney
Understanding & Identifying Familial/Gang Trafficking
Alice Jay – Author, Founder of Sister Survivor Support Network
Online Predators and Grooming Tactics
Alicia Kozak – Internet Safety Expert & Survivor
Carol Ryan – Co-founder of Connections Counseling and Consulting
Bringing Anti-Trafficking Advocates Together: Connection,
Skill-Building, and Empowerment
Celia Williamson – Professor University of Toledo
Click here to download the flyer!
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS & SPEAKER BIOS:
Buying and Selling Women – A Human Rights Violation
This presentation will provide an overview of why sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls must be couched within a human rights framework – namely that fundamental rights are inalienable, indivisible, and universal. Buying and selling women must not be deemed an exception in efforts to achieve equality, a life free of violence, and a life with dignity.
Taina Bien-Aimé has over two decades of experience defending the rights of women and girls at the national and global level. She is currently the Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), one of the oldest international organizations dedicated to ending trafficking in women and girls and commercial sexual exploitation as practices of gender-based violence. Prior to this position, Taina was the Executive Director of Women’s City Club of New York, an advocacy organization that helps shape policy in New York. For twenty years, Taina was involved with of Equality Now, an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting the human rights of women and girls, first as a founding Board member, then its General Counsel and subsequently, its Executive Director for a decade. Taina holds a Juris Doctor from NYU School of Law and a degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva/Graduate School of International Studies in Switzerland. She sits on the New York City Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity and on the Advisory Boards of Rights4Girls and the Women’s Equal Justice Project.
The Demand Side of Prostitution
Human trafficking is the only industry in which supply and demand are the same thing: human beings. People demanding the sale of people. How do we begin to tackle this issue of demand when it comes to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation? What legislative changes need to take place? What is the Buyer Beware program and how has it been effective in curbing demand? What types of pushback has Seattle experienced? How can we successfully leverage partnerships with other agencies and non-profits to combat this issue? Join the conversation by submitting your own questions, as panelists explore the overall effectiveness of Seattle’s approach and what they would say to other cities that want to get involved.
Pete Holmes, now in his third term as Seattle City Attorney, is the only elected city attorney in Washington State. He supervises an office of over 100 lawyers and 85 legal professionals and has sole supervisory control of all of the City’s litigation. His office prosecutes misdemeanor crimes including domestic violence, assault, property theft, and DUIs. Pete also champions the use-value of community-based alternatives to incarceration (like the L.E.A.D. program), especially for young people, as a criminal record can carry lifelong consequences. Pete has two adult children and is a longtime resident of the Seward Park neighborhood along with his wife, Ann, and their beagle, Lucy.
Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS) focuses on providing services that are holistic, individualized and responsive to the self-identified needs of each participant. Survivors are experts in their own lives and healing – OPS uses a combination of support modalities from harm reduction to exit services, empowering survivors to determine their individual needs on their journey. They provide both in-house services as well as referrals to partners to provide a complete continuum of care.
Alisa Bernard is the Director of Education and Partnerships. In addition to co-directing OPS, Alisa is known for her expertise on multi-prong and asymmetric policy model responses to commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and the impact these approaches have as they are implemented within American social structures. She is an independent consultant, educator, and presenter having consulted to organizations and agencies across the US, including: Demand Abolition, World Without Exploitation and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She is a founding member of King County’s Ending Exploitation Collaborative and sits on numerous task forces and public and private advisory boards. Alisa uses her lived experiences of CSE, teen homelessness, domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse as a lens to inform her work and approach.
Understanding and Identifying Familial/Gang Trafficking
As a survivor of familial trafficking and gang affiliation as a minor, I was forced into the life at gunpoint when I was eleven. This experience, along with twelve years of recovery, gives me a unique perspective in addressing and helping other gang trafficking survivors. I have worked with hundreds of children and young adults who have had the same experience, helping them in their path to recovery. In this presentation, we will review how I have used this experience to help others and how you can best identify and support survivors of familial and gang trafficking.
Alice Jay is the President and CEO at Sister Survivors International Connect. She is also a Human Trafficking Consultant/Advocate for Neighborhood Legal Services Michigan and the Author of “Out of the Darkness: A Survivor’s Story.” Jay created “Who Am I Now?” an identification workshop series and workbook for survivors used to help other organization identify, heal, and redirect victims. Jay also developed the Thrive to Strive Jail Diversion Outreach program in Detroit, Michigan in connection with the 4th precinct in Detroit. Jay has helps provide services to around 200 survivors a year supporting them with resources for housing and legal assistance.
Online Predators and Grooming Tactics
Do parents understand how potent an online predators is? ANY child or teen can become the victim of an Internet predator. Predators do not discriminate based on gender, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic status, income, or religion. It can happen. It does happen. It is happening. Learn more about what is being done to stop it and what parents can do to protect their children.
Alicia “Kozak” – Kozakiewicz is an internationally-acclaimed and highly sought-after motivational speaker, Internet safety expert, author, and actress who has inspired millions through her powerful on-screen and in-person appearances. Passionate and straight-from-the-heart, Alicia motivates her audiences to transcend life’s challenges, pursue their passions, and discover their purpose. Alicia’s extraordinary life story exemplifies the strength of the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity and to deny defeat. Internet safety expert and founder of The Alicia Project, for the past 17 years she has pioneered insightful Internet safety and sexual exploitation awareness presentations to children and adults. One of the most vocal and outspoken advocates for child safety legislation, Alicia has testified before Congress and works alongside Protect (www.protect.org) to pass Alicia’s Law, her namesake, which provides funding to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force enabling them to rescue endangered children.
Carol Ryan got acquainted with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) when her daughter vanished on March 1, 2003. Her child was lured through an unknown online relationship with a 56-year-old perpetrator. After a month’s search, her daughter was located 2000 miles from home. The recovery process was problematic and lengthy, yet the experience taught Carol much about the needs of families and the missing person. In 2006, Carol became a consulting for Team HOPE, a parent support program of the NCMEC. In that capacity, she provided emotional support to nearly 8,000 referrals. In May 2019, Carol retires from consulting but does remain on with the NCMEC as a technical trainer with their education division. In 2015, Carol became a licensed professional counselor, so she can offer mental health services. Her interventions focus on trauma treatment and substance abuse recovery.
Bringing Anti-Trafficking Advocates Together: Connection,
Skill-Building, and Empowerment
Involved advocates have little time to find the latest human trafficking focused research, best practices, or to find and connect with experts and other advocates in the field. Yet connection, collaboration, education, and skill building are the keys to providing effective services to survivors, while empowering and inspiring advocates to provide their best. The Emancipation Nation Network provides an online network offering a one-stop shop for advocates to connect with other advocates across the U.S. and abroad, locate credible and effective human trafficking focused information and materials, and build skills by taking human trafficking focused workshops and courses offered by experts in the field.
Dr. Celia Williamson has been engaged in anti-human trafficking work for over 25 years. She has published numerous articles on the subject and has delivered over 200 presentations at various conferences and events. She founded the first anti-trafficking program in Ohio in 1993 and directly worked with victims in Toledo for several years. She has completed numerous federally funded studies, written several articles and reports, edited or contributed to four books on sex trafficking, completed a memoir of her experiences as an anti-trafficking advocate and was instrumental in launching and contributing to many coalitions and research efforts. In 2015, she became the Director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at the University of Toledo to further the mission of combating human trafficking through research, education, and engagement. Dr. Williamson teaches social work practice and human trafficking courses. She also produces a podcast called the Emancipation Nation Podcast and founded a global network of advocates called the Emancipation Nation Network.
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