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Sometimes people wonder why we, the Justice Coalition, get involved in advocacy in addition to education/direct service. There are many reasons behind our involvement in advocating for change relating to preventing human trafficking. For the sake of not going too far into tl;dr territory, here are the most important reasons.

  1. Scripture calls us to use our voices for those whose voices cannot be heard. Proverbs 31:8 (NIV) says “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”  Further, we see that God’s eyes are turned towards those who are oppressed.Psalms: 34: 15 – 18 (NIV) emphasizes that “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”vlcsnap-2016-10-31-15h49m25s319
  2. Systemic oppression requires systemic change. Helping one person at a time is vital work but it won’t prevent someone else from being exploited in the future. One reason why traffickers have thrived is that our laws have been slow to change in order to reflect new realities. New legislation is needed to confront evolving criminal activities that enslave the vulnerable.IMG_0136
  3. In our system, elected officials are supposed to be accountable to the people who voted them into office. I get it, a lot of us don’t want to rely on the government to solve all of our problems. I hope that we all are doing something personally, individually to fight the evil of human trafficking. However, we need more than just individuals to combat modern-day slavery. Cartels and gangs are organized, powerful forces for evil. We need local, state and federal governments to get equally committed to fighting for justice. The reality is that we can’t solve this problem without the government, faith community, businesses, schools and community benefit organizations working together!Coalition-Group-Photo

Advocacy usually involves getting government, business, schools, or some other large institution (also known as Goliath) to correct an unfair or harmful situation affecting people in the community (also known as David, and friends). The situation may be resolved through persuasion, by forcing Goliath to buckle under pressure, by compromise, or through political or legal action. – Prue Breitrose

Learn more from the Community Tool Box, a resource from the University of Kansas

 

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This year has been groundbreaking! We’ve trained 112 people this year through Human Trafficking 101 to take immediate action steps for freedom.

Just 6 months ago, we trained over 50 people with an extended version of our 101 class and followed it with a training for My Life My Choice prevention groups.

This summer we led a MLMC class at First Baptist Church and are launching two more this month in group homes.

The girls who attend MLMC groups are generally at the highest risk for exploitation in our community.

They are young, they have often been exploited already, and they are making crucial choices in their lives about who to trust and how to live.

In our session at Juvenile Hall with YFC, 6 of the 12 girls were already victims of sex trafficking. This summer, we ran the program at First Baptist in Fresno. These girls could look back and identify times they were nearly recruited. They are now leaders who have become peer advocates – they are discovering their identity in Christ and seeing how that connects to sex trafficking.

This is just a small glimpse of what we do at the Justice Coalition. We welcome people to our office regularly and provide food, clothing, emergency supplies, encouragement, and long-term help.

We partner with churches who refer victims from their own faith communities to us.

We educate and advocate. We pray fervently that God continues to help us gather partners near and far so we INCREASE OUR IMPACT.

We want all have the opportunity to be free.

This month, we need your help! Please join us and give generously so we can continue expanding this work!

Thanks to our partners at True Organic Products, every dollar is doubled – would you join us?

Start supporting us monthly and your first gift is doubled as well! Just send it to us before November 18th.

– Jessica Pittman, founder.

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At the core of our mission is the idea that Partnerships and Prevention are essential in standing up to the evil of human trafficking.

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Through education and awareness we believe that we can prevent vulnerable people from being exploited by empowering them with the information to make choices that lead to freedom and not into slavery.

Last week, Central Valley Justice Coalition partnered with North Fresno Church’s youth ministry for a night of education, awareness and prayer around the issue of human trafficking locally and globally.

We encouraged the students to make just consumer decisions, urged them to use their voices to be advocates for freedom, and gave a breakdown on how to identify trafficking.

A group presentation with small group breakout sessions is also a perfect time to train students on how to respond through giving them access to resources and equipping them with information and ongoing support.
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With separate small group sessions for Middle School and High School students, we are also able to keep the night age-appropriate and relevant for youth of any age.

Wednesday night it was also exciting and inspiring to introduce our new line of t-shirts and add dozens more #FreedomStory photos to our mobile art installation.

We believe that young people are the future and investing in them is the only way to see to slavery end in our lifetime!

If you’d like to inquire about CVJC coming to your youth ministry, club or school, please contact us so we can discuss partnering to prevent human trafficking.

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My Life My Choice is an evidence-based prevention curriculum that provides a concrete, well-researched method for preventing commercial sexual exploitation among vulnerable adolescent girls.

My Life My Choice groups can be offered weekly in schools, group homes, and other community settings.

This past Monday and Tuesday, CVJC and Youth For Christ hosted over 50 people who were trained to facilitate the class at Fresno EOC’s Nielsen Conference Center. We were excited to offer the training to 6 of our educators in preparation to offer this resource across the valley in 2016.

YFC and CVJC have already partnered together to offer two full sessions and two mini-sessions of My Life My Choice at the Juvenile Justice Campus. As a result of this partnership, 5 girls have already disclosed that they were victims of trafficking or abuse.

“I really enjoyed the classes we have been able to come to. I can never explain how much this has helped me. Before this, I wouldn’t even talk about my past. I felt chained down and scared. Now, shoot! I feel free and I feel stronger than I ever have. I have high hopes for a better future. And thank you for all you guys have done for us. I could never thank ya’ll enough for helping me find my voice.” – Teen Survivor of Sex Trafficking

For more information on how you can partner with us to bring My Life My Choice to at-risk to youth in your field, please contact Associate Director Jessica Pittman, jessica@cvjusticecoalition, or call our office 559.227.8001.

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The goal of Freedom Week is to provide you with a greater understanding of the issue of human trafficking in our community- both the tragedy and the hope.  We have compiled a Resource booklet to help  connect you to those providing help to victims of human trafficking in our community.

May it help you begin to develop your own response, and in turn, enthuse your local community to get involved in helping free the captives and create a “slave free” world. Click on the image below to view and download

Go Forward Resource Booklet