Junior League of Atlanta's Human Trafficking Initiative

JLA's Human Trafficking Initiative

The Junior League of Atlanta:

As part of the Metro Atlanta Coalition to End Human Trafficking, the Junior League of Atlanta will train 10,000 Atlanta Super Bowl volunteers to ‘learn something, see something, do something’ in support of anti-human trafficking efforts.

There is a widespread myth that the Super Bowl is a catalyst for the largest human trafficking event of the year, when in fact, human trafficking occurs daily all across the United States. Nevertheless, major sporting events do bring with them an influx of commercial sex to their host cities, which inevitably includes a large concentration of human trafficking victims. Which is why the Super Bowl Host Committee is partnering with the Coalition to help bring an end to such a heinous act. Trainings, activities, events, and more will be hosted throughout the city during the months of January and February 2019.

One week before the kickoff of Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, the Junior League of Atlanta (JLA) sponsored How To Stop The Candy Shop, a special one-hour presentation on Atlanta’s public television channel, PBA30 TV, that marks the launch of a citywide campaign focused on eliminating the sexual exploitation of Atlanta’s children. But that’s only one piece of JLA’s comprehensive initiative against the sexual trafficking of underage children in Atlanta. JLA’s political affairs day at the state capitol, on Feb. 1, brought the message to legislators. Days later, JLA sponsored a community leadership meeting at League Headquarters to build support for its initiative. Other highlights of JLA’s ongoing efforts include:

 

  • Conducting community training and advocacy workshops to better educate members and the public on this issue and what they can do.
  • Holding a “girls roundtable” with over 20 community voices discussing ways to prevent the exploitation of children and available resources.
  • Holding an education and empowerment workshop for adolescent girls to focus on awareness and prevention.
  • Sponsoring a business breakfast with over 30 business and community leaders, with an additional breakfast meeting coming soon.
  • Creating a billboard outreach campaign to provide trafficking victims with the Georgia Care Connection number, a resource line dedicated to helping them.
  • Monitoring upcoming legislation that would reduce demand or supply for commercially sexually exploited children.
  • Partnering with other nonprofits in Atlanta to work collectively on ensuring that the issue of the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is discussed and not ignored.
  • Empowering a Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children committee to increase awareness of this issue, target the demand for exploiting children and reduce the supply of at-risk children.