WELCOMING AMY, OUR NEW US EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
On July 1st, 2019, Love146 welcomed new US Executive Director Amy Casavina Hall to the New Haven office. Amy brings over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector to our mission. “What got me excited was the bold statement around ending trafficking. Love146 is known for having amazing services. But what gets me up out of bed every day smiling and ready to go is a group of people coming together saying we are going to end something that should never be happening, and throw everything we can against it. That’s the team I want to be a part of.”
WE’RE NOT HAVING A GALA THIS YEAR. HERE’S WHAT WE’RE DOING INSTEAD…
We’ve hosted 11 Red Galas so far and they’ve been a blast, but we’re skipping this year. We’ve heard from people who preferred their gala ticket price go directly to fund our work and not to fancy meals. We’ve heard from people across the country that they couldn’t travel to Houston, New York, or Denver to attend our events. We’ve heard from introverts who wish they could support us without making small talk. This Not a Red Gala is for you. We don’t want to sugar coat this: It takes a lot of staff time and resources to make our galas memorable, and we needed a break. But we hope that people still choose to be generous even without a big event! And because we’re not spending money on things like decorations, feeding our guests, and hosting a cocktail hour, 100% of your donation will support children affected by trafficking!
Don’t get tickets; just give now.
REACH IN A NEW COUNTRY: SIERRA LEONE
After many years of use in Asia, Love146 introduced the “My Body is Mine” flipchart in Africa in 2017. We’ve now reached over 18,000 children. We started in Liberia, then Madagascar, and now have trained facilitators to reach children in Sierra Leone. During the recent training in Freetown, one facilitator shared, “We must remember that it’s never the kid’s fault if violated. Children should not be blamed for sexual assault.” Another facilitator shared, “My community is full of issues of trafficking and abuse. I think the flipchart will be useful. I will organize sessions to teach it.”
Learn more about our work in Africa here!
RESPONDING TO AN EARTHQUAKE IN THE PHILIPPINES BY EQUIPPING PARENTS & FAMILIES
Natural disasters are known to be a situational vulnerability that traffickers prey upon. In April, our Philippines office in Manila was shaken by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake. Following this, our Philippines Survivor Care Team led a community training for families about earthquake preparedness. Twenty-seven participants learned what to do before, during, and after earthquakes in order to keep their families safer. The training opened with remarks from a survivor of trafficking who is a former Love146 client. One parent shared afterwards, “I’m glad that we’ve learned new things so we can save ourselves and especially our children.”
MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS TO STATES THROUGH THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Our US Programs Director Erin Williamson traveled to Arizona in May to join national experts, advocates, members of law enforcement, and government officials for a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children & Youth in the United States. The Committee advises the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the nation’s response to child sex trafficking, and is writing a report on best practices and recommendations for governors and child welfare agencies. Erin is co-authoring sections on child welfare and service provision, as well as providing input into the section on prevention. The report is scheduled to be finished in the new year.
IN THE PAST YEAR, WE’VE REACHED OVER 15,000 CHILDREN.
Our latest quarterly Impact Report is now available. If you’re one of those people who like to know how many children we’ve served (spoiler: it’s over 55,000) or are interested in knowing the ages, genders, and risk factors of the children in our care — and a whole lot more — our Impact Report is for you.
@LOVE146 INSTAGRAM TAKE-OVER BY PULITZER PRIZE WINNING NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST, IAN URBINA.
In the interest of deepening our awareness of child trafficking, we invited Ian Urbina, the author of the book The Outlaw Ocean, to take over our social media accounts for one week in July and share from his experience reporting on crime and exploitation at sea, including child trafficking. The exploitation and trafficking of people on the ocean is a global blind spot, as most of us — governments, companies, concerned citizens, and consumers — either don’t know it occurs, or, when we do, we look the other way. You can find a collection of Urbina’s posts on our Instagram page.
