Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category

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What Can YOU Do To Stop Child Sex Trafficking?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

#14 Urge your U.S. Representative and Senator to support the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) establishes trafficking as a federal crime, provides victim assistance programs, and authorizes both the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the annual Trafficking in Persons report.

While this bill is incredibly important in the fight to end child sex trafficking, it must be reauthorized every three years. The Senate and House bills reauthorizing the TVPA in 2011 include provisions to strengthen global and domestic anti-trafficking programs through the Departments of State, Justice, Health and Human Services, Labor and Defense.

Check out this video from change.org featuring the Juvenile Justice Fund’s Keisha Head urging community members to join her in supporting this bill.

What can you do to ensure that this bill is passed?

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Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation 149 Years Ago

Monday, September 26th, 2011

New ways to make a change are opening up to students

Almost 150 years after President Lincoln proclaimed the Emancipation of American Slaves, America and the world looks for emancipation of slaves of a different sort, but slaves no less. For a look at what students are doing in the anti-human trafficking movement, read the following.

mtvU’s Against Our Will Spotlights Student Efforts to End Modern-Day Slavery

Posted 9/22/11 7:09 pm EST by

If you are reading this you were able to wake up, grab something to eat, go online to chat with your friends, and check out this blog. What if someone else made these decisions for you? For the 27 million people who are currently living in modern-day slavery, this is a reality.

Modern-day slavery, also referred to as human trafficking, occurs in labor markets and can be found everywhere, from the food you eat to the clothes you wear; it can also be found in the commercial sex industry, with pimps exploiting girls as young as 12. All of this is happening in the U.S., in our backyard. As overwhelming as that can be, the power to end it is within our reach.

You might be wondering how modern-day slavery could possibly still exist, and more importantly, what you can do to help. mtvU’s Against Our Will Campaign launches today, on the 149th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. The campaign is calling on all the young change-makers out there to pick up where Lincoln left off, and join the fight to end modern-day slavery.

mtvU’s Against Our Will Campaign has teamed up with Free the Slaves, Polaris Project, and GEMS to empower students to be part of the solution. The campaign will spotlight the inspirational work already being done on campuses, and arm students with facts and tools to get involved. Students will be able to turn every day decisions- from what to buy to how to bring up the issue with their friends- into a nationwide movement combating modern-day slavery.

If you’re on campus, be sure to check out the videos airing throughout the day on mtvU. All the videos will also be available on demand at mtvu.AgainstOurWill.org, where you can also learn more about the issue and find ways to take action. Stay updated on campaign developments by liking our Facebook page and stay tuned on Act for more stories of student activists, survivors, and key actions that you can take.

 

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‘Victim becomes role model’

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

A Future. Not A Past. Advocate Keisha Head shares her story with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution…

Child prostitution victim becomes role model
By Andria Simmons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Keisha Head

In her role as counselor and mentor for young girls, Keisha Head is poised, polished and polite.

But she need only look in the mirror to be reminded of a troubled past. The name of her former pimp, “Sir Charles,” is literally branded across the top of her back in a dark, swirling script.

On a recent morning, the 31-year-old settled into a chair in a cheerfully decorated room at the Fulton County Juvenile Justice Center where she helps girls identified as being at risk for child sexual exploitation.

Head didn’t wait for questions before letting her life story unspool. It is a story of hitting bottom — hard — but then lifting herself above her past to become a positive role model.

Born to a schizophrenic single mother, Head was sent to live with a family member at age 4. The new home was far from a safe haven, though. She was sexually abused for the next eight years by two older male relatives.

By the time she was 12, Head was acting out so much that she was sent back to her mom. The situation was untenable from the start, with her mother wandering the streets at all hours and being committed several times to a state mental hospital.

Child protective services intervened when Head stopped going to school and placed her in emergency children’s shelter. For the next four years, she bounced among 42 foster or group homes. That is, when she wasn’t trying to run away.

At 16, she got pregnant and was so ill-equipped for motherhood that she gave custody of her newborn daughter to the father.

“After that I was very brokenhearted,” Head said. “I became very numb.”

Head was suicidal, dirty and hungry when she turned to a friend for help. Her friend said “I know somebody who can help you.”

That was the night she met “Sir Charles.” He seemed well-dressed, considerate, nice.

He set her up in his house with seven other girls who welcomed her like the family she never had.

He also told her that if she wanted to take care of herself, she needed to strip at a nightclub where several other of the girls worked. But that job lasted only three days before Sir Charles gave her a new task: prostitution.

He took her to Stewart Avenue (now Metropolitan Parkway) in downtown Atlanta and gave her a quota of $1,000 a night. If she didn’t comply, Sir Charles threatened to harm her daughter.

For the next six months, she wore high heels and skimpy outfits as she worked the corner of 14th Street and Crescent Avenue in Midtown, carefully following her pimp’s rules to avoid violent beatings.

During that period, Head said she was raped 15 to 20 times. Once, she was forced to jump from a car traveling 60 mph to escape from a john who tried to kidnap her.

“I saw a lot of girls getting in cars, and you never saw them again,” Head said. “I knew if I stayed on that track, I would die.”

To read the rest of Keisha’s story, please click here.

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Showing Respect to Child Welfare Workers

Friday, August 26th, 2011

Judge Phillip Jackson, JJF Director Sharon Simpson Joseph, Judge Bradley Boyd

 

Chief Judge Belinda Edwards

To look at ways of improving the state of child welfare over the next year, Fulton DFCS Director Glenda McMillian hosted a Fulton County Child Welfare Retreat at the Carter Center yesterday.

JJF staff and board members came to strengthen the collaboration among the stakeholders in this arena: i.e. the Courts, DFCS and Nonprofits.

Judge Bradley Boyd

From our Juvenile Courthouse, Honorable Chief Judge Belinda Edwards and Presiding Judge Bradley Boyd gave opening remarks. Also in attendance from our court was Judge Phillip Jackson, JJF Executive Director Sharon Simpson Joseph, JJF Board Members Melissa Trimble and Karlise Grier, and six JJF Staff Members.

JJF Staff: Allison Hood, Cheron Crouch, Melissa Rochester, Kelly Cox, and Yvette Bell

Social workers were able to express their concerns about problems they face working in the field, and a team of experts provided pathways for solutions for them.  It began an important conversation  between the Court, DFCS and Nonprofits so we can  come together more powerfully to help our children.

Leaders of the seminar pointed out that
DFCS workers are no different from our police or firefighters in an important way, and that is that they are consistently faced with traumatic situations, from abuse, even to death, but this unfortunately is sometimes overlooked in our system.

They stressed how crucial it is that we find ways of supporting our case workers in the same way we support our military and civil servants who protect the most vulnerable members of our society. They deserve our respect.

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Fashion Police Challenged by GEMS Founder Rachel Lloyd

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Popular tv show Fashion Police

“It’s hard to see a panel of highly-paid celebrities make jokes
at the expense of some of the poorest, most vulnerable,
marginalized and victimized women and
girls in our society.”—–Rachel Lloyd

As Rachel Lloyd, Founder and Executive Director of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), wrote in a recent Huffington Post article,

Rachel Lloyd, GEMS

“After long week at work, one of my favorite guilty pleasures is Fashion Police on E! with Joan Rivers. You either love Joan Rivers or hate her, and I’m definitely in the fan camp. She’s a fearless woman who speaks her mind, isn’t scared of offending people and is incredibly self-deprecating — all qualities I appreciate.

“While there’s a different discussion to be had perhaps about the fairness of mercilessly critiquing celebrities (who are also real people), for what they wear to an event, it’s a very different discussion than whether it’s fair, right or appropriate to target women who are victims of extreme forms of violence and who are considered on the very lowest rung of society. Mocking Celebrity X for wearing an ill-advised $15,000 couture gown to the Oscars is quite different than mocking a woman who is literally living on the streets. I doubt if E! would have fashion segments called ‘Homeless or Hollywood?’, ‘Drug Addict or Debutante?’, ‘Poor or Posh?.’ Yet because these women are not ‘just’ potentially homeless, drug addicted, and definitely poor, but are ‘streetwalkers,’ prostitutes, whores, hookers, they’re considered fair game.”

Read the full article here

In less than 48 hours Lloyd’s petition has garnered 1,000 signatures. To see the petition, click below:

Stop E! Fashion Police’s “Starlet or Streetwalker” Segment!

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Back To School & The Judge Jones Youth Fund

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Tonnisha LaSalle, JJF Director of Operations

JJF’s Tonnisha LaSalle, Director of Operations is busy helping our children get ready for school. Find out how you can help below.

“As we approach a new school year, we recognize that many of the children we serve may have needs directly associated with attending school.

“Each child should be properly prepared to learn and be allowed every opportunity to succeed.

“I encourage you to donate to the Judge Jones Youth Fund (JJYF).  Unfortunately the funds in this account are very low, so your support right now is greatly needed and appreciated.

Judge "Sammy" Sanford Jones

“Judge “Sammy” Jones was always interested in our children as children, not just faces coming through the system. He hoped each child could enjoy a whole sense of well being. A champion of a play space for the children, and of providing a homelike environment when they came through the courts, Judge Jones created the JJYF so that any child coming through the Court with a specific need, such as transportation or tutoring services, could be provided these necessities.

“With the support from one of the FCJC Judges, a Court employee can utilize funds from the JJYF by contacting us. Judge Jones’ Fund is endowed solely by the generous contributions of the Juvenile Justice Fund staff and supporters, the Fulton County Juvenile Court staff, and by friends and loved ones of Judge Jones.”

If you’d like to give, we invite you to participate in this campaign, not only to honor the memory of our beloved Judge Jones, but to also continue his mission of mending the lives of children.  Each donation will change the life of a child for the better.

“Last year we provided:

  1. Tickets to the America I Am exhibit
  2. Marta Passes
  3. Clothing
  4. G.E.D.Testing Services
  5. I.D. Badges
  6. School supplies
  7. Registration fees for classes and extracurricular activities
  8. Mentor Training Supplies

You can make a donation online through Paypal,

or:

If you wish to pay by check, checks should be made payable to:

Juvenile Justice Fund
395 Pryor Street SW
Suite 2117
Atlanta, GA 30312

Memo line on check should note JJYF

Please feel free to contact me for any additional information about the JJYF.  Your support is truly necessary for the success of this service.

Thank You.

Tonnisha LaSalle
Tonnisha.LaSalle@fultoncountyga.gov
404-613-4916

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3 More Child Sex Trafficking Billboards

Friday, July 8th, 2011

 

Billboards targeting child sex trafficking are spreading throughout Metro Atlanta since the first of July when new laws became effective

Check out three more JJF/A Future. Not A Past billboards this week (a total of 4) warning the public about penalties for the prostitution of our children. They are located at:

  • I-285 at Riverdale
  • I-85 at Cheshire Bridge
  • Hwy 141 at McGinnis Ferry

“We are extremely appreciative of the billboard companies and their support of our cause educating the public about the extent of commercial sexual exploitation here in Georgia and targeting those who buy and sell our children, sending them a harsh message that this will not be tolerated,” says Kaffie McCullough, campaign director for AFNAP, (A Future. Not A Past.)

Jennifer Swain and Kaffie McCullough work on billboard design

Georgia has some of the nation’s toughest laws to punish criminals convicted of the prostitution of children and human trafficking. Under the recently signed HB 200, penalties for human traffickers include the possibility of life in prison if the victim is under 18, as well as a new range of fines up to $100,000.

The billboards focus on penalties for sex trafficking and call readers to text the word “DEMAND” to 313131 to learn more, join the advocacy campaign and donate, if desired.

Stay with us for more billboard postings.

Martha Turner is the Communications Officer for the Juvenile Justice Fund

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What Can YOU Do To Stop Child Sex Trafficking?

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

#7 Sign up for A Future. Not A Past.’s mailing list.

Our A Future. Not A Past. Campaign works to stop the prostitution of children in Georgia through groundbreaking research that drives strategies of prevention, intervention and education. Sign up for the campaign’s mailing list to receive advocacy updates, email alerts, and notice of community volunteer opportunities and events.

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Drug Court Graduation

Monday, June 13th, 2011

 

Our Ready, Set, Go! Team

Cheron Crouch, RSG Program Manager

Yvette Bell, Family Preservation Clinician

Heidi Reese-Anderson, Client Service Coordinator

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Kelly Cox, RSG Peer Counselor

Melissa Rochester, RSG Youth Track Coordinator

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Recently, JJF’s Ready, Set, Go! Program saw six of their clients graduate from the Fulton County Drug Court, as part of a year long program of recovery and training in life skills.

They were:

Gail C., Danielle S., Ashley P., Ashlee G., Lisa B., and Catharine S.

Ashlee G. told me that she was in denial when she first arrived at Drug Court, but that now
“I am staying clean. The RSG ladies have put me on the right train. I feel positive about keeping going on the right path.”

Attending the event were her grandmother, brother, cousins and stepmother.

Ashley P., who was joined by her mother, mother’s fiancé, her fiancé and two of her four children, talked to me about getting to graduation day.

Ashley, how does it feel to finally have the big day here?

(Lets out a big breath) “Unexplainable. (laughs) I’m overwhelmed with joy.

I’m not nervous at all today. I’m more excited than anything.”

Were there any setbacks or difficulties?

“I put my mind to what I wanted to do, and I did this with flying colors.”

What was the most helpful thing that brought you this far?

“The ladies at RSG were sharing life experiences, sharing their own issues that they are going through, just letting me know that I’m not the only one with problems.”

Peers make a difference

How important is it for you to feel that you’re not alone?

“It’s very important because when you feel like you’re the only one, you tend to self-sabotage; you feel like there’s nobody else but you.

“I feel wonderful knowing that I have other peers, other people around me who are going through either worse or better experiences, or are in the same or similar situation that I’m going through, and I can give them some of my input on how I live life on my terms, and not going back to using drugs or alcohol or men, or whatever it is anyone may be addicted to.”

Did you ever think you’d be here today getting dressed for a graduation event like this?

“No! I always knew I was going to do something with my life because I always had a goal to do something—but I didn’t know it would be like this. No m’am.”

What are you most excited about today?

“A new beginning.

“I feel very hopeful. I have more goals I want to accomplish, and knowing that I’m getting ready to get my daughter back, and having my own place again—it’s very exciting.

“I’m still working on getting my apartment, and getting my daughters back. Making sure that they’re comfortable and have things in their room that they need. Then I’m going to get my GED, and I’m going to take the steps about getting my car.

“I also have something that’s more of a dream, and that is to get my whole family together around one table to share a meal together. My Dad, my four kids, my brother and his two kids. I want to have us all just sit at the table and eat.”

The Ready, Set, Go! Program continues on with aftercare and support, making sure that these brave women always have a place to come to, help when it’s needed, and the constant reassurance that they are not alone.

Martha Turner is the Communications Officer
for the Juvenile Justice Fund
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Jewels for Justice

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Betsy Menneg becomes a first time JJF donor with her necklace purchase from Kim Lacour

Kimberly Lacour, JJf friend and supporter, gave portions of the proceeds from her sales at Crystyles Boutique last Thursday to the Juvenile Justice Fund. The show featured her  summer line from Stella & Dot, a one of a kind collection of affordable jewelry.

Thank you Kim for partnering with us in this innovative way. Kim will be donating throughout the month of June to JJF.

There are many opportunities for giving to the children here at JJF, and we appreciate everyone’s efforts. Sometimes all it takes is a little imagination.


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