Street Grace – Committed to a Future Where Children are Free from Sexual Exploitation

Remember when Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl? The year was 2019 and while my memory of the event is vague, I do remember a campaign from that time that still stands out.

72 yellow school buses stretched back-to-back through a mile of Atlanta traffic. The buses were stickered with stats and quips to challenge anyone looking about what a massive problem modern day slavery is. Between those buses, were enough seats to transport 3,600 kids, the predicted number of children that fall victim to trafficking each year in Georgia.

The brilliant minds behind this project? Street Grace, a locally based nonprofit who mobilizes communities to eradicate the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Thanks to organizations like End It Movement (red X on hand) doing good work through my college days, I have been privy to the conversations surrounding human trafficking. Fortunately we live in a time when there are many forces at work who are unafraid to seek and find the trafficker, to spotlight the atrocities against other humans, and to seek justice for all involved. So when Street Grace offered a training in our neighborhood, we were in.

As we walked into the training room and took our seats, we quickly learned that the other folks in attendance were – kind of a big deal. One worked for a local school board, one for Delta Airlines, one in the medical field, one an educator… and all were here because they were ready to learn about how they could identify, report, and ultimately stop the trafficking of our local children. It was a sobering moment.

Once the training began, it was obvious that the folks at Street Grace mean business. For two hours, we received a quick overview of their pillars (PREVENTION, PROTECTION, AND POLICY) and showed us the ways we could partner with them to spread the awareness far and wide – to coworkers, other parents, and honestly, anyone who would listen. 

Consider a power pole worker – a professional who is almost invisible to passersby yet one who easily has a birds eyes view of the comings and goings in a residential area. If this person were to be educated on the red flags of trafficking – maybe, several men in and out of a house at odd hours of the day – this could be an opportunity to save the life of someone who is forced to be in a situation against their will. Think of any kind of service or repair person – plumbing, internet, electrical – the folks who go in and out of homes – and what they can see that the rest of the world cannot. 

I was floored to learn that, as much as I had been exposed to the trafficking conversation throughout the years, I still had false information floating around in my head. 

DID YOU KNOW:

The majority of trafficking is not happening with kidnap situations or situations of transporting people between airports.

Street Grace showed what a lucrative business trafficking is (it is estimated that traffickers made an average of $32,833 a WEEK in cash between 2005-2011), so buying airplane tickets and having law enforcement on your tail for abducting a child would not be considered “smart business.” 

Instead, traffickers prey upon the most vulnerable kids – those who are neglected, abused, lonely, in the foster system, runaways, outcasts, kids craving attention, and kids who have already begun their journey with addiction. Most often, they groom them into codependent relationships, shower them with affection, gifts, and drugs, force addiction… and then demand payment. 

DID YOU KNOW:

Many minors being trafficked right now, are sitting in their school classrooms during the day?

Up to 63% of the youth that have been identified as being trafficked, are enrolled in and attending school with no unexcused absences.

THE BEST WAY TO START SOMETHING NEW – TAKE THE FIRST STEP

It all feels quite overwhelming to talk about, think about, and work through the numbers. I mean, where would someone even start in the fight against trafficking!? Lucky for us, Street Grace has us covered.

First of all – they have endless resources online! Between their website, Facebook & Instagram accounts, and even TikTok – there is a plethora of existing and new information that you and your people can absorb at your convenience.

But! If you happen to live in North Georgia, you have the opportunity to learn from Street Grace and come alongside their projects in person! Here’s just a sampling of ways you can volunteer:

Street Grace is a faith-based organization that utilizes evidence-based demand reduction strategies to eradicate the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC).

CSEC involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, and/or the obtaining of a child under the age of 18 for the purpose of a commercial sex act.

Street Grace mobilizes community resources – financial, human, and material – to fight CSEC through prevention, protection, policy and pursuit.

We haven’t even scratched the surface, friends. Street Grace is doing GOOD work that we all should at the very least be educated about because you never know when you might have the chance to play a role in the rescue of another human being who is or could be trafficked.

Who is your trafficked neighbor? 

And, what are you willing to do to love them?