Please register at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qcuyurzsoE9Mm-b_IvfB7Efaeo1eRpdDb.
Demand for Sex Trafficking Listening Session
June 29, 2020
AGENDA
Opening Remarks
1 pm – 1:15 pm
Working Group Co-Chairs
Plenary Session: Examining the Role of Demand in Preventing Human Trafficking
1:15 pm – 1:45 pm
Moderated by a Working Group Co-Chair
· Eleanor Gaetan, National Center on Sexual Exploitation
· Audrey Morrissey, My Life, My Choice
· Robert Lung, 18th Judicial District, Douglas County, CO
Breakout Sessions
1:45 pm – 3 pm
1. Education and Technology
· Bob Rodgers, Street Grace, Scalable Tech Solutions to Deter Demand: Chat Bots
· Tom Perez, EPIK, Cyberpatrols – A Grassroots Community-Based Solution to Deterring Demand
· Tina Frundt, Courtney’s House
2. Research Findings
· Dr. Angie Henderson, University of Northern Colorado, Demanding Accountability: Estimating Prevalence & Cost of Risk for Individuals Engaging in the Sex Trade
· Michael Shively, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Evidence-Based Tactics for Preventing Sex Trafficking
· Lara Powers, Polaris, What do Survivors Think about Sex Buyers? A Summary of Recent Exploratory Research
3. Intervention, Interdiction, and Prosecution
· Ben Gauen, King County (Washington) Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, King County Ending Exploitation Collaborative – An Innovative City-Based Model of Deterring Demand
· Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman, King County Department of Community and Human Services, Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Program
· Victor Boutros, Human Trafficking Institute
Reflection Session
3 pm – 3:50 pm
Concluding Remarks
3:50 pm – 4 pm
PRESENTER BIOS
Victor Boutros is the CEO and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Institute and co-author with Gary Haugen of The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence, a book published by Oxford University Press in 2014. Drawing on real-world cases and extensive scholarship, The Locust Effect paints a vivid portrait of the way fractured criminal justice systems in developing countries have spawned a hidden epidemic of human trafficking and everyday violence that is undermining vital investments in poverty alleviation, public health, and human rights. The Locust Effect is a Washington Post bestseller that has been featured by the New York Times, The Economist, NPR, the Today Show, Forbes, TED, and the BBC, among others. For their work on The Locust Effect, Boutros and Haugen received the 2016 Grawemeyer Prize for Ideas Improving World Order, a prize awarded annually to the authors of one book based on originality, feasibility, and potential for global impact. Boutros previously served as a federal prosecutor on human trafficking cases of national significance on behalf of the United States Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. He has taught human trafficking at the FBI Academy in Quantico, trained law enforcement professionals in the United States and other countries on how to investigate and prosecute human trafficking, and taught trial advocacy to lawyers from Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa.
Tina Frundt has been actively raising awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) since 2000. A high profile national advocate on the issue of domestic sex trafficking and a survivor of CSEC, Ms. Frundt is deeply committed to helping other children and youth, who are living through experiences similar to her own. She has been featured on numerous national shows and publications, including the OWN Network’s Our America with Lisa Ling: 3AM Girls, which featured an undercover look into sex trafficking in Washington, DC, the CNN Freedom Project, and in 2016 the Whitney Young Unsung Heroes award by the Urban Institute. In 2010, she became the first U.S. citizen to receive the Free the Slaves Freedom Awards-Frederick Douglas Award, which recognizes survivors of sex trafficking who use their life in freedom to help others. In 2016 she was appointed by President Obama to the First White House Survivor Advisory Board.
Eleanor Kennelly Gaetan is vice president of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and director of public policy. She spent ten years in the federal government: five in the State Department’s human trafficking office (J/TIP) and five with USAID, including USAID/Bucharest where human trafficking was in her portfolio. Eleanor has a PhD from the University of Maryland. Better, she and her husband have five children.
Benjamin Gauen is a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. He leads his office’s work combating crimes related to human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. He has extensive felony trial experience specializing in cases involving sex trafficking, sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence. Ben is a member of several anti-trafficking task forces in Washington State and frequently works with policy makers in an effort to help victims. He conducts training on sex trafficking for prosecutors and law enforcement around the United States. He also sits on the board of directors for the nonprofit organizations Stolen Youth and University Beyond Bars.
Dr. Angie Henderson is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Northern Colorado (UNCO) in Greeley, Colorado. With expertise in both qualitative research design, she has published over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, 4 book chapters, and a co-authored textbook in its second edition. Her research on bottoms – the second-in-command in a sex trafficking operation – will be published later in 2021 in The Journal of Human Trafficking. She has also given nearly 50 professional presentations at academic conferences. In 2019, she was invited to present at the United Nations’ Commission on Crime Prevention & Criminal Justice in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Henderson has expertise in interviewing, focus groups, observational analysis, and content analysis and extensive expertise in studying the experiences of victims and survivors of sex trafficking. In particular, Dr. Henderson has extensive experience using a trauma-informed approach to working with and interviewing victims & survivors of sex trafficking, a very vulnerable population.
Of particular importance is Dr. Henderson’s service to and collaboration with a nationally-serving nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women exit sex trafficking. Dr. Henderson has been actively involved as lead researcher for The Avery Center (formerly Free Our Girls) on data collection efforts, and in this role has advised the organization on data collection and analysis used to inform programming and services.
Robert Lung currently serves as a District Court Judge in Colorado. He also provides presentations nationally and internationally on issues such as human trafficking, childhood trauma and resiliency. Judge Lung previously served as the Judicial Representative and the Vice-Chair on the Colorado Human Trafficking Council and as the Chair of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. He currently serves on the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States and provides consultation to the Department of Justice, the Administration for Children and Families, the State Department and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In his “free time” Judge Lung works on writing his first book, a biography about hope and resiliency, and he endeavors to keep up with his two adopted sons in hiking and downhill mountain biking.
In 2010, Tom Perez began engaging in the anti-trafficking fight and quickly noticed that while men are the primary drivers behind demand, very few were practically involved in the fight to abolish it. The EPIK Project is his attempt to bring men to this fight, thereby helping to end demand for prostituted persons. Tom pioneered an all-volunteer effort that succeeded in disrupting over 200,000 online attempts to purchase sex. By training men how to engage local sex buyers directly at the point of sale, Tom’s work has helped to successfully disrupt the local online market for illegal sex. This model has been replicated in 14 cities across the country. In addition to this work, Tom also serves as the demand reduction specialist on the Oregon Attorney General’s Trafficking Advisory Committee. Tom has presented both locally and nationally on the centrality of equipping male allies and focusing on demand reduction as a critical component to any strategy serious about combatting sex trafficking. These presentations include the United Nations’ global Council on the Status of Women.
Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman is currently the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Partnerships and Budget Manager at the King County Department of Community and Human Services. Suamhirs was the Survivors Services Program Manager at the International Rescue Committee and led the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network, Family Wellness, and Gender Equity Programs. Suamhirs graduated from the University of California San Diego with a Master's in Psychology. He has years of experience developing curriculum and providing training on trauma-informed care, mental health, human trafficking, evidence-based practices, and more to Child Welfare Systems and non-profit organizations across 38 states. Suamhirs’ professional experience also includes direct services to vulnerable youth, program management, policy advocacy around foster care and human trafficking, and co-coordination of the National Survivor Network. As a male survivor and an expert in behavioral psychology, Suamhirs has been an active consultant for the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, a subject matter expert Consultant for the Department of Health and Human Services National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistant Center, and the International Association of Human Trafficking Investigators, and is a member of the National Council for Community Behavioral Health. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and has worked with the United Nations and Vital Voices International to develop curriculum and training on engaging men in gender-based violence initiatives.
Lara Powers has been on the forefront of domestic anti-trafficking efforts for nearly 9 years working on survivor leadership and empowerment issues, national human trafficking hotline development and management, statewide anti-trafficking response, data and research, monitoring and evaluation, policy advocacy, and trauma-informed care. She currently works in a consultant capacity as the Sr. Survivor Engagement Advisor at Polaris, where she uses her connections within the survivor community to systemically incorporate diverse survivor input across all of the organization’s programs. In addition to her work at Polaris, she serves in a consultant capacity for a broad range of both international and domestic agencies and organizations.
Bob Rodgers serves as Street Grace President and CEO, bringing more than 30 years of corporate and nonprofit leadership and team development experience to this role. Under Rodgers’ leadership, Street Grace has experienced remarkable growth and has a significant national presence, including offices in Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee. Previously, Rodgers served as the fourth president of Richmont Graduate University, which offers fully accredited graduate programs in Counseling, Ministry and Spiritual Formation. As president, Rodgers led Richmont into an era of institutional and financial growth. Championing the addition of a new accredited master’s degree program, spearheading the efforts for a new, debt free, multimillion-dollar Atlanta campus and launching two university-sponsored mental health trauma centers. In his former position as vice president of one of the largest restaurant chains in the Southeast, Rodgers provided oversight and support for more than 22,000 employees in 21 states. In addition, through his firm Quantum Search, he has conducted more than 24,000 interviews and led searches for key leadership positions at Chick-fil-A, Georgia Pacific, Baptist Healthcare, Curtis1000 and other major corporate, healthcare and nonprofit organizations worldwide. Rodgers is a sought-after speaker and panelist. He has written for a variety of publications including business journals and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal and The Atlanta Business Chronicle. His work has been featured on hundreds of media outlets including the Washington Post and The New York Times. Rodgers has testified before congress and has been invited to the White House, on multiple occasions, to provide expertise on trafficking legislation and demand reduction strategies. Additionally, Rodgers is a Pastoral Sex Addiction Professional (PSAP®) candidate (June 2020) from the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals. Rodgers has hosted “Thinking Out Loud,” a weekly radio broadcast, and is the co-author of the devotional “God Is With Us”. Additionally, he serves on numerous boards, is on the Business Advisory Council for Lee University, a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett and the founder of the Freedom Coalition, a collaborative initiative addressing global human trafficking. About Street Grace: Street Grace is a faith-based organization that utilizes evidence-based demand reduction strategies to eradicate the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) through prevention, protection, policy and pursuit.
Michael Shively is currently Senior Advisor on Research and Data Analysis at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. His core objective throughout a 30-year career in applied criminal justice research has been to provide practitioners, policymakers, and advocates with information and tools to support their efforts to prevent and respond to the victimization of vulnerable populations. He received a continuous series of federal awards to lead research on the perpetration of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, victimization, and system responses to both survivors and offenders. His research on the consumer-level demand for commercial sex that drives all sex trafficking markets includes a rigorous evaluation of a program designed to deter sex buyers. He founded and currently directs Demand Forum, a website documenting prevention tactics used in over 2,200 communities throughout the U.S. His prior research also includes developing a method for producing valid estimates of human trafficking prevalence, and identifying opportunities for earlier identification and support for survivors. In other studies, he examined the traits and motivations of convicted human traffickers and their criminal enterprises, and conducted a national survey about police experiences responding to human trafficking. His work to apply research to policy and evidence-based practice includes presenting at training programs and expert workgroups convened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Department of State; U.S. Department of Health and Social Services; U.S. Department of Justice; National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Center for Disease Control and Prevention; International Association of Chiefs of Police; International Association of Human Trafficking Investigators; National Association of Attorneys General; and the Massachusetts Bar Association. He also served on the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force and the Regional Human Trafficking Workgroup at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.