Every December, advocates from all over the world pledge to wear a dress or tie for the entire month of December (hence the name: Dressember). This fun and unique fashion challenge is helping raise funds and awareness to stop human trafficking.  ​

For the past three years, BEST has been a grateful recipient of funds raised by generous advocates during the month of December. Each year, the Dressember Foundation hosts a unique 31-day style challenge where advocates join in and raise funds to fight human trafficking by wearing a dress (or tie!) every day of December.
 
The idea is that wearing a dress or tie each day of one of the coldest months of the year will create a conversation starter with friends, family, and co-workers that leads to raising awareness about the harms of human trafficking while fundraising. This helps more people learn about trafficking and shows that anyone can pitch in to help stop it.
 
At Dressember, these caring people are not just fundraisers--they’re called advocates.
 
This year, Dressember advocates have had to get creative to help people engage. They are living out their advocacy, even while social distancing, to help create a better world. Advocates are using technology to share information and have conversations with friends, family, and colleagues by educating people about the harms of human trafficking, and fiercely defending the marginalized who are at even greater risk of harm and exploitation during the pandemic.
 
This year’s Dressember challenge may look a bit different, but it’s not stopping advocates! They are sharing daily vlogs, posting photos to social media, hosting zoom dinners, and continuing to keep the spirit of Dressember 2020 alive even in the middle of a global health crisis.
 
Advocacy requires dedication, thoughtfulness, good intentions, and consistency.  So when Dressember advocates choose to intentionally use a dress or tie for advocacy, it helps them reflect each day on how simple freedoms have been taken away from others, and that we can all do small things to make an impact. Although a dress or tie is a simple tool for advocacy, it symbolizes something that is so much bigger.
 
Collectively, Dressember advocates have raised over $11MM to help fund the work of anti-trafficking organizations, including ours. It’s not too late to join the campaign for Dressember 2020.  Head to dressember.org to learn more.

Within the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been another crisis brewing. While hotels have been grappling with budget shortfalls, staff furloughs, and social distancing guidelines—human traffickers have not taken a break. Human trafficking is a crime that thrives on chaos and vulnerability, and the current pandemic, as well as its resulting economic effect, is making more people vulnerable.

According to the anti-trafficking group Polaris, the number of human trafficking cases handled by their hotline in the month of April 2020 compared to the time leading up to the pandemic and the same month in 2019, showed a 40 percent increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. This shows that traffickers are not slowing down or stopping. They are busy recruiting and grooming victims while so many people are vulnerable.  

Often, trafficking victims are first exploited as minors. The average age that youth enter into commercial sexual exploitation is between 13-15 years old. The current crisis is causing children to be more isolated at home and spending more time online. At the same time, more Americans are experiencing financial vulnerability. These two realities are making it easier for traffickers to find and groom new victims. So as more guests return to hotels, it is essential that hotel employees know how to spot the warning signs of human trafficking. Here are some reminders for hotel staff to remember as they welcome back guests.

What is Human Trafficking?

Sex trafficking is the prostituting of a minor or the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel an adult into commercial sex work. In 2015, the federal definition of sex trafficking expanded to include sex buyers—to include those who contribute to the exploitation of vulnerable people by purchasing sex.

Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting a person to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery.

Who are the Victims?

Victims can be anyone—male, female, transgender; of any ethnic group; foreign immigrant or US citizen; and victims can be any age, income, or education level. The common thread for human trafficking victims is their vulnerability. This can be a result of homelessness, unemployment, an unstable home environment, a past history of abuse, a disability, having run away from home, or people who have been tricked into believing they are going to gain an opportunity for a better life.

Who are the Traffickers?

As with human trafficking victims, there is no one way to describe human traffickers. They can be young or old, male or female, and of any nationality or ethnic background. The key is traffickers are intent on exploiting the vulnerabilities of others for the purpose of commercial gain. Traffickers are not necessarily strangers or casual acquaintances of the victims. Some traffickers can be family members, intimate partners, or long-time friends of victims.

Tips for Hotel Personnel

It is important for hotel employees to understand some of the tactics used by traffickers. These include threats or use of violence towards the victim or the victim’s family, threatening deportation, restriction of contact with others, making false promises, or depriving the victim of basic needs. These tactics can result in victims being reluctant or unwilling to talk with hotel personnel, and victims may not ask for help. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that adults who are coerced or forced into commercial sexual activities are not criminals, and they should be treated as victims and put in touch with social service agencies who can get them connected to help. Anytime a child is involved in a commercial sex act, it is considered sex trafficking, and law enforcement should be contacted immediately if a child is in danger.

All hotel employees should be trained in human trafficking prevention so they have the knowledge, skills, and ability to recognize a human trafficking situation and take appropriate action to intervene.
 

The story of a human trafficking victim is not about how he or she is rescued. It’s not even about the first time a human trafficking victim is exploited. In almost every case of trafficking, there is a far deeper story than what first meets the eye. People who are susceptible to human trafficking have vulnerabilities, including neglect, poverty, homelessness, family breakdown, disability, addiction, or a history of physical or sexual abuse that have long gone unaddressed. Traffickers look for these vulnerabilities in the people they exploit so they can convince, coerce, or force them into situations that victims do not want and can quickly become trapped in.

In this modern-day version of forced slavery, human trafficking has become one of the most tragic crimes against humanity. That’s why the United Nations designated July 30 as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons—to help raise awareness and educate more people about human trafficking and how to help those who are living in slavery.


What is Human Trafficking? 

Sex trafficking is the prostituting of a minor or the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel an adult into commercial sex work. In the US, the federal definition of sex trafficking has been expanded to include sex buyers—to include those who contribute to the exploitation of vulnerable people by purchasing sex. 
 
Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting a person to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery.  


Who are the Victims? 

Victims can be anyone—the common thread for human trafficking victims is their vulnerability. Because vulnerability plays such a key role, people of color, foreign nationals, and people with diverse sexual identities are disproportionately victimized.


Who are the Traffickers? 

As with human trafficking victims, there is no one way to describe human traffickers. They can be young or old, male or female, and of any nationality or ethnic background. The key is traffickers are intent on exploiting the vulnerabilities of others for the purpose of commercial gain. Traffickers are not necessarily strangers or casual acquaintances of the victims. Some traffickers can be family members, intimate partners, or long-time friends of victims.  

 
Tips for Recognizing Human Trafficking
 
It’s important to understand some of the tactics traffickers use in order to understand why victims may not ask for help. Traffickers will often threaten or use violence towards the victim or the victim’s family, threaten deportation, restrict contact with others, make false promises, or deprive the victim of basic needs if they do not do as instructed.

Some indicators that a person may be a victim of human trafficking:

• Evidence of violence, abuse, or coercion
• Evidence of unusual control, such as a person speaking for another person or controlling money and documents
• Signs of unusual fear, anxiety, or submission
• A person avoids eye contact and social interaction
• Signs that a person is unaware of what city they are in, or where their final destination is when traveling
• A person is unusually submissive to the person they are with
• Controller is reluctant to separate themself from the person

​
How You Can Help

If you witness a human trafficking situation, you can report it to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and they can direct the situation to local law enforcement or social service agencies.

Call 1-888-373-7888
Text BeFree (233733)
Email help@humantraffickinghotline.org

Anytime a child is involved in a commercial sex act or if a child is in danger, call 911 immediately.

To join the movement and support the work to help prevent human trafficking, you can donate to BEST. 

As an organization, BEST acknowledges the trauma and terror that racism has caused throughout the history of this country. We support the protests and calls to end systemic racism in our justice system and empower historically marginalized communities through equitable practices and community-centered policies. BEST mourns the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Kristina Beard, Eric Yeadon, Tony McDade, and the many other victims of systemic racism. We stand against violence and discrimination in all forms; we are committed to being an organization that fosters equity and accelerates change. Black Lives Matter.

In our work to prevent human trafficking, we continue to see the harms of racism, the legacies of slavery, and challenges within our criminal justice system. Many Black and Brown victims of human trafficking have reported a distrust of police and the criminal justice system. For too long, they have gone unseen, and many have been criminalized by the justice system, rather than receiving the protection and assistance they need. 

BEST has been honored to work alongside survivors who bring their lived experiences forward to create change. BEST has also been privileged to work with individuals in the criminal justice system to shift tactics away from arresting Black and Brown victims and toward prosecuting their exploiters--who are disproportionately White. We have hope that change is possible. But there is still much more work to be done. We have failed to adequately amplify the voices of Black and Brown survivors and we have failed to ensure that the justice system protects and serves Black and Brown communities.

​Therefore, BEST is committed to anti-racism and to accelerating change in concrete ways:

• BEST commits to amplifying the voices of Black and Brown trafficking survivors throughout our work and to advocating for exploiters to be held accountable through workplace policies, education, and criminal justice reforms. 
  
  
• BEST commits to updating our training courses (a) to more explicitly address bias and discrimination and (b) to help trainees decouple implicit bias from decision-making by recommending more structured decision-making processes on when to involve law enforcement and how to involve survivors in decisions that impact their safety.
  
  
• BEST commits to submitting articles addressing implicit bias and human trafficking for publication in trade journals that can reach thousands of people.
  
  
• BEST commits to caring for our staff and board by addressing biases and racism within our organization, by recruiting more minorities for leadership positions and opportunities, by taking the time to involve our staff and board in the writing of this statement, by providing additional PTO to our staff this week, and by continuing anti-racism work over the long term.
  
  
• BEST commits to supporting minority-owned businesses.
  ​

BEST commits to listening with humility and fighting for change. Because Black Lives Matter. 

 
BEST Staff

Mar Brettmann
Danae Bowers
Kevin Connelly
Jennifer Nguyen
Katie Amodei
Brooke Wilzen
Jenna Dimock
Hannah Farkas
Sarah Kwan
Nicole Rockwell
Jasmine Biernacki
 
 
BEST Board

Kitty Suidman
Mikaela Kiner
Megan Minarik
David Glick
Anne Kerker
Stephanie Cook
​Kenneth Andrew 

​
​BEST now has a way to help survivors of human trafficking escape their traffickers during the COVID-19 crisis. As part of the ​Wyndham Rewards program, individual rewards members and corporate businesses with travel rewards points can now donate points to BEST to support survivors in need. Simply visit the Wyndham Rewards charity page to donate points to help provide safe, emergency housing for human trafficking survivors.

During this critical time, many human trafficking victims are experiencing an increase in violence from the traffickers they live with. Hotline numbers, local police, and victim’s service agencies have all reported an increase in calls from victims in need of help.
 
The urgent need for human trafficking victims is for immediate safe housing that will allow them to flee their traffickers. But the need for emergency housing is far greater than what social service agencies have to give.
 
“We don’t have enough opportunities for people to have an immediate safe place to stay,” explains Jacquelynn Loos, the Community Advocate Supervisor for Real Escape for the Sex Trade (REST), one of BEST’s social service agency partners. “When someone contacts us and needs a safe place to stay, we have to move fast on those things. If we don’t have an immediate place for them to go, it can be a missed opportunity, and we often have a hard time tracking them down once a place for housing opens up.”
 
Loos explains that if human trafficking survivors cannot find a safe place to stay with a social service agency, they go elsewhere, and that’s often to unsafe places like back to their traffickers, a homeless encampment, staying with a sex buyer, or they ride the bus all day—just to have a driver watching over them because they have nowhere else to go.
 
In 2019, REST had 174 requests for emergency housing assistance. Through their seven-bed emergency shelter, their advocates, and a housing specialist connecting survivors to other emergency housing resources, they were able to meet 62 of those requests. Unfortunately, 112 requests had to go unmet because there are simply not enough emergency housing solutions for the number of survivors in need. And REST is just one of the numerous agencies who receive requests for emergency housing from human trafficking survivors.
 
Having safe temporary housing is critical when a victim decides to escape their trafficker. That’s why BEST is pleased to be selected as one of the charities of choice for the Wyndham Rewards program. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,300 hotels in 90 countries, and the 83 million members of Wyndham Rewards earn a guaranteed 1,000 points with every qualified stay. They may redeem points for a wide-range of rewards including a free night or they can donate to charity. Members can donate to 14 different charities, and BEST is now one of Wyndham’s charity recipients.  
 
BEST will use the rewards points received from this program to help survivors of human trafficking who need emergency housing through our social service agency partners like REST. Since Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has hotel locations in so many communities, survivors using BEST’s rewards donations will have options to help them stay in their neighborhood of choice.
 
The need for donated hotel rooms is greater now more than ever with the social distancing required in the COVID-19 pandemic. Going to a crowded shelter may not be the best solution for survivors who are worried about contracting the virus. And traffickers are using the current conditions to cultivate more fear—by threatening to throw victims out on the street and withholding food, money, and medical aid to maintain control and discourage victims from leaving.

Now that BEST is part of the Wyndham Rewards program—safe, clean hotel rooms can now offer emergency housing until agencies are able to find another transitional housing solution.

​The majority of people who are trafficked do not have cars. Their controllers can use rideshare services to transport victims to sex buyers or to a forced work situation. That’s why rideshare drivers are in a unique position to be able to spot the warning signs of human trafficking. They can offer a victim help, or if the trafficker is in the car with the victim, drivers can report a human trafficking situation to law enforcement. But rideshare drivers do not always know what to look for. That’s why BEST recently partnered with Lyft and the Dressember Foundation to provide educational sessions to boost human trafficking awareness for Lyft drivers in Miami and Las Vegas.

Lyft wants its drivers to know what to do if they encounter a situation where they suspect a rider may be the victim of human trafficking. The driver education events in Miami and Las Vegas are part of Lyft’s commitment to safety, and are in alignment with Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
 
The Dressember Foundation is dedicated to restoring the lives of human trafficking victims and survivors worldwide. They are sponsoring the driver education events with the goal of helping human trafficking victims escape a life of abuse and exploitation.

BEST led driver education sessions at Lyft’s Miami Driver Hub in advance of Super Bowl LIV on January 9, 10, 13 and 14. Three sessions were led in English and one session was in Spanish. BEST will also be expanding education sessions to drivers in Las Vegas. Sessions will start on February 5, and they will take place throughout 2020 at Lyft’s Las Vegas Driver Hub.

Rideshare drivers can learn to recognize signs that can help them spot a potential human trafficking victim. Some indicators include; riders who are secretive or request a discrete drop-off location, riders who are confused about what city they are in, riders who have signs of physical abuse, riders who are unusually anxious or fearful and do not make eye contact, or riders who allow someone else to speak for them or they respond to questions as if they have been coached. Drivers attending BEST’s sessions are encouraged to report suspicions to 911, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888, or text HELP to BEFREE.

When hotel employees learn the signs of human trafficking, they can become advocates for helping human trafficking victims. That’s why The South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association (SCRLA) recently joined forces with BEST to provide their member hotel staffs with BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training, sponsored by AAHOA. This new partnership makes South Carolina the seventh state to begin using BEST’s hotel employee training program.

Front line staff who work directly with the general public can witness the warning signs of human trafficking and report it. BEST’s training explains the truth about human trafficking and helps hotel employees learn how to recognize potential human trafficking situations and report suspected trafficking activity to their managers.  Hotel management can then contact law enforcement to safely intervene and recover victims. BEST’s hotel employee training has been proven to increase staff reporting, and survey results show that after receiving training, 96 percent of hotel employee participants believe BEST’s training made their hotel safer.

“As an industry uniquely positioned to recognize and report human trafficking, it is crucial that we empower all of our employees to take action when they suspect a problem. Our partnership with BEST gives members free, ongoing access to a toolkit designed to equip everyone working in the hotel industry with what they need to know to help keep our establishments and communities safe,” says John Durst, President & CEO for SCRLA.
 
Given the transient nature of the hotel industry, with its service-focused culture that respects guest privacy, hotels are an ideal environment for human traffickers. So, it is essential that all hotel employees who have direct contact with guests are trained to recognize and report potential human trafficking. 

Ahead of February’s big game and in alignment with Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Lyft is partnering with BEST and the Dressember Foundation to provide education for drivers in South Florida around human trafficking prevention.
 
BEST will lead the sessions on January 9 & 13 (in English) and January 10 & 14 (in Spanish) at the Lyft Miami Driver Hub. The sessions will help Lyft drivers learn how to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and what to do if they suspect that one of their riders may be a victim of human trafficking.
 
"We are excited to partner with Lyft in this new education initiative to help drivers learn how to identify human trafficking and equip them with resources should they suspect their passenger is a victim of human trafficking,” says Marissa Peden, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Dressember Foundation.
 
Lyft is dedicated to building and maintaining safe communities. Last year, Lyft launched more than 15 new safety features — including in-app emergency assistance for all riders and drivers.
 
Florida ranks third in the United States in human trafficking cases reported, behind California and Texas, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. With Miami hosting February’s big game, the city is anticipating that over a million people will attend events.
 
“According to survivors of labor and sex trafficking that BEST has interviewed, people who experience human trafficking are frequently in driving services for transportation,” explains Mar Brettmann, PhD, CEO of Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking. “Their controllers may be transporting them to work in a forced labor situation or a victim may be traveling to meet a sex buyer. Lyft drivers have the opportunity to offer assistance to human trafficking victims who are traveling alone or to report suspicion of abuse to 911 or the human trafficking hotline.”

The majority of human trafficking victims are women and girls. Learning this is what motivated Blythe Hill, the founder of Dressember, to challenge herself back in 2009 to wear only dresses for the entire month of December to support women and girls all over the world who are exploited by human trafficking. In the following years, Blythe’s personal challenge began to spread when her friends offered to join her in wearing dresses each day of December.

By 2012, her December challenge had grown into something much bigger than Blythe had ever imagined. She started the foundation, Dressember, which is now a global movement that helps raise awareness and funds to fight human trafficking by supporting the work of organizations like BEST.  To date, Dressember has raised over 7.5M to fight back against human trafficking. And it all started with a dress! 

This December, thousands of women and men will come together to raise funds benefiting anti-trafficking programs around the world (including ours!) BEST sat down with Blythe to get her insight on how this movement has taken off, and what she sees for the future.
 
Q: Did you ever think this style challenge would catch on as it has? What has this shown you?

A: I had no idea it would become what it has; in the beginning I thought there was a decent chance it would completely flop, but it blew my expectations out of the water. What it’s shown me is that so many people feel the way I felt— passionate about this issue, but powerless to do much about it and therefore, eager for a way to take tangible action.
 
Q: How does participating in the Dressember challenge help show that women can be both forceful and feminine?

A: Femininity means something different to everyone, but I like the idea that Dressember is an opportunity to reclaim the dress — something that has become a very loaded symbol — to be a tool that unifies and empowers rather than objectifies and weakens. Men and women alike can take on a type of advocacy where they are both bold and yet gracious — pushing people to be better, do better, buy better, and yet recognizing that we are all coming from different places and although some people can dive in, others need baby steps and easy access points. I definitely identify with that!
 
Q: Is there an effort to reach more younger women and girls, to help them learn what they can do to prevent human trafficking?

A: Absolutely. I love interacting with students and young kids about this because they can become fierce advocates. Often we think we need to protect kids from the darkness of the world — and I do believe there is age-appropriate information vs. non-age appropriate — but kids have a strong sense of fairness and of right and wrong, and they catch on to the injustice of slavery very quickly. Some of our top advocates historically have been individuals under 18.
 
Q: What is your vision for the future?

A: There is so much misinformation about trafficking, and this keeps us as a larger society from identifying it when we come in contact with it (something the BEST team knows firsthand); it also keeps individuals who are being exploited from identifying as victims of trafficking. While our immediate efforts are to resource programs around the US and around the world to effectively dismantle trafficking and provide comprehensive care for survivors, I get most excited about our prevention and intervention efforts, because these are the most potentially culture-changing efforts we’re making, with what I see to be the longest lasting effect. This is why, when someone joins Dressember, we equip them with resources and a language around trafficking that both broadens their own awareness and empowers them to share with their community — we’re looking to change the wider perception of this issue as we systematically dismantle it from multiple angles.
​
 
Dressember 2019 has officially started! It’s not too late to join in and be part of the impact by wearing a dress (or a tie!) every day in December. Head to dressember.org to create a campaign page and to find out more.

This past summer, BEST began filming on our biggest training project of the year. Our staff has been busy making customized human trafficking prevention training videos for employees and tenants of the Port of Seattle.

BEST has conducted smaller in-person trainings for the Port of Seattle in the past, but this new video-based training is a much larger project. The Port of Seattle is the first Port in the country to create online human trafficking prevention training for all of their employees, as well as their aviation and maritime partners.

To develop the training, BEST first met with the Port of Seattle to understand their training needs. We quickly determined that we would need to develop two separate training videos. One for people who work at the airport, and one for people who work at the maritime facilities along the Puget Sound waterfront, including the industries of commercial fishing, cargo shipping, cruise, recreational boating, and maritime industrial development.

In addition, BEST is also creating customized management trainings for the Port of Seattle. One for managers at the airport and one for managers at the maritime facilities to help them understand the importance of providing their employees with training, and how they can safely report suspected human trafficking incidents. 

This training at the Port of Seattle will make a big difference in helping prevent human trafficking in Washington State because these are the employees who work on the frontlines, interacting with over 45 million people each year as they move through the region’s seaport and airport. The Port of Seattle is one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest economic engines and international travel hubs, and that can also make it a place where traffickers move and exploit their victims.  

To develop the customized training, BEST set up several focus groups with human trafficking experts, survivor experts, and key leaders in law enforcement, so that we could collect feedback to make sure the new training was survivor-informed and contains the most current reporting protocol, should someone witness a potential human trafficking situation.

BEST also interviewed vendors who have businesses inside the Port. We wanted to make sure we understood their needs for training employees as well. We heard that one of the most important challenges for vendors is taking time away from daily work in order to complete the training. So, after talking with vendors, BEST learned it was essential our training is no longer than 30 minutes. This will help managers be able to give their employees the time they need to take the training. 

In July, BEST began conducting on-camera interviews to make the segments of the training videos. We interviewed several people for each video. Both the airport video and the maritime video have interview segments from human trafficking survivors, so that employees can hear directly from survivor experts about what to look for to be able to recognize human trafficking victims. The maritime training also has interviews from leaders at the Port of Seattle, the Port of Seattle’s Security Department, the Fisherman’s Terminal, and the Maritime Industrial Center. In addition to survivor interviews, the airport training has interviews from leaders at the Port of Seattle, the Seattle Police Department, and a flight attendant.

The flight attendant BEST interviewed was April Johnson. She had an incident on one of her flights from Seattle to Minneapolis where a middle-aged man was traveling with two very young women. It was late at night when the man came to the back of the plane to talk with the flight attendants. He asked them questions about how they were trained to spot human trafficking and he said it was something people were looking out for in Seattle.

After the man returned to his seat, April had a gut instinct that something was not right. She took a garbage bag and did a sweep through the cabin so she could look at the young women sitting with the man. The women were not talking, not sleeping, not on phones, and not reading. They were looking straight ahead. When the plane landed, April said they did not stand up and collect belongings and did not act like other travelers. She decided to file an incident report with her supervisor, and later learned that the man had been arrested for sex trafficking as a direct result of her incident report. April volunteered to be a part of BEST’s Sea-Tac Airport training video to encourage airport employees to speak up if they see something that could be human trafficking.
​
As of the publishing date of this article, BEST is still in the final stages of editing the training videos for the Port of Seattle. Our goal is to finalize the trainings in October, so the Port of Seattle can begin training employees in early 2020.

Recognizing the growing concern posed by the threat of human trafficking in the hospitality industry and around the world, BEST has partnered with three new hospitality partners to deliver human trafficking prevention training for their members and lodging properties. My Place Hotels, the Maryland Hotel and Lodging Association (MHLA), and the Hotel Association of North Texas (HANTX) have all recently started using BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training, which is sponsored by AAHOA.

​These new partnerships are encouraging even more hotel employees to get trained with BEST’s comprehensive human trafficking prevention training. This is sure to lead to more hotel employees detecting human trafficking incidents, more hotel managers reporting human trafficking activity to law enforcement, and more victims of human trafficking getting access to the help they need to escape their traffickers.
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To learn more about BEST’s partnership with My Place Hotels, visit their Blog.
To learn more about BEST’s partnership with MHLA, read this news story.  
To learn more about BEST’s partnership with HANTX, read this news story.

​
By: Justin Shan
 
It is estimated that 300-500 children are exploited by sex trafficking in Seattle, annually. But it’s not just children. Vulnerable adults are also subjected to the severe trauma of being sold by traffickers and abused by buyers each day. The truth is that no one is immune to the threat of human trafficking; commercial sexual exploitation will not end until sex buyers stop driving the demand.
 
Sex trafficking is fueled by the law of supply and demand. The constant demand for commercial sex means the need for an endless supply of human victims. Therefore, to truly end the crime of sex buying in a community, it is crucial to start with demand reduction.
 
This is where the Ending Exploitation Collaborative (EEC) comes in. The EEC is a leading-edge multisector partnership between two government agencies and three non-profit organizations that have been nationally recognized for their innovative demand reduction strategies in the fight against human trafficking in Washington State. The collaborative includes the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST), the Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS), and Seattle Against Slavery (SAS). With one collective vision, this group is working tirelessly toward ending the commercial sexual exploitation of vulnerable people in Washington State.
 
BEST’s role in the EEC is to work with business leaders to help build healthy workplace culture and create workplace policies that help prevent sex-buying. This is important because a large portion of sex buyers are actually corporate employees. These buyers use work phones and computers to surf the illicit sex market during the workday, then arrange meet-ups with traffickers and victims on business properties or through business services such as hotels or massage parlors. BEST’s training program shows business employees that sex buying is not inconsequential. In fact, it’s harmful to victims, and harmful to employees if they are caught by law enforcement or their employers. “That awareness and that implementation show a sex buyer that you will lose your job if you do this,” explains Charlotte Lapp, the EEC’s Statewide Manager.
 
Moreover, the EEC also works with the criminal justice system in Washington to shift the focus away from arresting trafficking victims, and onto capturing and prosecuting the sex buyers. This is because ultimately, buyers are the ones doing the harm by fueling the demand for sex trafficking. They are responsible for the recruitment of new sex trafficking victims.
 
In order to help hold buyers accountable, SAS created an artificial intelligence (AI) program that poses as a sex trafficking victim and “chats” with potential buyers online. After the AI gathers enough information on when, where, and how a person is going to purchase sex, it then passes on that information to the police, so the buyer can be busted by law enforcement for their crime.
 
The EEC works to educate prosecutors on the legislation in Washington State that ensures a portion of the fines and fees associated with human trafficking cases are used to help support direct services for survivors and prevention work in that community.

​Survivor service organizations like OPS help provide resources and assistance to help human trafficking survivors have an opportunity to return to a life that’s free from exploitation.
 
The EEC’s multisector anti-trafficking tactics have been proven to deter many sex buyers. However, to truly eradicate sex trafficking from its root, there has to be a positive change in social attitude. Since ultimately, demand is developed and maintained from toxic social norms.
 
Changing social attitudes is a complex process that requires everyone in a community to work together in collaboration. This is why the EEC is bringing different organizations together to work towards one shared goal—to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people through sex trafficking. “It is not just the government, or just private sector, or just non-profits,” Lapp emphasizes. “But it needs to really be everybody doing their part to create that cultural shift to reduce the amount of sexual exploitation that happens.”
 
 
Justin Shan is a communication and psychology major at the University of Washington who recently completed an internship with BEST. He is interested in entering a career in public relations and marketing after his anticipated graduation in June 2020. He can be reached at yuehs@uw.edu.

The Maryland Hotel Lodging Association (MHLA) announced a new partnership with BEST to make human trafficking awareness training available to all MHLA’s hotel members and their staffs, free of charge. BEST provides expertise in human trafficking prevention, and BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training, sponsored by AAHOA, helps hotel employees learn the indicators of human trafficking and how to safely report it to law enforcement. By partnering with BEST to offer this valuable training, the MHLA is helping their member hotels learn how to avert human trafficking at their properties.

Maryland’s unique location contributes to making it a central location for human trafficking. Traffickers use Maryland’s highways, especially Interstate-95, to transport victims to major East Coast cities such as New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.  Interstate-95 runs through some of the state’s most populated cities, making this highway a major corridor for human trafficking activity, according to the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force.
 
Human trafficking networks often rely on legitimate businesses, such as hotels, to sustain their operations and infrastructure. Given the transient nature of the hotel industry, with its service-focused culture that respects guest privacy, hotels can be an appealing environment for human traffickers. Therefore, it is essential that hotel employees are trained in what to look for.

“Try to imagine having your freedom taken away, continuously living with the fear of violence, and being forced to work against your will. These are things that human trafficking victims often experience,” explains Mar Brettmann, PhD, Executive Director for BEST. “Our human trafficking awareness training helps hotel employees learn how to spot the warning signs when a guest is being trafficked, and to know how to safely report it.” 
  
This new partnership will give more hotel and motel owners and managers across Maryland the opportunity to implement BEST’s valuable anti-trafficking training at no cost to MHLA’s members. MHLA is the most recent hotel association to adopt BEST’s human trafficking prevention training, joining a growing list of large hotel associations utilizing the program.  
 
"We are proud to partner with BEST on this very important issue,” said Amy Rohrer, President & CEO of MHLA. “BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training is an informative and practical resource for hoteliers and their staff. This training will provide the Maryland lodging industry with the education necessary to help protect victims of exploitation and increase employee safety.”

​BEST was founded on the belief that businesses have the power to make a difference when it comes to preventing human trafficking. That’s why it’s crucial that BEST’s Board of Directors include leaders with insight into modern business acumen who can help advise BEST on the inner workings of large corporations. BEST board member, Megan Minarik, brings this business insight to BEST. Megan is currently a Merchandise Manager at the prominent e-commerce company, Zulily. She has built an impressive career in the retail industry that spans over 15 years and has been a valuable member of BEST’s Board of Directors for four years. Megan serves as BEST’s Fundraising Chair, and her work on the Board is helping BEST expand our programs nationally.

Zulily’s is a retail business, but at its root—it’s really about technology. The company uses advanced data and automated reasoning to make decisions that are constantly transforming its website, serving up millions of variations of products on its homepage, and launching thousands of unique items daily. As a Merchandise Manager, Megan is responsible for making corporate decisions that help drive Zulily’s success in the consumer marketplace. She brings to BEST’s Board of Directors a valuable corporate perspective that helps BEST understand how to deliver programs that truly help large corporations. 

Although Megan has dedicated her professional career to the retail industry, there’s a reason she has such a vested interest in BEST’s work to prevent human trafficking. Growing up in Golden, Colorado and Spokane, Washington, Megan’s mother worked as a nurse, and some of her patients were the victims of physical and sexual abuse. Her mother would not share confidential patient information with Megan and her sister, but she was transparent with them about the level of violence and exploitation some of her patients were put through. Many of them were vulnerable children. These talks with her mother gave Megan insight into the brutal world of human trafficking, and the ugly truth that it was absolutely happening within their community.

As she grew up, Megan gained a degree in Business Administration and Apparel Merchandising from Washington State University and went on to build a successful career in retail. But she never forgot the influence of her mother’s patients and the compassion she had developed for vulnerable people. As it ended up, one of her good friends was married to an attorney who represented cases with people who had been sex trafficked. Whenever she saw these friends, Megan would curiously ask him a lot of questions about the crime of human trafficking, and the laws surrounding it—and most of all—what happened to the survivors of human trafficking? Who was helping them?

Megan’s friend introduced her to Val Richie, who was the Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the King County Prosecutor’s Office. Val not only gave Megan more insight about the crime of human trafficking, but he also introduced her to BEST’s Executive Director, Mar Brettmann, who encouraged Megan to join BEST’s Board of Directors in 2015. 
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Since then, Megan has been a champion for BEST, helping the organization grow and expand to reach more businesses both inside and outside of Washington state. BEST is grateful for Megan’s dedication and expertise that she brings to the Board. Her knowledge of business leadership, compassion for vulnerable people, and commitment to this issue is sure to continue to help BEST make an impact in preventing human trafficking. 

BEST has partnered up with the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association (PRLA) to make human trafficking awareness training available to all of PRLA’s hotel members and their staffs. Starting last month, BEST began providing our online Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training, sponsored by AAHOA, to PRLA’s members in order to help front line hotel employees across Pennsylvania learn the indicators of human trafficking and how to safely report it to law enforcement.
 
Human trafficking networks often rely on legitimate businesses to sustain their operations and infrastructure. Given the transient nature of the hotel industry, with its service-focused culture that respects guest privacy, hotels are an ideal environment for human traffickers. So it is essential that hotel employees, who have direct contact with guests, are trained in what to look for—so they can recognize the signs of human trafficking.
 
“There is no easy fix to the problem of human trafficking, but combating this crime starts with awareness,” says Mar Brettmann, Executive Director for BEST. “That’s why our new partnership with PRLA is so important. They are making our human trafficking awareness training free to all their hospitality members and staffs. We know that educating employees about the warning signs of human trafficking can help witnesses know when to report suspicious behavior, and this helps recover more human trafficking victims.”   

BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training for hotel employees is a 30-minute, online, video-based training. The training is available in English or Spanish, and it has been proven to increase hotel employee reporting. Researchers from the University of Washington evaluated BEST's hotel training and found trained employees were more likely to come forward to report human trafficking incidents to their mangers. Researchers also learned 96 percent of hotel employee participants believe the training made their hotel safer.

This new partnership will give more hospitality property owners and managers across the Commonwealth the opportunity to implement BEST’s valuable anti-trafficking training, and this will help prevent human traffickers from being able to use Pennsylvania hotels to carry out their exploitation and crimes. 
 
“Everyone has a role in fighting human trafficking. Our industry is well-positioned to recognize and report it, so we want to ensure our members have access to the right training so they know what to look for. We chose to partner with BEST because BEST offers outstanding online training that will equip our members and their employees to take action when they suspect a problem," said John Longstreet, PRLA President & CEO.

Guest Blog Post By: Chris Williams, Partner at Cedar Law PLLC

I used to only think about sex trafficking as part of the worst scenarios portrayed in television and movies. However, my professional career has always involved working with or for children and I eventually began to see the damage this type of abuse has on kids in multiple arenas. Going as far back as my first year out of college and serving in a high school as a VISTA volunteer, I heard students talking about friends resorting to “tricking” during casual discussions about what people were going to do after they graduated. Later I worked in a group home for seriously abused and neglected children. I met multiple girls who had been sexually abused and intervened in at least four of their suicide attempts (I am happy to be finally forgetting some of the details of those incidents). After law school, I worked in juvenile courts across the state and saw judges and social workers struggle to keep children in foster care out of the sex trade, many of whom saw it as a lifestyle they preferred over living with strangers in a foster home.

We Need a Cultural Shift 

Comparing these experiences to the casual nature in which many men and the entertainment industry still talk about prostitution led me to the conclusion that a cultural change is necessary. These acts have serious lifelong consequences for too many unseen victims. More than people know about. Sadly, (intolerable) discussions among many men about bachelor parties, road trips, and other reasons to gather and celebrate frequently involve – at a minimum – jokes about prostitution. There is a vast disconnect between the popular notions about prostitution and the practical realities for many, if not most, of those who are engaged in it.

Too many people ignore the involvement of children. Too many people overlook the victimization of boys. Too many people blindly assume that some level of actual consent must have been given. When violence is committed, too many people raise their hands and assume the victim was complicit by putting themselves in danger. Too many people also have no idea that it is happening all round them almost all the time.

In a shift that is both fair and sound public policy, prosecutors are increasingly charging customers instead of prostitutes. We can rarely arrest our way out of most societal ills, however. So we must contribute to a cultural shift which eradicates the widespread celebration of prostitution. “Sex trafficking” is the legal term that includes acts of prostitution involving any minor and anyone (adult or child) engaged in it by threat or use of force, fraud, or coercion. Awareness of the real harms and how often people are purchasing sex is necessary if this cultural shift is to occur.

Businesses Can Drive Change

Studies and surveys of those who have engaged in transactional sex are beginning to reveal that the business community must be engaged to help eliminate demand for prostitution. Men are frequently using their work environment to facilitate acts of prostitution. Victims report that they have frequently been contacted by men at their workplaces and then had sex at those same workplaces. Many other businesses are also used to facilitate the sex acts (i.e. hotels, car services, websites, etc.). Violence and victimization is occurring with the assistance of business assets.
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Responsible business management can do a lot to prevent these harms, however. And altruism is not the only reason to act. Businesses lose money when they become associated with prostitution and sex trafficking. Reputational interests can lose value suddenly but there are also legal claims that can damage the bottom line.

Attorneys Can Help Business Clients Drive Change

BEST assembled a training for legal professionals to help them identify these various issues for the benefit of a variety of clients. From both a plaintiff and defendant perspective, awareness of the intersection between sex trafficking and the business community is critical value lawyers can bring to bear in the advice they provide. BEST’s free CLE course is available online and can help attorneys open client eyes to issues and liabilities that have probably gone overlooked. As awareness increases of the frequency of and harms caused by sex trafficking, businesses that contribute to the cultural change that eradicates the practice will be doing the right thing and protecting their assets. I highly encourage legal professionals to watch BEST’s free CLE and incorporate it into your professional expertise and advice.
 


​Chris Williams is a partner at Cedar Law PLLC, which specializes in education law. He previously served as a senior assistant general counsel for Seattle Public Schools, assistant attorney general for the state of Washington, and as counsel for numerous Seattle-area nonprofits. He volunteers with Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST) to support its efforts to eradicate sex trafficking by eliminating safe havens in which it operates. He can be reached at chris@cedarlawpllc.com. 
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​Our biggest day of charitable giving of the year is coming up on May 8.  That’s the day BEST is participating in GiveBIG—the one-day online giving event where thousands of big-hearted people band together to help raises funds to support nonprofit organizations.

Every dollar counts even more! GiveBIG is the only time of year that your donation dollars to BEST will be doubled or even tripled by some special donors who are dedicated to BEST! All gifts will be doubled, and gifts of $100 or more will be tripled, maximizing your impact to BEST.

This year, BEST’s goal is to raise $25,000 dollars to help interrupt and prevent human trafficking, and to employ trafficking survivors. Here’s what we do:

We Raise Awareness about Human Trafficking 

BEST raises awareness about the impact that human trafficking has on victims and employers. BEST provides online and in-person training to help employees recognize human trafficking and proactively prevent exploitation. We offer training for business leaders and general staff, training for hotel managers and their staffs, and our Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course helps educate legal professionals about the risks surrounding sex trafficking.  

We Provide Professional Consulting for Business Leaders 

BEST empowers employers to help victims and prevent exploitation through their day-to-day business operations. BEST provides free resources, including; best practices to prevent sex trafficking, an online self-assessment, and strategic advice. BEST also supports employers to develop anti-trafficking strategies, as well as how to implement workplace policies and provide internal communications that help prevent human trafficking.

We are Creating a Pipeline to Employment 

A lack of alternative employment opportunities is one of the most serious barriers for people seeking freedom from a trafficker. To address this problem, BEST’s Safe Jobs Collaborative connects people who have been trafficked with safe, stable employment. BEST provides employers with training and support, while working with local service agencies to connect human trafficking survivors who are seeking work with Safe Jobs employers.  

You Can Join the Movement

Be part of the movement to take a stand against human trafficking. Join us between now and May 8, and schedule your donation on our GiveBIG Profile Page. All pre-scheduled donations will be processed on May 8th, the day of GiveBIG.

Together, we can all make a difference. 

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California Senator, Toni Atkins, knows something about trail-blazing.

Before taking office, she was the director of client services at Womancare Health Center in San Diego, where she helped significantly expand the clinic’s services and founded the Toni Atkins Lesbian Health Fund to assist low-income lesbian and bisexual women in need of medical treatment.

After being elected to the California legislature, Senator Atkins was chosen by her colleagues to be the next Senate President pro Tempore, and in March 2018 she was sworn in as the first openly LGBTQ person to lead the California Legislature’s upper house.

Senator Atkins’ commitment to under-served populations and to women’s health and safety inspired her to author Senate Bill 970.  This bill requires all California hotels and lodging establishments that are subject to the Fair Employment and Housing Act provide at least 20 minutes of training and education regarding human-trafficking awareness to each employee who is likely to interact or come into contact with victims of human trafficking.

Senator Atkins’ bill was signed into law on September 27, 2018 by California Governor Jerry Brown, making California one of the first states to require human trafficking awareness training for hotel and lodging employees. California hotels have already started training their staff in order to meet the new requirement by 2020. BEST is proud to support California’s efforts to protect vulnerable citizens by partnering with the California Hotel and Lodging Association (CHLA) to provide our online Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training for their members.

At the CHLA Legislative Action Summit in March of this year, the CHLA Board of Directors had an opportunity to visit Senator Atkins and thank her for her dedication to this important issue. They were able to take a moment to pose for this photo on the Senate floor, all holding their certificates of completion for BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training.   

​Most responsible businesses may know about the supply chain problem of human trafficking and have taken precautions to make sure their suppliers are not using products made with slave labor. But many businesses know far less about the risks sex trafficking presents to their own organizations.

Human trafficking is not something that only occurs in other countries. It’s happening right here, right now, even right inside many US businesses. To help businesses understand the truth about labor and sex trafficking, BEST has launched a new training—BEST Basics—and is providing it free to businesses across all industries so more workplaces can train their employees.

Human trafficking is now the fastest growing crime in the world, yet workplace training about human trafficking awareness is one of the biggest training gaps in many businesses, posing a risk for businesses who fail to address this issue.

BEST has found that a peak time to solicit sex online is 2:00 pm, right in the heart of the work day. Employees even at reputable businesses can be using company time, resources, and even company vehicles or properties to facilitate the crime of sex trafficking. When employees are arrested for sex trafficking, this crime can not only greatly damage a company’s reputation, but it can open a business up to potential legal ramifications.  
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The best action for businesses is prevention, and that starts with training. By training employees about human trafficking awareness, corporate leaders can help foster a workplace culture that takes a stand against the exploitation of vulnerable people through human trafficking. BEST Basics offers businesses the opportunity to train all their employees for free, using a simple 20-minute video that employees can watch online. To learn how to access this valuable training resource, visit our BEST Basics web page. 

​One of the most difficult barriers to recovery for people exiting a life of exploitation is a lack of economic alternatives. Most human trafficking victims in the US are first exploited in their teens. So, when they try to escape their traffickers, many survivors may be lacking in education, job experience, identification documents, a resume, a bank account, or even a stable place to live.

All of this can make it difficult for survivors when applying for a job. That’s where BEST’s newest program, the Safe Jobs Collaborative, can help. This new program connects human trafficking survivors to employers willing to interview them and offers support throughout the job application process, while at the same time, social services agencies provide survivors the support they need to be able to successfully enter the workforce.

One of the first employers to join the Safe Jobs Collaborative was Waldron, a consultancy that helps organizations and their team members achieve their full potential through their Career Transition, Effective Organizations and Executive Search practices. Waldron is now offering 10 job search workshops a year for human trafficking survivors in the Safe Jobs program. These workshops provide help with resume writing, finding job opportunities, and interviewing skills. Many of the survivors in the program are youth who have not had a long-term job before, so Waldron’s employment workshops are helping survivors understand what to expect in the application and interview process and giving them confidence while job-hunting.

The workshops have received positive feedback from survivors. Before leaving, most of the survivors say they are feeling confident in themselves and the skills they have to offer a future employer. Managing Director of Career Transition, Kate Lang explains, “Helping them gain that kind of confidence will help them be able to ace an interview and land a good job. All people need that. Not just human trafficking survivors. Every person needs to hear how good they are. At Waldron, that’s what we do. We help people see what they have to offer to the world.” 

Waldron was founded in 1980. Today, they have offices in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Phoenix. They are a purpose-driven B-Corp that recognizes the potential social good that organizations and people make to their communities. They partner with many corporate, public sector and non-profit organizations who are invested in their talent and leadership. Waldron is actively involved in many important causes, which is why they began working with BEST to help tackle the problem of human trafficking.

“Waldron is proud to be a part of this program,” says Lang. “What drew us to BEST was the idea of getting to do some good for an under-served group of people who are struggling looking for work. They’re working to turn their life around, and they need the type of help that we have expertise with. It was just a natural fit for us.” 



For more information about the Safe Jobs Collaborative, or to learn how to sign up for an employment workshop, contact: felisha@bestalliance.org. 

​If you spent time commuting or traveling last January, you may have seen a large ad on the side of a bus or a poster in the airport with a simple, yet powerful message: Help stop human trafficking. These eye-catching posters and ads were part of a large-scale, unified public awareness campaign led by the Port of Seattle in conjunction with many regional partners from the government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors, all in an effort to help increase awareness during January for human trafficking awareness month. Ads and posters were placed all around SeaTac airport and the Port’s maritime facilities, as well as in regional buses, trains, health clinics, libraries, law enforcement offices, public defender offices, community centers, and in many business facilities. These signs, along with a press conference that resulted in 14 regional news stories, and a tremendous amount of chatter on social media, have helped the Port of Seattle and their partners reach an ultimate goal—to raise awareness about what human trafficking can look like, and to teach the public how to help if they witness a trafficking situation.

The purpose of the campaign was to provide human trafficking reporting resources to as many Washingtonians and visitors to our state as possible, and to urge victims and survivors to reach out for assistance. The ads and posters were made in English and multiple other languages. Each included the number for the National Human Trafficking Hotline (888-373-7888, text number 233-733) and a local website that serves as a comprehensive resource for anyone in Washington who is being forced to perform work against their will (WATraffickingHelp.org).

The awareness campaign was launched at a press conference held at SeaTac airport on January 18, 2019 and included speakers from the Port of Seattle, King County Council, Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, and the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Center (WARN).

“We believe this is the first time in the country that a major city, county, Port, transit and private sector agencies have come together on this very important topic,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner, Courtney Gregoire at the press conference.

In addition to the leaders who spoke at the press conference, many western Washington cities, local nonprofit agencies, and regional public and private enterprises came together to help support this campaign and make it a success.


Partnering Cities:
 
​City of Seattle
City of SeaTac
City of Kent
City of Federal Way
City of Tukwila
City of Des Moines
City of Duvall
City of Burien
City of Auburn
City of Renton
 

Partnering Nonprofits:

Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST)
Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST)
The Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS)
Seattle Against Slavery
Northwest Justice Project
 

Partnering Public and Private Enterprises:

Sound Transit Link Light Rail
King County Metro & Public Health Clinics
City of Seattle Parks & Libraries
Snohomish County Lodging Association
Expedia
Uber
Lyft
Clear