We’re thrilled to announce that Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST) and the Washington Hospitality Association Education Foundation (WHAEF) have formed a new partnership to continue to raise awareness of human trafficking within the hospitality industry. This partnership will provide training for Washington Hospitality Association members and support survivors of sex trafficking in finding safe employment within the hospitality industry. The Association has also joined the BEST Employers Alliance, committing as a workplace to implement policies and practices that prevent sex trafficking and sex buying.

Our partnership is dedicated to helping the hospitality workforce succeed through training and education which aligns closely with BEST’s goal to train the hospitality industry on sex trafficking prevention. The Education Foundation has developed many training and certification programs and sponsors several events in order to maintain the highest quality opportunities for employees within the hospitality industry.
 
The Education Foundation also oversees a restaurant management and culinary training program, ProStart, now available at over 30 high schools throughout Washington State. Additionally, for the 2016-17 school year, the Education Foundation awarded $16,500 to high school students who intend to major in a hospitality industry career. Find out more about this great organization on their website www.whaef.org
 
History
The Washington Lodging Association was one of our first partners, helping to develop the Inhospitable to Human Trafficking project (ITT). Through this partnership, we trained staff of over 160 properties to identify possible victims of trafficking and connect them with services.
 
In 2016, the Washington Lodging Association joined forces with the Washington Restaurant Association to launch the Washington Hospitality Association. BEST’s new partnership with the Association will build on these past successes, reaching far more hospitality businesses with awareness and training.
 
Primary Goals of Partnership
 Awareness Raising: 
The Washington Hospitality Association will join BEST in raising awareness of the intersection between human trafficking and the hospitality industry through social media, newsletters, radio and video communications. These messages will be widely shared so that industry is informed about the risks of human trafficking and educated on how to prevent this crime.
 
Training: 
Human trafficking can have negative consequences for businesses but these risks can be mitigated by training staff to notice signs of potential victims. Staff who have done the training quickly begin to make a positive impact in their communities. BEST has an online library of training courses at www.training.bestalliance.org. Currently, these courses are in the English language but BEST is seeking funding to have them translated into Spanish. Dr. Brettmann, BEST Executive Director, provided training at the annual Washington Hospitality Lodging Convention in 2016 and will be leading a seminar at the upcoming Washington Hospitality Association Summit on April 4, 2017 to be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle.

Employment: 
A lack of alternative employment opportunities is one of the most serious barriers for people seeking freedom from a trafficker. BEST and the Washington Hospitality Association will be collaborating to find opportunities throughout the hospitality industry for safe employment. If you are interested in helping by providing employment, please contact BEST or the Washington Hospitality Association Education Foundation.
 
We are looking forward to this partnership making an even greater social impact by raising awareness of, and ultimately, preventing the crime of human trafficking throughout the hospitality industry in Washington State.

BEST is proud to announce Anjilee Dodge, MSW as the newest member of the BEST Governance Board. Anjilee is the Workforce Development Coordinator at YouthCare Seattle and a partner with BEST on our Safe Jobs program. 

Anjilee was drawn to social work, in part, because she experienced poverty and homelessness as a child. It wasn’t easy for Anjilee to navigate her way through what she describes as “systematic oppression,” the oppression that arises from larger social and economic structures. Thankfully, she found a path for herself. In high school, she threw herself into every extra-curricular activity she could. She held several after-school jobs and did Running Start, a program that allows high school students to earn college credits. She worked hard to go to college and eventually earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Washington. She’s even been published in the Seattle Journal for Social Science for her article “His Feminist Façade: The Neoliberal Co-option of the Feminist Movement.” Anjilee’s favorite hobbies are reading feminist theory and science fiction novels and, of course, spending time with her son Ashton. 

Joining the BEST Board is a way Anjilee feels she can help change societal norms. “I feel like BEST’s mission addresses the root of problem,” she states. “Everyone should have the opportunity to pursue their goals unhindered by societal disadvantage and I am committed to working toward structural social change.” Perhaps this is why Anjilee is so passionate about BEST’s Safe Jobs program. Anjilee appreciates that the Safe Jobs program will soon provide “tangible” action items for businesses who want to employ survivors and at-risk persons. In her work, she sees that there is a gap in employment services for youth who are ready and able to work. But, these youth just don’t have the same connections that a middle-class young person or a college graduate might have. They may also face significant barriers in resources necessary for successful employment (stable housing, clothing, sobriety, etc.). Helping bridge these barriers and creating opportunities within multiple industries for these youth is a priority for Anjilee. 

​Welcome to the team Anjilee! We’re honored to have you and so thankful for your commitment to our mission.

PDX BEST was launched with an Award Luncheon on February 28th at the West End Ballroom in Portland, OR! The launch event was sponsored by Multnomah County, Multnomah County District Attorney, the Epik Project, and the Junior League of Portland. Thanks to the support these organizations, over 100 people were in attendance. Dr. Mar Brettmann, Executive Director of BEST, and Ngoc Nguyen, BEST Program Manager, attended the event along with local politicians, law enforcement officials, service providers and, most importantly, local business leaders.

The West End Ballroom is a beautiful, historic building in downtown Portland. The reception area featured an art exhibit inspired by the issue of sex trafficking. In the ballroom there were more than a dozen round tables decorated with flowers and a paper cutouts of a children holding hands, reminding the guests that the age of entry into sex trafficking is often as young as 13-15 years old.

Former Commissioner of Multnomah County, Diane McKeel, received an award for the incredible progress that the county made due to a commitment to sex trafficking prevention. Both Former Commissioner McKeel and Tom Perez, the driving force behind PDX BEST, welcomed businesses to join the broader movement to end sex trafficking in Portland. Thanks to this event, the first Portland business has joined the BEST Employers Alliance and many more are anticipated.
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Dr. Brettmann said, “I am especially thankful to Tom Perez and Multnomah County for their commitment to help businesses leverage their unique position as marketplace influencers in raising awareness regarding trafficking and sexual exploitation, and providing effective, sustainable solution to this crisis.”

​We are excited to share our newest Employers Alliance member, Thorn! 

Thorn is a nonprofit dedicated to driving technology innovation to combat child sexual exploitation – including child sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material and sextortion. Their work aims to accelerate victim identification, deter predatory behavior, and make online environments more hostile to abuse. 

Their team understands that new innovations will always be adopted for both good and evil purposes, and they try to tip the scales in favor of good. To further this work, they launched The Thorn Innovation Lab in November 2015, a physical think tank for a team of engineers and data scientists to research technologies, create partnerships, and build innovative technology solutions to fight child sexual exploitation.

They too believe in the power of public-private partnerships and work with technology companies, law enforcement, government, academia, and ngos to accomplish their goals. As a member of the Alliance, Thorn will continue to fight human trafficking and the exploitation of children, advocate on behalf of vulnerable populations, and share their knowledge with other employers.

We are glad to have them as part of the Alliance as we work to create a world in which no one is trafficked.