What can you do?
Educate yourself and others you know.
Host a screening and discussion of documentaries such as:
- Not My Life, a documentary probing the hidden and often unspoken realities of modern slavery on a global scale
- What I’ve Been Through is Not Who I Am, a 20 minute documentary on the human rights violations of children being commercially sexually exploited in the U.S
- Very Young Girls, an exposé of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls under 18 in New York City
Read up on the issue.
- The MN Girls are Not For Sale campaign website has tons of articles and resources.
- Local research reports can be found here.
Talk to the boys and men in your life about the prostitution of girls
- Keep talking.
- Men are at the core of this issue, the conversations may be uncomfortable—but just do it, and keep doing it.
- To end the prostitution of girls and stop the demand, boys and men must be drivers of the solution.
Talk to your school (or your children’s school) and ask that information that protects children from sexual exploitation is included in the school curriculum.
Educate your church community about the issue and ask that your church become a publicly designated “safe space” for prostituted youth. Learn more from the Northside Women’s Space of the Kwanzaa Community Church in North Minneapolis.
Support businesses which have adopted policies to help prevent human trafficking.
- Patronize companies in the tourism industry who have signed onto the Tourism Child-Protection Code
- Think about supply chains and find out what it takes to provide for your lifestyle at Slavery Footprint
Colleges and Universities can contribute to solutions:
- Educate students and faculty. Hold symposiums on the topic of human trafficking.
- Support the writing of case studies on this topic and their use in the classroom.
- Support research that attempts to quantify the problem and analyzes best practices in prevention, prosecution and rehabilitation.
- Provide forums for cross-sector dialogue on community actions to combat human trafficking in all forms.
- Support student groups that want to take on this issue.
Support MN Girls Are Not For Sale, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s statewide campaign
- Spread the word, host an event, and get involved in the campaign.
- Make a financial contribution to the campaign Contact Terry Williams, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, terry@wfmn.org, 612.236.1808.
Contact your elected officials and let them know you are concerned about the issue and support efforts to end the prostitution of children in Minnesota. Use the Minnesota District Finder to find out how to contact your legislators directly.
If you see something suspicious, trust your instincts and call 911 immediately. Some signs that MAY indicate juvenile sex trafficking:
- Multiple unexplained absences from school.
- A repeated tendency to run away from home.
- Frequent travel to other cities.
- Older boyfriends or girlfriends.
- A sudden ability to have expensive items.
- Appearing depressed or suffering physical injuries.
Make a financial donation to groups supporting girl survivors of sex trafficking.
- The Link
- The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota lists additional agencies
- Check out the Minnesota Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force