A Dress A Day

Every year, I wear a dress every day in December to raise money for anti-human trafficking work. I initially began with the national campaign entitled Dressember (c), but realized once COVID-19 hit, that our local work was suffering. To learn more about the national campaign, click here.

In an effort to funnel funds to anti-human trafficking programs in my own community, I shifted from the national campaign to a more localized approach.

All the money from this campaign goes directly to NC Stop Human Trafficking's programs. Those programs include:

• Building Capacity through Collaboration: NC Stop Human Trafficking works tirelessly each day to build capacity in North Carolina. The goal is for support agencies to have the resources to provide victims/survivors with the assistance they need, not only in a crisis but to achieve long-term success. The Pitt County Coalition Against Human Trafficking is NC Stop Human Trafficking's oldest and strongest coalition with local service providers working tirelessly to provide survivors assistance and relief. Under this coalition, we operate the Pitt County Human Trafficking Multidisciplinary Team that directly responds and supports victims of human trafficking right here in Pitt County. We are also one of four founding organizations of the NC Demand Reduction Task Force, which works to prevent human trafficking from occurring by addressing the demand side of sex and labor trafficking.

• Education: NC Stop Human Trafficking also educates and trains helping professionals from health care providers, counselors, foster parents, caregivers, to social workers, law enforcement officers, and domestic violence/sexual assault advocates. This training enables them to respond compassionately and through a trauma-sensitive framework to survivors of sex and labor trafficking. We have been successful in training hundreds of law enforcement officers and health care providers in 2023.

• Advocacy: NC Stop Human Trafficking advocates for stronger anti-human trafficking policies and statutes to ensure that survivors and victims are served well and at the forefront of policy decisions, but also to prevent human trafficking in North Carolina.