Sex trafficking is a booming industry. And, YES, it occurs in Central Oregon. It thrives because there is a serious demand. The buyers fuel the market with their money. Defined, sex trafficking occurs when someone uses force, fraud or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a commercial sex act. A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography and sexual performance done in exchange for any item of value, such as money, drugs, shelter, food or clothes.
Join us Wednesday, January 22 at the Bend Senior/Larkspur Center, 1600 Reed Market, Bend from 6-8pm to listen to local experts in the field of sex trafficking. The speakers will hold a panel discussion on what is currently taking place in our community. The event is sponsored by Soroptimist International of Bend, which is part of a worldwide service organization dedicated to the mission of improving the lives of women and girls (www.sibend.org). Each of the participants is deeply engaged in responding to trafficking and advocating for the support of survivors.
Amy Martin, J Bar J Anti-Trafficking Program Manager, will speak about its program serving survivors. She has 25 years of experience working in the field of social services, 15 of those years working in Central Oregon. Currently, she is the program manager for the “at:project,” a program through J Bar J serving survivors of human trafficking. Previously, Amy was Housing Programs Manager at NeighborImpact and supervisor of Nancy’s House Family Shelter. She recently was employed as a Child Protective Services Investigator for State of Oregon.
Monica Desmond, Deschutes Co. Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) Response Team Coordinator, will address their work. CSEC works to ensure a comprehensive response to exploitation and human trafficking in our region. A member of the State of Oregon Attorney General Trafficking Intervention Advisory Committee, she also has 20 years of experience working in direct social service, community organizing, with nonprofits as well as serving with such organizations as the Homeless Leadership Coalition and the Housing Workgroup of the Central Oregon Health Council.
Andrea Perry, the Guardian Group, will explain their mission of how to prevent and disrupt the sex trafficking of women and children while enabling partners to identify victims and predators in the United States. She has a degree in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University. Her efforts have been focused in the adolescent counseling sector and working with youth in multiple different capacities. Moving to Oregon in 2015, she was introduced to the Guardian Group, began volunteering and later joined the team full time.
Sara Hunt-Perkins is a survivor, abolitionist, mentor, public speaker and advocate for human trafficking awareness and prevention. Sara uses her own experiences as a survivor of 2-1/2 years in the game to educate men, women and children on the realities of sexual exploitation, how/where it happens and how we ALL can change the game together.
The event is free. Refreshments will be provided.
