Where does my money go when I support Dressember?
Advocacy can take on many forms. At Dressember, our mission is to fight for the dignity of all people, leading to the protection and freedom of millions. Since 2013, we’ve raised over $10MM toward this fight. One of the biggest challenges to anti-trafficking work is a lack of resources, which is why fundraising is one of Dressember’s main pathways for advocacy. Our goal is to empower advocates around the world to take part in the fight to end human trafficking in our lifetime, and every dollar raised and donated is a step closer to that goal. Read on to learn more about the comprehensive impact you are making when you fundraise on behalf of or donate to Dressember.
The Dressember Network is composed of 14 organizations that engage in anti-trafficking efforts and sustainable, collaborative work. Although each organization has a unique approach and impact, every member of the Dressember Network ultimately seeks an end to human trafficking and uses its expertise to fight for all people to live in freedom.
prevention
One of Dressember’s primary initiatives is prevention, or in other words, stopping human trafficking before it starts. This requires education, awareness, and outreach to at risk communities. One of Dressember’s newest Network partners is The Human Trafficking Institute (HTI), an organization that researches federal trafficking prosecutions and provides a comprehensive outline of federal trafficking cases. HTI’s annual Federal Human Trafficking Report provides a holistic overview of prosecutions, including vital data on U.S. federal human trafficking cases.
Dressember’s prevention partners educate at-risk communities, as well as companies and individuals working on the frontlines (i.e., the hospitality, transportation, and medical industries), about human trafficking--how to recognize it, and how to report it. Dressember partners with the following organizations to contribute to the prevention of human trafficking:
Dressember’s foster-care advocacy partner, Olive Crest, specializes in training staff and educating children in group homes in the western region of the US about what commercial sexual exploitation of children is, how to recognize it, and how to prevent it in their communities. With the startling overlap between the foster care system and trafficking in the US, this is a critical component of our prevention work.
Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) and Dressember are partnering on TAT’s work to train bus drivers, casino workers, and truckers to learn how to spot and report human trafficking.
Dressember’s partnership with Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST) extends training to hospitality employees in identifying victims, connecting them with the necessary resources, and implementing sexual exploitation prevention practices in hotels.
The Freedom Story is Dressember’s education partner in Thailand providing awareness training on how to recognize and safeguard at-risk children against human trafficking, including mentoring children in these communities.
Pathfinders provides shelter for homeless youth, who are at high risk of being trafficked, and offers survivors leadership opportunities in anti-trafficking work.
youthSpark provides support to at-risk youth and is dedicated to stopping sexual abuse and exploitation before it happens. YouthSpark also focuses on providing support to LGBTQ+ youth, a group that is disproportionately affected by trafficking.
Intervention
Whether it be in the form of training front line workers to identify signs of trafficking or resourcing investigations on brothels and private trafficking networks, Dressember also allocates resources to intervention with the following partners:
Cast LA, provides legal services for survivors of human trafficking based in Los Angeles. Dressember’s partnership with CAST also resources emergency response, shelters, long-term case management, and survivor leadership opportunities.
Anti-Slavery International is an organization that aims to reduce exploitation in supply chains across Europe, focusing especially on the improvement of labor conditions within business supply chains-- a critical component of Dressember’s mission.
International Justice Mission (IJM) works tirelessly to combat violence and exploitation on an international level, working with law enforcement and local NGO partners. Dressember partners with IJM in three specific areas: 1) Sex trafficking in India 2) the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) in the Philippines, and 3) Violence against Women and Children in Guatemala.
Protection
Finally, Dressember enables organizations working to secure protection and a continuum of care for survivors:
Dressember partners with Love 146, an international human rights organization, through their safe-homes in the Philippines that provide medical care, psychological care, access to recreational activities, life skills training, educational support, legal assistance, and support with community reintegration for survivors.
One of Dressember’s newest partners, Willow International, provides aftercare and vocational training for survivors in Uganda.
Dressember remains in partnership with A21 Freedom Centers for the 2020/21 campaign and will be resourcing comprehensive aftercare to survivors in Greece and Bulgaria.
Dressember partners with Restore NYC to resource their Economic Empowerment Program, which consists of a worker-owned cooperative, including job-readiness and job placement for survivors in New York City.
By supporting Dressember, you can be proud of (and confident in) the impact you are making in the fight to end human trafficking. We believe that collaboration is vital to ending human trafficking, and the programs and partners in the Dressember Network are moving the needle forward in the fight against trafficking.
If you’re looking to engage further with the work of the Dressember Network, join the Dressember Collective, our monthly giving program, to help sustain our work year-round while receiving exclusive updates from the field.
For more information on Dressember’s finances and projects, take a look at our annual reports, which provide a detailed and comprehensive overview of our impact year by year.
About the Author
Layla Nath is in her sophomore year at American University where she studies political science and journalism! Due to her love of advocacy and academia, she is involved in her college community as a teaching and research assistant. Her desire to help others through writing and research, alongside her passion for sustainable fashion and social justice has led her to this team as an Editorial Intern!