UNCHAIN LA: A Night to End Modern-Day Slavery

Polaris Project Los Angeles is hosting "Unchain LA: A Night To End Modern-Day Slavery," a cocktail fundraiser to enhance the range of outreach and supportive services for survivors of sex and labor trafficking in Los Angeles.

An evening of art, music, complimentary food and beverages, this event will be the official launch of Unchain LA, a series of awareness and fundraising events to educate and engage the public about human trafficking in Los Angeles.

Thursday, September 6
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
M.J. Higgins Fine Art & Furnishings
244 S. Main Street
Los Angeles
Tickets are $30 and are available at the door
RSVP to LA@polarisproject.org or (213) 388-2514

Human trafficking is the second largest – and fastest growing – criminal industry in the world, tied with arms dealing. Every year, 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States and over 200,000 U.S. children are at high risk for being trafficked within the United States. Los Angeles is a prime destination and transit point for victims of trafficking.

The isolation and fear that often characterize trafficking situations prevent victims from coming forward and seeking help, resulting in inadequate levels of victim identification. Unchain LA: "A Night to End Modern-Day Slavery" will help educate the public about human trafficking, the need for identifying victims in Los Angeles, and ways to support victim identification efforts.

Founded in 2002, Polaris Project is a Washington DC-based non-profit organization with offices throughout the U.S. and in Japan. Polaris Project takes a comprehensive approach to combating trafficking, combining direct intervention, client services, grassroots mobilization and policy advocacy.

Polaris Project Los Angeles was established in February 2006 and is a part of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Human Trafficking and the Los Angeles City Southern Regional Unity Coalition on Human Trafficking. More information about Polaris Project can be found at http://www.polarisproject.org/.

AmeriCorps Success Story

My time in Orange County AmeriCorps Alliance was quite a challenge. One of the most disheartening experiences of the term was the way that the students interacted with one another. There were constant put downs. As a Character Educator, I felt it was due to a lack on my part that the students treated each other the way they did.

I really wanted students to become aware of their actions, so I implemented a "star of the week" and "star of the month" program. If a student modeled good behavior I would try to recognize that by giving them a star, but they weren't handed out like candy. Some students expected stars every time they did something they were already supposed to do. I tired to give them out for random acts of extra good behavior that I could tell were not coming from expecting a reward. They would put their name on the star, and it went into a jar. At the end of the week we would choose a "star of the week" from the jar. We did the same thing for star of the month.
There was one boy in my character club who never received a star. He was one of my favorite students, but he too often retaliated when being the target of ridicule by other students. One day, I decided to challenge him. I asked him why he thought so many other students had gotten a star, yet he hadn't. His response was that I liked the other students better. I told him that that wasn't the case and that I really wanted to give him a star, but he had not earned one yet. I presented him with a challenge: if he could get a star within two weeks I would give him a reward. He said that he would like a candy bar if he got a star.

Normally, he got picked on everyday. And everyday I have to reprimand him for fighting back or resorting to name calling back. The very day after I made my deal with him, he was called a name by one of the other students while he was waiting to use the computer. His immediate reaction, however, was different than normal: right away he turned to me and said, "Hey, she called me [an inappropriate name]." Then I pulled him aside, and he asked why he was in trouble. I told him, "hold on," and went to the desk. "You're not in trouble," I said. Then I handed him a star. He started to walk away a bit confused, but he was going to take what he could get because he had never gotten one before. "Do you know why you got that?" I asked. "NO!" he said emphatically. "Because you didn't call her a name back or hit her," I said. "Oh," he said plainly. I waited a moment. "Don't I owe you something?" "Huh?" he questioned. "I thought I owed you a candy bar because you got a star?" I reminded him. "Oh, yeah! You do," he said as a large grin came over his face.

The next day I wasn't at the center, but the other AmeriCorps member called me and said that he came up to her bragging that he had gotten a star the day before. We both thought it was really cute and we were both SO proud. I finally felt like I had made a difference.