Audacious Impact | Changing the Course of History

By Brittany Dunn - COO of Safe House Project

AIn 1963, a mathematician and meteorologist named Edward Lorenz made a presentation to the New York Academy of Sciences. Lorenz presented a theory that he called the "butterfly effect," which states that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it sets air molecules in motion, which move other air molecules. He proposed that this motion pattern could continue until a hurricane was formed on the other side of the world After he finished, the audience laughed him out of the room

For years, this theory remained an interesting myth at best and a scientific joke at worst However, in the mid-1990s, physics professors proved that Lorenz's theory was viable and accurate enough to work in every test. Soon after these discoveries, the butterfly effect was granted the status of a scientific law and is now known as the law of sensitive dependence upon initial conditions The butterfly effect holds in human life, just as in science Our daily actions and interactions often impact just one person at first, growing to influence another and another over time until the course of history changes.

Human trafficking is an issue that touches every age, race, socio-economic class, and gender. Survivors surround us in our schools and our churches They pass us in the grocery store and are our customers in local businesses They are our friends, our neighbors, and our community members

We learned that a family member had victimized forty percent of the thousands of children trafficked in the United States. Someone they trusted to protect them. Then we realized that only one percent of all these survivors are identified. These kids are rarely abducted from their homes, but are actively being trafficked by people they know One percent out of millions of people Our hearts were broken, and we were overwhelmed

This massive problem presented us with the question, "What will you do about this?" We answered, "What can three military spouses with seven children under seven, and three deployed spouses do alone?" We were reminded that we tolerate what we permit to exist In the blink of an eye, we stepped out of corporate America and took up the mission to help eradicate child sex trafficking in the United States. Today, we lead the Safe House Project, a national leader in combating human trafficking. Headquartered in Virginia, we work with an incredible team throughout the United States to increase survivor identification, provide emergency survivor support, and expand safe house capacity We understand that to defeat the enemy, you must know it. Trafficking is an epidemic in our communities right here in Virginia In 2021 alone, approximately 140 survivors were reported in Virginia through the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which leads us to estimate that about 14,000 others are still trafficked in the Commonwealth annually.

According to the Hampton Roads Trafficking Task Force, over ninety percent of the identified individuals in our communities are American citizens, and thirty-four percent of those survivors are children. Hundreds of individuals, minors, and adults are being bought and sold in our neighborhoods. They still go to the grocery store and are still customers in our businesses, but they are being missed. To increase the number of survivors identified, we must focus on educating the people interacting with survivors most frequently. These individuals include healthcare professionals, law enforcement officers, child protective service professionals, educators, military service members, leaders in youth-serving organizations, and more Major Alexander issued a mayoral proclamation for Norfolk City employees to train through the Safe House Project's OnWatch curriculum.

Our most creative training effort to date was developed with leaders in the pest management industry During the global COVID-19 pandemic, as children were trapped in unsafe homes, these industry leaders saw a unique opportunity to help identify kids who were being exploited As one of the few groups still allowed into other families' homes, pest management professionals stepped up to identify and report suspected trafficking situations. This instance is just one example of business leaders in our communities asking, "How can we use our resources and skills to help?"

When we support creativity in solutions, miracles happen Last year, an in-home service provider who had participated in the Safe House Project's training was sent on a job to a large home When he arrived, the couple would not allow him upstairs. He calmly explained that if they wanted their security system installed, he needed access to the house's upper floor. After much convincing, the couple asked him to wait downstairs while they prepared the rooms. They came back fifteen minutes later to grant him access to a single upstairs room. To their chagrin, the service provider needed to enter a different room to install the security system Through their resistance and attempts at diversion, the technician began to suspect that he had stumbled on a trafficking ring and reported it to the authorities for investigation Because he was empowered to report as well as identify, this man was an instrumental part in helping survivors to safety and recovery.

Similarly, the Safe House Project worked with the Academy of Forensic Nursing and trafficking survivors to develop and deploy trauma-informed, patient-centered training to equip healthcare professionals to identify, report, and provide resources to trafficking victims in a clinical setting This training course alone has led to a significant increase in the number of survivors identified, primarily since eighty-eight percent of trafficking survivors report interacting with a healthcare provider while being trafficked. Now healthcare workers are being empowered to be part of the solution.

At 56 years old, Summer had only ever known abuse and victimization at the hand of her trafficker Yet one day, she gained the courage to escape. She found her way to the closest hospital in the dark and rain When this older woman stumbled into the emergency department, the staff was unsure what was happening She was agitated and kept saying she needed help to escape her trafficker. Using the hospital WiFi, she could quickly search and call the Safe House Project to advocate for her and help her find a safe house. Our team worked quickly with the hospital to ensure her safety and find an emergency safe house program since the local domestic violence shelters would not accept trafficking survivors Within hours, she was accepted to another state's emergency safe house program. The Safe House Project coordinated with the hospital to facilitate her secret exit and transportation to the airport Summer called our team in tears when she made it onto her final flight. "Thank you for believing me and helping me when everyone else said ‘no’. It's because of you that I am alive. It is because of you that I am free "

Unfortunately, not every survivor's story has a perfect ending Eighty percent of survivors end up being revictimized if they do not have a safe place waiting when they exit a trafficking situation As we refined the Safe House Project's mission, we knew our responsibility included survivor identification, exit assistance, and safe house placement. Every day our emergency response team receives calls from healthcare workers, law enforcement officers, community members, and other nonprofit organizations to place survivors into safe house programs. We often get calls directly from survivors who are still with their trafficker and are hoping to escape. As we respond with equal parts urgency and excellence, survivors flee from dangerous situations and move to a certified safe house program to begin a journey toward healing and restoration.

The first survivor I ever walked alongside was the one who originally inspired me to take up this mission. Every day of the past five years, she has continued to inspire me and the Safe House Project team to strive for more incredible things. Today, she goes by Hope. Her trafficking experience began before she was old enough to spell her name Hope's dad was a firefighter, her mother was on the school board, and her life looked normal on the outside She didn't know yet that what happened out of the public eye wasn't normal, and she didn't think she could ask for help

Hope began to write, and her ability was the gift that would save her. Eventually, she started to share her story, and I came across it through her writing. When I reached out to encourage and thank her for her courage, I didn't realize she was still in the trafficking situation. From that moment of first contact, Hope and I began building friendships As I learned more about her life, I started to suspect that she hadn't escaped her traffickers By this time, she was a young adult and had been abused for almost two decades. I couldn't force her to leave as much as I wanted to. Instead, I learned to listen, to learn, and never to give up, even if she pushed me away. Finally, the night came when Hope's trafficker put her in a lifeor-death situation. The team at Safe House Project rallied around her and helped her escape from the area Because of our relationship, I was the first person she called for help

Hope says now, "The Safe House Project saved my life. Without them, I would still be stuck with my trafficker or in a worse situation. They didn't rescue me. They didn't make me leave. They gave me a choice, and when I was ready, they were there to find me safe housing and a life where I could finally dream I never thought I'd live long enough to have dreams The hope and the power over my life that the Safe House Project gave me was the first step in a journey to finally being free "

But as Hope says, freedom is a journey; it does not happen overnight. Due to the complex trauma trafficking survivors have endured, they need support with their journey. Therefore, the Safe House Project works alongside new and expanding nonprofit organizations nationwide to increase the capacity of long-term therapeutic, safe homes These programs are more than a shelter; they are a supportive living environment where survivors can receive therapy, life skills training, medical attention, education, and more to break the cycle of victimization. To date, the Safe House Project's efforts have increased the national landscape of restorative care and funded 371 new beds in safe homes, providing 135,000 safe nights annually to survivors of sex trafficking. These places of hope and healing show survivors daily that they have dignity, value, and worth as human beings and not as a commodity

The Safe House Project is also the national accreditor of Safe House Programs. Through our safe house certification program, we establish national standards of care, and evaluate safe homes against those standards to elevate the comprehensive quality of care provided across the nation. At the Safe House Project, we are dedicated to building programs that impact combating trafficking. Our training courses have educated over 270,000 people. We partner-launch new safe house programs and mentor existing ones that provide survivors of child sex trafficking with 135,000 safe nights annually Four hundred fifty survivors have reached safety through our emergency response services But to us, these are more than just numbers

Every number has a name. Every name has a story, and every story matters Hope's story didn't end with escaping from her trafficking situation. As painful as her past is, she found the courage to leave and began to find healing and restoration. Today, she is a part of the team at the Safe House Project and directs the development of our training program alongside a group of survivors. She is only one, but her impact has trained hundreds of thousands who have, and will continue to help identify many more survivors.

From the beginning, the Safe House Project has had the vision to see trafficking eradicated in the United States by 2030. We know this is an audacious goal beyond our resources, but we believe that, as Einstein said, problems are not solved on the same level on which they are created. I believe in the butterfly effect. I believe a butterfly flapping its wings can create a hurricane on the other side. I believe in the exponential impact our service can have. I asked Hope what kind of butterfly effect she's working for. She told me that she wants to see the Safe House Project training courses she has developed go on to equip 9 million people in America to identify trafficking victims and to see 16,500 child trafficking victims just like her identified and supported in their healing journey.

Today, I ask each of you to flap your wings to be part of the butterfly effect. Help us create an impact that will change the course of history by eradicating child trafficking in our community and throughout the United States