A note from Our Executive Director, Brooke Carlson, on behalf of Disrupting Traffick:
It’s hard to know where to start sometimes. Right now the world is facing a pandemic on a scale that we haven’t seen in a century. COVID-19 is tearing through countries at an alarming rate and we are all doing everything we can to keep our friends, our family, and our communities safe.
There are many, many aspects to this. “Safety” is sometimes a relative term, especially when it comes to the clients we serve here at Disrupting Traffick, and especially when entire states are under “stay-at-home” orders.
The work we do is carefully and intentionally designed to break the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation through outreach, education, and direct services. We are one of many non-profits that work with and for vulnerable populations. The Coronavirus has changed the landscape almost overnight.
One of the first things I noticed was the silence.
With the exception of a few of the larger organizations, many of the non-profits that do anti-exploitation work have been largely silent on public platforms since the outbreak. This isn’t for lack of care or urgency. I understand why they’ve gone quiet for a moment – it’s the same reason we have: we are all trying to adapt.
Just as other organizations are struggling right now, we are hustling to adjust to our new reality. We are moving our programming online. We are working out how to do outreach remotely, to put together effective online curriculums. In some ways Disrupting Traffick is fortunate, because we already have a number of trainings online and had already been planning for remote projects and webinars. Still, the timeline has moved up dramatically, and the health restrictions that are in place – rightly so – mean that we have to innovate fast in order to keep serving our community efficiently.
We are launching this blog to help keep you better informed about what’s going on at Disrupting Traffick, but also to invite you to be part of it. We want you to engage and connect as we figure out how to weather this storm together. This is about all of us.
So if things are a bit on the quieter side lately, don’t worry – we are still here. We are working hard to continue serving our clients and community. We are there for you. As strange and difficult times get even stranger, we hope you’ll be there for us, too.
I hope you’ll continue to follow along and engage with us as we work to release valuable content to you
Brooke Carlson
Executive Director
