Check Out These Upcoming Events

Students Against Slavery, Access Freedom, and the Engedi Refuge Ministries are partnering to put on a 5K Benefit Walk/Run for Freedom! Come run or walk to raise money and awareness to combat sex trafficking in our community! Sex trafficking is a tragic reality here in Whatcom County but this is an easy, fun way to help put an end to it! Details on how to register will be added as time goes on, but as a heads up we are looking at about an $18 registration fee for students (college, high school, etc.) and $21 for community members! Children are welcome! All proceeds will go to help the Engedi Refue Ministries (engedirefuge.com) to buy property and build a safe house for victims of trafficking. If you have any questions feel free to post them or e-mail Arianna Cane at ariannacane@gmail.com.

A night of education and empowerment for the Whatcom County community! To raise awareness about human trafficking in Washington State, particularly Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST), the Squalicum High School Honor Society will hosts Access Freedom in the Squalicum High School forum. The free event will include a presentation and a Q+A panel, focusing on the issue of DMST and how ordinary people can take action to "stop traffic" in our state.

Access Freedom will be screening the nationally acclaimed documentary on trafficking of American children within US borders. Learn all about domestic minor sex trafficking and join the modern-day abolitionist movement fighting to stop it. The film includes over 75 interviews with federal agents, victims, politicians, activists, psychologists, porn-stars and many more.

Explanation of Trafficking

Domestic minor sex trafficking is the commercial sexual exploitation of American children within US borders. Children can be sexually exploited through prostitution, pornography and/or erotic entertainment. Not only may children be exploited by pimps and buyers, but they may also be exploited by friends or family members.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children states, “The best estimates, the best data, suggest that we at least have 100,000 American kids a year victimized through the practice of prostitution. That number ranges as high as 300,000.”

Trafficking Facts

• The estimated annual revenue of for human trafficking is $32 billion, or about $87 million a day. Law enforcement authorities, government agencies and others say human trafficking is tied with arms dealing as the world’s second-largest criminal enterprise, behind only drugs.
• Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking is the commercial sexual exploitation of American children within U.S. borders
• Exploitation includes using children for pornography, stripping and sex
• In the United States there are 100,000 to 300,000 children at-risk each year
• The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14
• For boys and transgender youth the average age of entry into prostitution is 11-13
• No movement is necessary in order to be trafficked

Definition of Trafficking

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) defines the crime of human trafficking as:

A.The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age, or

B.The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purpose of labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Common Types of Exploitation

Prostitution - Most often pimp controlled, where one older, commanding individual sexually exploits another for monetary gain.

Familial Exploitation – Centered in the immediate or extended family, the victim is often abused sexually at an early age, and later exploited commercially

Survival Sex - Common among runaways, where youth resort to using sex to ascertain basic needs such as food, clothing & shelter.

Effective response must be based on an understanding of the community and local surroundings. Socio-economic circumstances, ethnic heritage and generational history all make up the social fabric of the community. Geographic diversity also plays a part in the understanding.

As organized sex trafficking expands rapidly across diverse cultural communities in the United States, Access Freedom is working to understand this problem, quantify it, and develop effective responses; beginning within the community in which it was founded.

While age alone is the single greatest risk factor for being trafficked, other dynamics contribute significantly as well. Traffickers, those who exploit youth for monetary gain, are master manipulators. Multiple studies have found that traffickers deliberately target homeless and/or poverty-impacted youth who are desperate to meet survival needs. What Access Freedom has discovered is that those at greatest risk in Whatcom county are the ethnic and socio-economic minority.

A measure of the growing poverty is the homelessness statistics from Whatcom County schools. The number of homeless children in local schools has grown 59 percent from 2007 to 2011, according to data collected by Whatcom Readiness to Learn. (Some of the increase is due to improvements in identifying homeless students.) The US Census found in 2010 that 15% of Whatcom County lives below the poverty level.

Of the children enrolled in public schools in the county, 43% qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. Ferndale School District is currently at 47% free and reduced; Mt. Baker School District is 49.2%; the Nooksack School District is 57.2%; and Bellingham is significantly lower at 36.3%. These statistics give a glimpse into the financial hardship families currently endure.

Two native populations, the Nooksack and the Lummi, make up roughly 3% of Whatcom county's population. A recent study by the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center (MIWRC) found that "in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups, Native women remain the most frequent victims of physical and sexual violence in the United States and Canada." The Hispanic and Latino population is larger than the Native American, comprising roughly 7.8% of the county population. Based on their location and the percentage of children qualifying for the subsidized lunch programs, it seems that the majority of both these populations live at or below the poverty level.

Another risk to youth is homelessness. Northwest Youth Services states that "each year hundreds of youth run away from home in Whatcom County, for a variety of reasons, and have no safe place to go or family to turn to." Combined with the fact that a runaways are most likely to be approached by a trafficker within the first 48 hours of leaving home, the homeless youth and runaway populations are also put at great risk.

What this information illustrates is the growing need for social service programs to support these specific groups and their families.

"No one asks to be sexually assaulted; nor does anyone’s behavior justify or excuse the crime. Sexual assault is a crime of violence, not passion. People have a right to be safe from sexual violence at any time, any place and under any circumstance.” The Sexual Assault Resource Center of Oregon in this statement debunks a general myth about sexual assault.

In addressing the restoration and rehabilitation of a survivor, society as a whole must acknowledge the psychological impact that sexual assault and trafficking has on its victims, in order to be able to provide services for the restoration process. Here are some of the common terms dealing with the complex psychological impact caused by these acts of violence:

Complex Trauma - The simultaneous or sequential occurrence of child maltreatment, including emotional abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing of domestic violence that are chronic and begin in early childhood.

Trauma Bonding - The common consequence of an intense, traumatic experience or betrayal of trust that results in the forming of an equally intense relationship/bond with the perpetrator.

PTSD - Often experienced by women in prostitution, a psychological reaction to extreme physical and emotional trauma. Symptoms include acute anxiety, depression, insomnia, irritability, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and a state of emotional and physical hyper-alertness.

Local Resources

National Resources

Anya Kalish Milton

Executive Director

Anya is the executive director, co-founder and driving force behind the organization. With degrees in history and visual communication, she used her marketing skills to create Access Freedom from the ground up. She connects with the community, creating and maintaining relationships with social service providers and law enforcement. Working with anti-trafficking groups throughout the state and country, she is continually discovering ways to combat this ever-evolving issue locally. Anya serves on a community task force for Pregnant and Parenting Women and Teens Affected by Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking of Violence, through a US Department of Health grant administered by DVSAS. She is also a committed advocate, serving at the policy makers' summit with the Center for Child and Youth Justice to develop state-wide protocol for responding to the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. She is also participating in two grant programs taking place in Whatcom County. One for the Department of Health through DVSAS, creating improved services for pregnant and parenting women and teens who have been affected by domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. The second is Department of Justice STEP grant, which was awarded to the DV Commission and the Ferndale School District to create and maintain violence prevention programs within the secondary schools.

Robin Meyer

Director of Education & Awareness

Committed to increasing knowledge on the topic of sex trafficking of minors, Robin has been working with youth for the last decade. With a perspective focused on the marginalized, she's constantly learning about the struggles, joys and needs youth have within the context of community. After earning a BA in Political Science and Economics from Western Washington University, she spent a year in Pretoria, South Africa, as a part of the outreach team to prostituted girls and women in the city, eventually becoming the Counter Trafficking Coalition’s program coordinator. Robin is the newest housing case manager at Northwest Youth Services, and continues to fulfill her passion by being a bridge to youth and the community by promoting awareness and knowledge through education.

Kari Jones

Director of Youth Advocacy

Kari Jones has brought a still broader level of legitimacy to Access Freedom since its inception. By day Kari is a caseworker for the Indian Child Welfare unit with the Department of Social and Health Services. After hours, she is the director of Youth Advocacy. With a degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, she has eight years of experience in the field of social services. Kari has managed group homes and has played an integral part in advocating for minors who have suffered abuse and neglect across the country. She strives to reach those children that many fail to seek through connecting with with at-risk youth. She sees the advantages of knowing the foster care system and its shortcomings so that organizations like Access Freedom can provide support where the state has not.

Cameron Meyer

Lead Response Coordinator

Cameron has been working with and advocating for marginalized survivors of sexual abuse and assault since 2004. He's been focused on these same populations in Whatcom County since 2008, with a brief year in Pretoria, South Africa, reaching out to prostituted women and girls within the city. Cameron is the founder and lead of the Restored Innocence Task Force since 2010. Providing a trauma-informed response to victims and survivors, he serves as a community navigator to seek out the most appropriate care from service providers. He is the lead victim advocate for Whatcom County.

Laura Ashurst

Director of Development

As the lead of the Development Team, Laura brings a fresh energy to the group. With years of fundraising experience and event planning, Laura knows how to make a heavy topic palatable to the faint of heart. Her ideas and plans for Access Freedom are to support a level of sustainability so Access Freedom can remain a voice within the community and speak up for those who do not have one.

Development Team

Josh Gray and Christin Gray provide an abundance of creativity in all forms of media and technology. The dynamic duo assist in bringing Access Freedom to the forefront as a 21st century NGO.

Board of Directors

Anya Kalish Milton, Darla Woolman, Laura Ashurst, Kari Jones, Paula Bergeson, Lindsay Tkacsik, Robin Meyer and Cameron Meyer.

Advisory Board

Robin Meyer, Christin Gray, Josh Gray and Bob Adams