Seattle Child Sex Trafficking is Topic of Women's Funding Alliance Forum

Seattle-based Women’s Funding Alliance (WFA), the leading foundation in Washington state investing in and advocating for women and girls, is confronting the issue of local sex trafficking from numerous angles with the aim of attacking the root cause of the problem through education, awareness and funding.

WFA will host a Town Hall forum on January 20, 2011, called “In Our Own Backyard: A Closer Look at the Sex Trafficking of Local Girls.” The event is a public forum to discuss the issue of sex trafficking, how the internet is worsening the problem, what’s being done about it, and how we can make a difference right here in Seattle to support young trafficking survivors, increase the prosecution of traffickers and predators, and curb the demand.

That event is hosted in collaboration with Seattle City Council, Seattle Human Services Department, YouthCare and Women’s Funding Network.

In January 2010, WFA approved a special, one-time grant for a three-year pilot project of the Seattle Human Services Department (SHSD) called The Bridge Program, a residential recovery program designed to help girls who have been victimized through child sexual exploitation (prostitution). (See the Seattle Times article on the program.)

WFA was able to provide funding for the program during a critical period when funds had been cut and the project’s future was uncertain.

In addition to funding, WFA participates in an ongoing, regional response planning team focused on looking at both supply and demand sides of this issue, as well as longer term systemic change around policy.

In addition, WFA recently took out an advertisement in Seattle Weekly, a Village Voice Media-owned publication, calling on Backpage.com (which is also owned by Village Voice Media) to discontinue its “adult” section until it can guarantee that no child is sold for sex through its website. The ads ran in 11 Village Voice Media-owned publications across the country.

Women’s Funding Network Chief Program Officer Deborah Richardson, who will be a featured speaker at WFA’s Town Hall forum on sex trafficking in January, recently spoke before Congress about online sex ads and why services like Backpage.com are dangerous to young girls. (Read a transcript of her testimony or watch it on C-SPAN).