New Tool to Stop Human Trafficking Equips Educators and Empowers Youth

What if no young people ever fell into the traps of human trafficking and sexual exploitation again?  The team behind National Educators to Stop Trafficking believes that is possible, and they’ve created an incredible resource for educators and youth leaders to help make it happen.

Those most vulnerable to human trafficking are in our schools and youth organizations.  In the United States, the average age of entry into sexual slavery is 13, and about 80% of sex buyers do so for the first time before age 25.  Yet not many educators or youth leaders are equipped to teach their youth about this scourge, and the thought of creating a curriculum from scratch is too daunting on top of their many other responsibilities.

National Educators to Stop Trafficking (NEST) plans to change all of that.  The NEST website equips educators and youth leaders with age-appropriate curriculum and resources to educate and empower their youth – teaching them how to avoid being trafficked, how to stand up for victims of trafficking, and how to spread the word in their communities so that sexual exploitation and human trafficking become a thing of the past.

“Educating our youth is essential if we want to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation in our country” said Yvonne Williams, Coordinator for the project.  While researching curriculums across the nation, Williams was amazed at the magnitude of prevention education programs that are available.  “I’ve spent many hours reading and talking with curriculum providers about their programs,” Williams stated, “and collectively, there is a wonderful breadth of material.  There is no reason why every youth in America cannot know about this issue and how to prevent themselves and their peers from becoming victims or buyers.”

Educators and youth leaders can visit www.NESTeducators.org to quickly find a curriculum that fits their youth, can be incorporated into an already existing class, and they don’t have to create themselves.   The site contains curriculum and resources for sixth grade through high school (all of which have been vetted by an Advisory Committee), videos, an interactive map, and articles of interest on the topic. 

“It’s been fantastic to see this project come together over the past 18 months,” expressed Heather Tuininga, initiator of the project.  “While it was challenging to locate and centralize curriculum and resources from providers across the country, I’m delighted that we’ve paved the way for educators and youth leaders to prevent their youth from ever knowing the horrors of sexual exploitation.  It was worth ever y minute of effort.”