Author: Tayler Wilhelm

Ahead of the curve in fighting human trafficking in D.C.

Posted on by Tayler Wilhelm

I wanted to share a story from a recent case of human trafficking in D.C. that Polaris Project handled to show the impact of the work we’re doing and how The Women’s Foundation plays a role in it. 

Like many others, Rosa* was struggling to find employment.  While at the mall, Rosa was handed a business card and told about the opportunity to become a waitress. Rosa called the number and set up an interview.  When she arrived, she was pulled into a vehicle and taken to a brothel.  Rosa was forced into prostitution and suffered horrific abuse and threats. Thankfully, she found a moment to escape, ran outside, and flagged down a moving bus.  The driver called 9-1-1. Once the police arrived and identified Rosa as a trafficking victim, they immediately contacted our on-call staff to provide emergency assistance.

We provided Rosa with her first meal in three days and clothing and accompanied her to the hospital for treatment.  Rosa is steadily recovering.  She secured safe housing and hopes to reconnect with her family members living outside of the United States.

The Women’s Foundation has been really ahead of the curve in recognizing human trafficking as a grave danger to women and girls in our community and across the country. 

I wish that the story I provided was a rare case, but we help people in similar situations on a regular basis.  With the support of The Women’s Foundation, Polaris Project has helped 50 trafficking victims locally in 2009 and provided more than 850 nights of shelter through our transitional housing program in D.C.

The support The Women’s Foundation has provided has been really important to our local efforts.

*Name was changed to protect the identity of the client.

Tayler Wilhelm is the Senior Development Officer with Polaris Project, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation and winner of the 2009 Leadership Awards online vote.

Polaris Project on Fox news explaining how youth human trafficking hits home.

Posted on by Tayler Wilhelm

Although many can conjure an image of human trafficking in other countries far from our own homes, the reality is that human trafficking is occurring in every single U.S. state and the large majority of victims are females.

According to the U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007, 80% percent of transnational victims are women and girls. Research on U.S. victims is limited, but the percentages are likely similar to those globally.

Polaris Project works both locally, nationally and internationally on the issue of modern-day slavery. Polaris Project DC operates the Greater DC Trafficking Intervention Program (DC TIP) to combat human trafficking in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Southern Maryland.

Launched in 2002 to create an effective community-based response to curb local human trafficking network activity, DC TIP provides comprehensive case management services to victims in the Washington metropolitan area and works to prevent human trafficking. In the last year, DC TIP conducted direct outreach to 1,115 at-risk and in-risk victims of trafficking; made over 25 emergency responses to victims in crisis; provided emergency case management to over 40 women and girls; and, received 2,758 crisis hotline calls.

This issue has been in the spotlight this week and our president was called on by Fox news to provide more information on how it is effecting our community.

See the Fox coverage on YouTube.

More about the multi-state FBI raids resulting in the rescue of 21 child victims.

Tayler Wilhelm is development officer at the Polaris Project in Washington, D.C., a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.  For more information or to support the work of Polaris Project, visit PolarisProject.org or email Tayler at twilhelm@polarisproject.org.