Humanity United

The Challenge

Humanity United and its philanthropic foundation partner were about to select three cities to participate in Pathways to Freedom, a first-of-its-kind anti-trafficking challenge to develop citywide approaches that would better prevent human trafficking and support survivors. Funding from the challenge would support a senior fellow’s salary in city government for two years and technical assistance to better address labor trafficking. Humanity United knew that misconceptions about human trafficking — what it can look like, who are its victims, and what are the best mechanisms for addressing it — created a barrier to progress on the issue. They sought a partner who could create and promote content and support city officials to publicly challenge those misconceptions.

Our Work

We worked on two levels to tackle this challenge. On the national level, we wrote and promoted thought pieces authored by the program director, designed to inspire philanthropic and city government leaders to invest in city-wide anti-trafficking approaches. We also produced monthly blog content for the Pathways to Freedom website devoted to elevating cities’ innovative work and educating local governments on successful approaches to preventing exploitation and trafficking in immigrant, LGBTQI, and other vulnerable communities. At the local level, we worked with each city’s senior trafficking fellow and grassroots worker organizations to develop and execute city-specific media campaigns. We crafted and placed opinion pieces and reached out to local journalists to pitch story ideas related to labor exploitation and other under-reported issues. We also organized and facilitated round-table discussions in each city which invited reporters, anti-trafficking advocates, survivors, and city officials to share ideas about how to collaborate to identify and elevate stories that will deepen the public’s understanding of labor trafficking and the many nuances of human trafficking.

The Results

We secured op-ed placements, interviews, and new stories highlighting Pathways to Freedom and the cities’ anti-trafficking work in national and international outlets including the New York Times, the CNN Freedom Project, Governing Magazine, American City and County, Philanthropy News Digest, Black Press USA, and the Delta 8.7 Forum. We also secured media coverage in more than a dozen local print, broadcast, and online publications in Atlanta, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Investigative reporters and editors attended our media briefings and reported back that they are now working more closely with the nonprofit organizations, survivor leaders, and city officials they met at these events.