The doors of New Samaritan Baptist church are open, and it\’s not yet Sunday morning worship service! New Samaritan, and Pilgrim Baptist Church presented a community forum on \”Human Trafficking Prevention\” for residents of Ward 5 and 6. This discussion comes at a great time surrounding the uncertainty of the analytics searches for hashtag \”Missing Girls DC\” which is not performing at its peak trend levels – as the start of the social media campaign back in April.
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The purpose of the panel style community forum featuring Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Courtney\’s House, MPD, FAIR Girls, and the Black and Missing Foundation along with parents who have experience a child gone missing is designed to provide the most accurate, relevant, up-to-date information about Missing Children and Human Sex Trafficking to the community.
Mobilizing Resources
With set expectations of presentations, panelist were to clarify the facts, dispel the myths, engage the community, calm the hysteria, and last but not least the most critical address the issues and needs.
The start to evaluating and recommending solutions for bringing the girls and boys home, along with providing additional family resources is underway, but still many questions are unanswered. Has the church served as a safe haven for the missing youth and young adults prior to last months \”Missing Girls DC\” campaign? Nonetheless, it is still in good faith to know that the church is reaching beyond the church pews to serve the most vulnerable, young children and adults; ready to do exceeding and abundant work advocating on behalf of resources for missing youth and young adults.
When we first reported on \”Missing Girls DC,\” our focus was solutions, not social media campaigns, so it is our hope that in our reporting that you are able to access some of the resources from the organizations mentioned.