Men’s Campaign Against Human Trafficking Surpasses Goal

MILWAUKEE (Dec. 30, 2019) – A five-week campaign to motivate men to take a public stand against the sex trade and human trafficking not only exceeded its goal but has become a movement spread by social media across the U.S. and around the world.

Preliminary numbers compiled through Dec. 28 show more than 8,000 men have watched a video and taken the HEMAD (Human trafficking Educators working with Men and boys to stand Against the Demand) pledge since Nov. 25. Organizers had hoped at least 6,000 men would take the pledge, double the number that did so in the 2018 HEMAD campaign.

HEMAD is a program of Convergence Resource Center (CRC), a faith-based nonprofit providing support for men and women rebuilding their lives after trauma with an emphasis on women leaving the legal system and female survivors of human trafficking.

“The response we’ve had is phenomenal. It’s really encouraging that men and teenage boys are stepping up to say “no” to behavior that essentially is a modern form of slavery – victimizing young women and men, boys, girls and LBGTQ teens,” said Arnold Cifax, a youth pastor at New Testament Church in Milwaukee and CRC board member.

“January is designated National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, so it’s appropriate that we extend the HEMAD campaign into 2020 as this movement grows,” said State Rep. Jason Fields, who is a member of the CRC team and authored the pledge. “A number of local colleges and universities and businesses asked if they could join this movement after the holidays. There are at least five engagements that we know of that are planned in the coming weeks locally and nationally.”

“This is a $150 billion a year industry that exists in urban, suburban and rural areas in Wisconsin and across the nation that we need to put out of business. The demand will always be there, but we can squash that demand by publicly taking a stand,” added Fields, who has cosponsored several bills to help fight human trafficking.

He noted that large events like the upcoming NFL Pro Bowl and Super Bowl as well as large gatherings like the Democratic National Convention that will be held in Milwaukee next July are events where human trafficking and sex trafficking occur.

CRC will provide telephone support and on the ground support with other organizations before, during and after the NFL’s Pro Bowl and Super Bowl games in the next month. More than 100 rescues occurred during these events in 2019.  The Pro Bowl will be played on January 26 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. Super Bowl LIV will be played on February 2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

The HEMAD campaign picked up speed in the week before Christmas, thanks to social media.

“A group of 35 men in the town of Tarime in northwestern Tanzania near the border with Kenya took the HEMAD pledge after learning about it from Christine Mosorec Thompson, a missionary from Milwaukee,” said Debbie Lassiter, CRC’s executive director and co-founder. “At about the same time, 70 students and teachers at a high school in South Florida watched our four-minute video that dramatizes the issue of human trafficking and then took the pledge.”

Dawn Marie Basham, an anti-bullying and anti-human trafficking speaker from Palm Beach County, shared the video with the group. The video and pledge can be found at https://www.convergenceresource.org/hemad-campaign.  Groups in Illinois, Indiana, Hawaii and North Carolina have yet to report the number of men who have taken the pledge.

Fields and Cifax encourage men to take five minutes, go to CRC’s website (www.convergenceresource.org), watch the video and then register and take the pledge.

“In 2018, more than half of the criminal human trafficking cases in the U.S. were sex trafficking cases involving only children,” said Fields. “Traffickers are using online social media platforms to recruit and advertise targets of human trafficking. So we, as citizens, need to act – now!”

Fields added that more than 49,000 cases of human trafficking have been reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline (888-373-7888 or text 233733) in the past ten years and the number of human trafficking cases in the U.S. has risen every year.

About Convergence Resource Center

Convergence Resource Center (CRC) is a faith-based nonprofit community service organization providing support for men and women rebuilding their lives after trauma with an emphasis on justice involved women and female survivors of human trafficking. It collaborates with more than 50 community service organizations locally and nationally through partnerships and membership in several human trafficking task forces. To learn more, call (414) 979-0591 or visit www.convergenceresource.org.

About HEMAD

Human trafficking Educators working with Men and boys to stand Against the Demand (HEMAD) is a program of Convergence Resource Center directed at men on the importance of ending human trafficking. To learn more, contact HEMAD@convergenceresource.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.