Intern Training

Mission Statement
"Freedom Youth Project Foundation was founded in 2010 as a human rights organization, dedicated to fighting and preventing human trafficking of youth in America primarily through Public Awareness, Prevention and Restoration. Everything we do is based on our core belief that growing up should be a wonderful and magical time in life that is filled with learning, exploring and discovering one's gifts in life."

Freedom Youth Project Initiatives

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Over Two Years in the Making -- Over two years was devoted to developing prevention strategies to teach youth how to recognize the deception Traffickers employ to lead youth into the "trafficked life."

Liars And Posers TM utilizes mnemonic device to create an easy to remember system when out in the "real-world." The words L.I.A.R.S. (and) P.O.S.E.R.S. are acronym words in which each letter stands for a Red Flag of Deception. L.I.A.R.S. are the first letters of red flags one would recognize in face-to- face encounters with a predator. P.O.S.E.R.S. are the first letters of red flags of deception used when encountering a predator online, such as with social media or in chat rooms. Liars And Posers TM also teaches how choices impact how attractive someone is as a target. Since its initial development, versions of Liars And Posers TM training have been adapted for foster youth, foster parents, educators, and social service professionals.

Think Freedom Campaign is our initiative to educate the community about domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). Public awareness of this very important issue is essential for change to be possible. Human Traffickers rely on uninformed and unsuspecting parents and children.

Conversely, Freedom Youth Project relies on people who are willing to Learn, Care and Act. We are reaching out to faith based communities, educational institutions, businesses and civic organizations in hopes of spreading the word about our mission and vision and educating youth and their parents about human trafficking and how to stay safe.

Understanding Sex-Trafficking:

Sex-Trafficking involves persons who are recruited, coerced, transferred, harbored, or received for the use of prostitution, pornography, or any other type of sexual exploitation. Sex-trafficking occurs when a sex-trafficker lures, coerces, or forces a person to be used in a form of sexual exploitation. The most common way a sex-trafficker will lure a victim is by means of deception.

Most people consider Human Trafficking to be global issue that exists primarily outside the U.S. While it is true that human trafficking is a global issue, it is also a serious issue within the United States. When people hear the term human trafficking, they often believe that human trafficking is happening to children who are not from the U.S. but in actuality the issue of human trafficking in the United States happens more often to our own children than we think. Globally, the issue of human trafficking is mostly due to extreme poverty, while the reasons for human trafficking within the United States are far more numerous. In the U.S. the primary targets of traffickers are American girls ages 12 to 14 and when compared to victims in other nations, American victims far outnumber foreign national victims 20-1.

Understanding Domestic Minor Sex-Trafficking (DMST):

Domestic Minor Sex-Trafficking is a form of human sex-trafficking that involves domestic minors who are coerced into prostitution or pornography. Domestic Minor Sex-Trafficking is a serious issue within the United States. Americans who are under the age of 18 are the single largest demographic for those of whom become victims of sex-trafficking. The primary target of sex-traffickers are girls between the ages of 12 and 14. In Texas alone, there has been a 20 percent increase in the number of cases involving minor sex-trafficking. The estimation of how many girls are trafficked is said to be approximately 300,000 a year with an estimated amount of only about 200 treatment beds for those who are suffering from sex-trafficking.

Understanding the Issue

Currently there are fewer than 200 treatment beds in the United States in facilities with the level of care required to adequately treat these victims. In comparison, there are 300,000+ victims who are currently in need of treatment and with no treatment facilities open to help these children, victims of human sex trafficking are often kept in jails or in lockdown juvenile facilities with little or no treatment.

Our ultimate goal is to be a catalyst in the development of a facility to provide safe shelter and restoration for victims of DMST, (under-age American victims of sex-trafficking.) Currently one of the most pressing gaps in dealing with the aftermath of this crime is available facilities with staff trained and dedicated to serving this specific kind of victim. “Current data suggests that on average, it takes five to seven years from start to open the doors for this type of specialized facility for victims of human trafficking. Organizations seeking to open this kind of specialized care facility find many unique challenges and dilemmas which must be overcome.” Many of these challenges and dilemmas include lack of funding, lack of standards for care and recovery, and a low rate of recovery for victims which is less than one percent.

Project Central is the back-office web portal for Employees/ Interns/ Collaborators working with Freedom Youth Project Foundation to combat Child Sex-Trafficking in America.

How to Use Project Central “Back Office”:

Volunteers/Interns/Collaborators of Freedom Youth Project are able to access our “back office” from anywhere within the country. This unique feature allows us to share, contribute, and work together collectively as a team on multiple projects, documents and websites. Below you can become better acquainted with our “back office” systems.

Please note:

All FYP volunteers/interns will need to have a gmail account in order to access our Project Central “back office.” Depending on the role of volunteer/intern, some may be assigned an @freedomyouthproject.org email, others may simply need an @gmail.com email.

To access the Project Central, sign into your gmail account, then go to http://pc.freedomyouthproject.org/. Once you are on the site page, scroll down to to the very bottom of the page, there you you will find the words “Sign in.” After you have clicked “Sign in” you will be able to access the site.

“Back Office” Features

Drive- The Drive section of gmail allows you to create and share documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms, drawings, and collections with your fellow volunteers.

To access your “DRIVE” go to the top right corner in your gmail inbox and click on the small squares icon as shown below:

After clicking on the icon, a drop down menu should appear. From here you will be able to click on the “Drive” icon and access your drive where you will be able to find all your documents, spreadsheets, forms, etc.