you're watching LM CC your community TV [Music] hello and welcome to talking points I'm Kay Erickson with the League of Women Voters of south tanka and today we're talking about teens at risk of exploitation and sex trafficking it's another in our series of programs exploring the issues of teens and our western suburbs are dealing with and while we may not think that these issues are going on out here the reality is that exploitation and sex trafficking know no boundaries we have teenagers in our area who Lex who are vulnerable because of a variety of things they may lack housing or they may be dealing with abusive situations at home or just a general anxiety about the things that are going on in their lives and when teenagers like support systems to deal with these issues they can become vulnerable with me today is peg d'abord president of the south tonka league and together we're going to be talking to two people familiar with these issues Cora burns is a safe harbors supportive services manager with an organization called the link and then in the second part of the program we're going to be joined by Simeon aheh Williams who is a member of the Lynx survivor Advisory Committee welcome Cora welcome peg let's begin with an understanding of exploitation and sex trafficking can you explain to our audience what exploitation is sure exploitation is anytime a young person or adult engages in any sort of sexual activity for exchange of anything of value so if they're experiencing homelessness and had need a place to stay and exchange any sort of sexual activity for a place to stay that would be exploitation and then sex trafficking trafficking is when a third party is involved so that would be when the pimp is is actually selling the young person for exchange of anything of value again that could be a place of to stay that could be money or even that something as small as an increased level of gang affiliation so where the level of gang activity that they're in so what are some of the signs that you might look for when you know we have an audience that's really trying to understand this topic and what are some of the things that you that this audience might be looking for relative to a person who might be involved in exploitation or trafficking sure especially with young people that the main signs are going to see and changes in behavior so if they were typically involved in sports and they're engaged with a typical group of people that that they like to hang out with and then also and that that changes and they're hanging out with a different group of kids not engaged in their school activities not engaged in their sporting activities it could be as simple as change of of the the way they look whether that's increased makeup or things that they're wearing or it could be the opposite of looking a little bit more raggedy or wearing things that that seem to be loose-fitting because they're hiding some marks on their bodies there can be lots of different signs to look for really engaged in their phone not engaging with the adults in their life that they have been really engaged with before in their life I mean there can be several more but those would probably be the main signs to look for so when when someone presents like this and so dude teachers typically report this or do parents or do caregivers or sure how does all that work that is a very broad spectrum we would hope that teachers are engaging and recognize the signs in the classroom a lot of our referrals come from County sources so it could be you know someone that's already been involved in the child protection system it could be someone that's involved in some sort of County referral not necessarily always child protection but that would be one of our main sources for referral part of safe harbor in our initiative with which we'll get to later the non wrong door initiative is to really increase awareness so our team at the Linc are doing more services and providing trainings to teachers into schools into health health organizations to become more aware of the signs and what to look for and how to direct them to our services I'm assuming like physicians are getting physics graining yep so we're that's one of the biggest initiatives right now is the health care system so we're trying to get into you know nurses when they have their their professional development days where they're all come together as a group or the link will come in and do a training okay great most at risk of being a victim of trafficking or exploitation sure that is a very broad question because most people think that it's a snitched population or it's people that are living in poverty or that it's people of color only you know that that's a very stigmatized idea of what in the who the population is that's being trafficked or that our victims are susceptible to being a victim it's anybody that's honestly on social media that is looking and seen you know the things that are happening over social media snapchats Facebook Instagram all of those things are very interesting avenues for a trafficker to get ahold of a young person a good example of that is you know when you're 16 15 to 16 to 17 year old years old and you're figuring out what your body is doing and you're you're attracted to people and then someone's reaching out to you via these social media avenues that can be a really scary thing for someone that's a predator or someone that's looking to be engaging in trafficking with a young person well that that really is you know scary to kind of understand how that social media is so reactive for young people so you know we're out here in the western suburbs you know just thinking everything's hunky-dory so tell us a little bit about how you see trafficking happening in the city versus what happens in the suburbs yeah I think that kind of goes of what I was saying earlier that people think it's just this niche population you know the north side of Minneapolis or you know st. Paul or the confines of the city but in reality it's everywhere it's it's in rural areas it's in northern Minnesota it's in southern Minnesota it's in the city and it's in your neighborhood right here that's a scary thing to think of and I'm not trying to be here to tend to think that just because you're just because your daughter your son is lashing out and isn't you know following the rules that they're being trafficked that certainly isn't the case but we're here to engage and we're here to tell you you know that there are some very specific signs to look for and we're here to help in those cases how are young people targeted we talk about especially out here what might it look like for a young person to be targeted by a predator of some kinds and the vulnerability yeah what what is what are some of the ways and places that they see young people who might be vulnerable sure I think out in the suburbs or in the confines of the suburbs it's it really is someone that again like I said what the signs to look for is someone that's disengaging from their normal activity someone that might be you know experiencing mental health issues that's going through some depression I know it sounds cliche but you know girls that are boy crazy and wanted to like engage with all these different types of guys and really interested in seeing what that might feel like is a healthy thing it's a normal thing it's it's part of development but it's it's a scary thing with social media and the things that are happening that that that can actually deter them or put them into the wrong direction and to the wrong hands and to the wrong people so really keeping an eye on your young person's phone if they're really engaged in their phone and they're obsessed which is also a really interesting thing because all young people are I mean I'm only in my 30s and I am attached to my phone imagine what it's like to have never grown up without social media without a device and so it's a it's a sign to look for but you also have to be careful with what you're looking for so so is there a specific grooming process that happens with young people I guess that's one of the wareness as I've come come to from our conversations and maybe you could share that a little bit sure some of the grooming or what the grooming process looks like is the trafficker will typically spend a very significant amount of time with this young person engaging in as if they are in love or their their boyfriend or they are someone that is of value to them like I will take you out to dinner whether that's you know for young people living in the inner city like Red Lobster is a big deal or going to you know Olive Garden is even a big deal so bringing them out to those fancy dinners or for someone out here it might be a new coach purse it might be getting your nails done on a regular basis and that just gets them to the space of like building trusts and then all sudden that that kind of snowballs into well now we've built this trust and now hey baby or whoever they might call them now you're gonna engage in this because I love you and that's that's what we're gonna do to be in love and that's that's how we're gonna have this relationship and then so how does the third party work into this situation sure so the third party exploitation is the exploitation piece is actually what I just explained so that's like him or her there's you know this exploitation trafficking also doesn't hold a gender so there's female pimps there's male pimps there's female victims there's male victims it's very prevalent within the LGBTQ community so within that exploitation is what the trafficker is engaging in that that grooming process if there is some sort of exchange of a coach purse and she or he engages in some sort of sexual activity that's the exploitation once it becomes trafficking is when he asks has the third party to come in and engage in a sexual activity outside of that person and I don't mean to keep saying he the trafficker engages asked the other young person to engage in some sort of sexual activity in benefit of his profit or her profit you know if people see evidence of some of these things happening a young person who's really young with somebody I mean I don't know what that that that part of it happens but or you know other instances of this doesn't look quite right what should people do what can they do to yeah to help well we're always here 100 100 percent I think if anyone is in intimate danger for sure call 9-1-1 but the first thing you can 100% do is call our navigator line which is a 24-hour crisis link if that gets answered as part of our supportive services team within the link within the safe harbor division again like I said it gets answered 24/7 whether that's a young person themselves Colleen just to reach out for services or it could be a school social worker a teacher or a parent that's I'm seeing some signs that I've learned about from a training that I did with the link and I'd like to talk more about it and what we can do is go out and meet with the parents and the young person and kind of sit up sit down and talk about you know what your risky behaviors are and how how how these might be signs of trafficking or what you're doing and engaging in these activities that might get you down that path sometimes for young people and a lot of times actually they don't want to talk to their parents and that's that's a scary thing but it's also that's why we're here we can come and sit down and say you know I know you'd probably don't want to talk to your mom about that you're you're attracted to a 25 year old or that you've been gauging been engaging in you know snapchat conversations with someone that's much too old for your age group so we can come in and come in with a non-judgmental approach a harm reduction approach a trauma-informed approach and say you know we're not judging you and you know here are some things that we can do to get you out of this and I think it's really important to kind of understand that no no wrong dark concept right that in the past people who engaged in this kind of behavior were criminalized and now with the safe harbor law that is negated exactly yep so they're directed to services instead of being criminalized absolutely core we've already started talking a little bit about this some of the things the link does can we backtrack a little bit can you talk about the link and what the services you provide on a little bit about your job sure absolutely so the link is a non-profit based on the north side of Minneapolis I was actually founded by Jim Marshall and Oscar Reed who are former football players of the Minnesota Vikings they recognized a need for services for young people based out of the north side of Minneapolis at that time but then now the link has grown into a 19 program nonprofit with three different divisions safe harbor being one of them so the safe harbor division has a shelter in Prior Lake with six shelter beds in five housing units in my position in particular and the supportive services program managers so I oversee the supportive services within the safe harbor division back in 2014 the safe harbor law was passed decriminalizing young people that were victims of that exploitation and trafficking so basically it took that we don't use this word in our work but it took the prostitution out of the language when it involved a young person safe harbor for all is in legislate right now so that is a possibility that it will get passed for anybody that's picked up for the p-word will not be criminalized they'll actually be directed to services like the link instead of being prosecuted and then part your your organisation the link contracts with the State Department of Health correct yeah - and there's other areas that do the same kind of thing yep in in other areas of the state correct the statewide yes so DHHS is kind of the owner of the funding there our grant manager so they they trickle down all the money to some people that do it an RFP or a grant report to ask for the safe harbor funding there's including that is our West Metro regional navigator and they're I believe I'm gonna butcher this but I believe there are nine navigators throughout the state of Minnesota so in each region it receives a navigator and basically the job of the navigator is exactly how its how its said is to navigate the system for young people that reach out to their service whether that's finding shelter finding safety family reunification basically navigating the system to find services anything that's really important because I think the node rondure means that if you come in you will try to assess what the needs are and try to figure out how to help that person navigate through the system which is important I think because people sometimes struggle with well I know that there's this problem and I know there might be exploitation or traffic and you involved but but what what next you know and how do i how do I go about helping someone or directing someone to you know where health can be sought so yeah and that's actually one of the biggest initiatives of the regional navigators role is to build awareness and do trainings so they no longer hold the caseload which they use to hold a caseload of young people and now they've actually changed the language of the navigator role to be more of community outreach and doing trainings and engaging it with stakeholders a safe harbor so the messages sent appropriately and correctly so if a call comes in saying that somebody suspects something about sex trafficking yeah you would be the first call for help so who would answer that call and start the process for the link in particular it's someone from my team so either be our West Metro regional navigator are after Karen outreach worker myself or our mobile case manager so what rotates between four people and you're available 24/7 24/7 that's really important that's why we we're we're building capacity and want to add more people for lack of burnout so they're not answering that phone on quite a regular basis and they get some time for themselves and some self care so right it seems like the safe harbor law itself would have completely changed the paradigm around dealing with these issues for law enforcement yes absolutely I assume you've noticed some changes what have you noticed it's changed with this new definition yeah and how you work with law enforcement you know it's actually been a breath of fresh air I think I mean there's always going to be struggles whether and not just with law enforcement with any sort of stakeholder of safe safe harbor it's a very niche population when sometimes it's hard for people to wrap their heads around you know when you're in you're talking about sex and you're talking about engaging in sex like ease the typical brain goes to that's your own will and you're doing it out of your own space and I mean that p-word comes in and that's their own that's their own prog ative and that's what they're doing for themselves which as we know in Safe Harbor and with the link that that's not the case so it's been very interesting to see with in Safe Harbor and building capacity with law enforcement our shelters right there in their community so you know think they come by in just will maybe hang out in our parking lot for a little bit just just so our young people feel safe and maybe pop in and say hi to the young people and just say you know we're a safe space and we're a safe person because there's a lot of stigma around in law enforcement and you know the recent activities and the recent news has been really difficult for especially people of color so building capacity and building upon the positive ends of things and kind of growing up and building upon that has been super beneficial and I know you don't want to use the word prostitution but you know changing the concept out in the community of what is actually happening and getting rid of that word and helping people understand about that this is like you said this is not necessarily a willful this is what I want to do yeah and so and you know Congrats to the you know the amount of training that you can get done because I think what we can I try to do with these series two is really helping where it build awareness about you know what is the new paradigm what is the news what are the new strategies and how are the new ways that we can help people avoid this very awful you know kind of thing that happens in their life and thank you for taking this on it's it's not an easy topic to talk about no but it's important and I think so many issues out here as we've said before there's they tend to be invisible sometimes yeah and there are issues out here that we need to deal with yeah out front so thank you both now it's time for a short break when we come back we'll continue our conversation about exploitation and trafficking [Music] check out LM CC on Facebook be sure to LIKE and friend us so you can keep up with all the happenings or to watch one of your favorite videos [Music] welcome back to talking points I'm Kay Erickson with the League of Women Voters of south tanka in this segment of the program peg Debord president of the South Tonka League and I are going to continue our conversation with Cora burns with the lake we're going to be joined by semi-auto Williams who's a member of the length survivor Advisory Committee assuming honor thank you for joining us today we understand that you're a member of the Lynx survivor Advisory Committee can you tell us about your role in that committee well yeah my boss death hoager she actually came up with this idea to where you know we want people who have been through sexual exploitation or have been trafficked so you know they were telling me about this well I heard from a friend they were telling me about this job and she was saying oh you know she wants people like this and you know so I go there and I'm just thinking to myself like what if this is alive what if she's just saying is you know what if she's trying to catch me and taken in jail or something like that entrusted and then Beth says on her own it she's looking for people like this so from that moment on I decided to get on that committee and help people who have been through the same thing that I've been through you're not being sexually exploited I've been trafficked I've been all of that so if I am to be a reflection for somebody I would want them to make themselves feel pretty you know I just want them to be happy with themselves no matter what they've been through so my role pretty much is to not change people's lives but more so help them through what they've been through on their journey to recovery that sounds like a powerful role yeah my goodness so so how has the link to helped you it helped you in your recovery I love the fact that we can't tolerate a recovery journey yeah you know that you know this it's not it's a not a destination it's a way of life and you know how how how is the link helped you with that well that's helped me mentally and emotionally for the most part everyday you know before I was working at the link I used to you know expect you know John and knock on my door I'm gonna hit her sane and do this and do that you know that was my everyday life and they may not the link it's kind of like I don't have to think about that I don't even have to do any workers here I have this job now and I'm getting paid for it and this was literally my first job and I was like shocked that I even have this job to help people and to talk you know advocate for women you know so it's helped me remind myself over and over you can be more than this you can be more than this because the people that I had in my life kind of were okay with me being where I was at they didn't want to see me happy you know so when I did start to soar on through my journey I kind of lost those people in my life and the link has helped me you know maneuver through that and it's kind of like it's it's destiny for the most part these people that I was holding onto are the people that were holding me back and I was also holding myself back because you know I didn't see any good for myself so mentally was just like I can do this I can do this I can do this I'm staying here helped change laws I'm advocating for these girls and I even helped create a place for those girls in boys too so it's it's it's it's done a lot for me that's just kind of on the surface it sounds like the committee does a lot of different has a lot of different things that you do so you do some mentoring you do some yeah I mean tell me about how you changed the laws I think that's wonderful it was it was actually I was in Peyer with the safe harbor law and then we did get the armed we did get it passed from safe harbor for all we went up there we advocated at the State Capitol I mean I showed it a few tears because I was happy I was excited I mean Here I am changing laws and you know sitting up here with all these people were actually gonna listen to me so we do that and like I said I've helped create passageways and we've created the policies around it the rules the everything around it one of the biggest things were you know not having cell phones there because I kind of know you get a cell phone you kind of going back to nothing you know so we kind of want to exit out you know what else to do we do a whole bunch I mean we walk for the girls I mean we do everything and we do a lot you know it's really it's really fun to see you be so excited about your ability to make change in yourself and in others and in the way you know people view you know what's happened to people that have gone through your struggles and you're just radiant joy apparent that it just makes me just so happy for you you know good job to you all but you know I mean I'm sure you know it's super difficult to kind of say admit that you have an issue that you have to deal with and then like how do I deal with this where do I go how do I get help and so if you could sort of talk about that a little bit on your own journey you know to help other people figure out how their journey might begin I think that would be really beneficial well I think everybody's journey is different because you don't you don't really physically leave mentally you're still there you know it kind of thinks I don't know if there's I don't know if it's inevitable for it to because I still think of think of that stuff the first time I ever went broke I just thought dang it and I got to do this you know but then I called the link in there there you know so I just think that if these girls and boys have people that stand behind them 24/7 don't judge them not for anything in this world I mean they're going to change physically they will leave they don't they won't have to feel like this is what I have to do they won't have to feel like that I mean you get yourself together you have people around you that are going to encourage you 24/7 you stay around those kind of people there's no reason for you to look back because there wasn't anything back there in the first place you know so I just think being on that journey you have to have people who actually care about you you have to have people that are going to encourage you you have to have people that don't judge you for anything that you've done whether you've done something wrong don't know how to use something they're going to teach you there's no reason to be made fun of you know so they're very fragile people I mean first side of you know they feel the first vibe they feel sometimes being around certain people is just kind of like you know they're gonna judge me but once you show them this is an okay place to be you're good here then that's just going to be that just have them around people that are going to love and support them even if they don't know them love and support them because that's what's needed they didn't have it when they were younger and growing up what they need to know it's an important message to get out there one of the things we like to do in these programs let's find out how we can get the word out how could we reach out to other or maybe that's your job I mean I know that you the your committee has an I am priceless campaign the poster for that is just incredible were you involved in that yeah yeah we actually made a book oh there was like like a it's it's gonna be turned into like a binder book kind of thing um the main thing was pretty much from the beginning how you could end up being in the life and how you can get out of it it really important to sort of be able to share you know your vulnerability you know and let others know that even though they feel really scared and really vulnerable that there's places to go I'm here and that will help yeah and you know that's the first step is always you know you got to make that first step and so if that first step is through that no wrong door that people are not going to judge you they're not going to throw you in jail they're not going to they're you know they're going to be respectful and they're gonna really try and figure out you know how they can help and I think the link has shown at least to me and gay you know about how they operate relative to you know people coming in the door and giving them that 24/7 support they need in order to make it through all the bumps in their journey see that's the thing with some other places I've put my trust into and these were in places in Minnesota like I've been everywhere around this world and you know there are social workers there's people we're here to help you we're here to do this we heard earlier that and then they get your parents involved not even knowing that your parents are the reason you're even out here on the streets doing what you're doing you know and here at the link they actually care about you they ask you what you want to do you don't have to have your parents involved because we know and they know it's scary to have them involve sometimes some traffickers are the parents and it's it's it's horrible but it's true I've seen it I've seen babies being born into it I've seen it and it's really sad so to have a place like the link that actually cares and actually care about you and your surroundings top-notch shelf just it's a person so the poster the priceless poster where do you put that how do you reach the people you need to reach well we put it everywhere I tried to get him to put it on toothpaste tubes [Laughter] [Laughter] billboards we also had it was mainly for the Superbowl kind of thing you know because you know when big events like that happened so does things sort of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking so we weren't going to stand for and we just wanted to make everybody aware of it because some people I doesn't happen here yeah that's what we did boom I am priceless that the name period came because I mean you don't put a price on what's really precious and some of these girls don't even know how precious they are until they leave and also you are priceless I am priceless absolutely oh yeah girl what would you like to add to the conversation is there something that we've missed or we've forgotten or we need to emphasize that I you know relative to the link in particular is very youthful as this is the reason why I mean they have the lived experience they're the ones that are the voices in this work and you know we're only here to be the ones that are side by side and be the support system and be the people that are there to to walk with them and be them through their journey of recovery and becoming a survivor so semi obviously is you know very articulate and knows how to speak on her on her experience working with the link and there's not much more I can add there I mean she's our she's our go-to so well I am so glad that I guess I found you you know in my trying to figure out you know how can we present this issue to people and to have people understand about how they can just make the call you know and that's the first step and you know even though it's a scary first step it's the supportive call you know that they'll they'll be supported you know by by the link and will be encouraged to do what they need to do and how the link can help them in their recovery so I mean I just think this is was a wonderful first step for us to find it you know and applaud the state of Minnesota for you know you know enacting the law that makes this all happen because this this is a great first step relative to you know helping people move beyond that that life they think they have to live right I would encourage people to continue to learn and grow and you know find the information whether that's through the link or not you know awareness is is the is a key to recovery and ending this an ending sexual exploitation thank you all for being here yeah I think it's great thank you thank you peg and thank you Cora and Simeon it for providing the important information that you shared today to find out more about the work of the link you can go to their website the link mn.org there's a resource list of groups and agencies helping teens and their families in our area on the screen it's not a comprehensive list we continue to add to it but it is a start for people needing help in finding resources out here in our western suburbs programs like this are just part of the mission of the League of Women Voters for nearly a hundred years we've been encouraging people to get informed to get involved and to vote we hold public meetings on issues important to our communities we put on candidates me and register voters we take physicians and we Lobby at the local state and national levels we're nonpartisan which means we don't support political parties or candidates we invite you to join us to find out more about our league you can go to our website lwv south tonka dot org finally I'd like to thank the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission for the opportunity to present this program and thank you for watching [Music] you