The Capital City Ball 2009
Since 2004, Innocents at Risk has been doing essential work to create awareness of the global threat of human trafficking in the United States and abroad. This illicit industry, which generates over $32 billion annually, is the fastest-growing criminal business in the world and the most lucrative, second to drug trafficking. The numbers are staggering. More than 3,000,000 women and children are sold into servitude annually; 18,000 enter the United States by train, car or plane; and 244,000 are trafficked within the U.S.
In 2008, Innocents at Risk launched the Flight Attendant Initiative, providing approximately one-third of American Airlines’ 19,000 flight attendants with its brochure, Protecting Women and Children from Human Trafficking. The brochure alerts flight attendants to the signs of trafficking and gives them the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline number (1-888-3737888) plus other critical information. As a result, dozens of flight attendants have called the hotline to report potential victims, and lives are being saved. The Flight Attendant Initiative, recently named “Blue Lightning,” is supported by the U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protections, and countless non-governmental organizations in the United States and around the globe.
To find out more visit www.innocentsatrisk.org
Polaris Project’s vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves toward freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002.
Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan, with programs operating at international, national and local levels through our offices in Washington, DC; Newark, NJ; Denver, CO; and Tokyo, Japan. Polaris Project is one of the few organizations working on all forms of trafficking and serving both citizen and foreign national victims of human trafficking.
Polaris Project’s holistic approach to combating human trafficking includes conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing to victims, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), serving as the central national hotline on human trafficking, advocating for stronger state and federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engaging community members in local and national grassroots efforts.
Since its founding, Polaris Project has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors for its achievements including: Ashoka Innovators for the Public, Marie Claire’s 10 Best Charities, the 2006 Justice for Victims of Crime Award given by the Department of Justice, the DO Something BRICK award, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation Leadership Award 2004 and 2009, and honors from Lifetime Television, Body Shop, and CNN.
To find out more visit www.polarisproject.org.
The Emancipation Network (TEN) is an international organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking and modern-day slavery. TEN fights slavery by empowering survivors and people at high risk to rebuild their lives. Individuals and communities become slavery-proof with jobs, job training, education, aftercare and reintegration. As part of the effort to create jobs and raise money, the Made By Survivors project run by TEN sells handcrafted products on the Internet. Beautiful clothing, jewelry, gifts, home decor items and more can be found at www.MadeBySurvivors.com. TEN uses the profits to provide help and hope to others rescued from slavery.
Destiny Productions is TEN’s newest initiative to help human trafficking survivors become fully independent, and to slavery-proof them and their children into the future. TEN’s handicraft programs at Destiny Center offer survivors a job that enables them to support themselves and live a meaningful, independent life. For those still living at a shelter, handicrafts programs provide therapeutic benefits, job training, literacy, social interaction, and a stipend for part-time work.
To find out more visit www.tencharities.org.
Innocents at Risk founder Debby Sigmund and husband Meltzer Group’s Don Sigmund, former Under Secretary of State for Democracy, now with Baker & Hostetler, Paula Dobriansky, and the State Department’s Bruce Friedman, and Caris Corporation’s George Poste, Deb Carstens. We would like to give a special thanks to Deb Carstens of the Carsens family fund for being a Liberty Sponsor.
D. Wright Sigmund, Natalie Grigorian Carmona, Cherie Short Innocents at Risk Director of Development, and Ryan O’Dwyer.
Proceeds benefited three non-profits: The Emancipation Network, Innocents at Risk, and Polaris Project. Ball committee member Erika Gutierrez, Sullivan & Cromwell’s Dacia Nagar, Jenny Gu, attorneyKiki Messina, and Deloitte’s Solara Linehan.
On the Benefit Committee: Pamela Brehm and Barbara Liles.
Walter Reed’s Angela Poling and Gregory Applegate.
A special thanks to Kenneth Suarez for his support through the Justice Sponsorship.
Capital City Ball founders Bruce Fries and John Dunford flank AOL’s Tonya Sable.
We would also like to give a thank you to Julie and Mike Conners and the Fed Ex Corporation for their their support through the Dignity Sponsorship. Their generous contributions are much appreciated.