Freedom 4/24 was originally started in 2009 by a college student who was interning in Thailand and learned that it was common practice to be able to “rent” a person for 24 hours for only 24 dollars. When she returned from her internship, she began selling t-shirts with the goal of preventing and ending sexual exploitation and trafficking on the local and global level. Later, the organization created a 5k race that was held in twelve locations across the country to educate communities about human trafficking and raise funds for its prevention.
Today, Freedom 4/24 is still focused on the goal of ending human exploitation. However, beginning in 2017, their work evolved to focus on creating prevention education. Beginning in 2021, the Freedom Team started writing their own curriculum for prevention and they have been piloting this education this year.
While the success of prevention education can be difficult to back with data, Joy Cover, Freedom 4/24’s President explained, “prevention education is underrated and hard to measure, but if we’re doing our job, we won’t have numbers.”
The goal of this training is to equip children, teens and adults on how to navigate both physical and online spaces in ways that are safe and healthy. Joy pointed out, “we’re changing a culture because so many people think that human trafficking is kidnapping or stranger danger.” However, the dangers of human trafficking are often present in online spaces long before a victim has any type of in-person contact with a perpetrator.
Freedom 4/24 has partnered with Campbell County along with Patrick Henry Family Services and Impact Living Services to pilot this education and hopes to expand the distribution to school systems throughout the Commonwealth. The curriculum is trauma informed, evidence-based and victim centered, and every certified trainer of the curriculum is also equipped to provide triage and aftercare.
This facet of education is vital because active trafficking or exploitation situations have been identified because of the training. Joy shared one story about how two Freedom 4/24 Team Members provided an education session at a church, and afterward, a grandmother came up to them and said I just realized through your training that my daughter is grooming my granddaughter. This led to the Freedom 4/24 Team connecting the grandmother with appropriate resources and the granddaughter being removed from the situation and placed in a safer living situation.
Because human trafficking is a $150 billion industry, it takes money to fight it. Centra has partnered with Freedom 4/24 over the years to sponsor the “Run 4 Their Lives” race in addition to their annual Freedom Gala in order to aid in the non-profit’s fundraising efforts. However, Centra and Freedom 4/24’s partnership isn’t exclusive to charitable donations.
The Freedom 4/24 Team is actively working with Centra’s Forensics Team to develop a Human Trafficking Policy along with education designed specifically for healthcare workers that will be provided to Caregivers in 2024. At present, Texas is the only state that requires healthcare workers to receive this type of training, so this education is being designed to meet the standards outlined by that legislation.
When asked what she is most excited for Freedom 4/24 in the year to come, Joy shared that a lot of work has gone into developing this new education, so it is gratifying to now be so near to the actual roll out and utilization.