Doing Well While Doing Good – Meet 3Strands Global Foundation

Posted on November 24, 2020

Led by Laurie Caruso, CEO of Safe-Fi Technologies and Chair of the Community Affairs work group, Safer Buildings Coalition works closely with a number of organizations across the country to raise awareness about important causes and further the Safer Buildings Coalition mission. One of these organizations is 3Strands Global Foundation (3SGF) with which SBC works to combat human trafficking.

Safer Buildings Coalition was first introduced to 3SGF through a collaborative project implemented to raise awareness and educate telecommunications professionals on the signs of human trafficking and ways to help prevent this despicable crime from occurring.

We are pleased to introduce 3Strands Global Foundation to you, Safer Buildings Coalition members and followers. Read on, and, if you can: get involved.

What Is 3Strands Global Foundation?
3Strands Global Foundation’s vision is a world FREE from human trafficking, and they believe that prevention changes everything. Their mission is to mobilize communities to combat human trafficking through prevention education and reintegration programs. 

3SGF has hosted the annual Break Free Run since 2010. Originally in response to a tragic event, the event has grown into a stamp of encouragement and hope, largely recognized by the greater Sacramento region. The Break Free Run consists of 5K and 10K running and walking options. Also included is the Virtual Runner option, which allows runners to participate from anywhere in the world. 3SGF recognizes the importance of catalyzing freedom advocates both domestically and internationally, within every state and nation. 

What Inspired 3Strands Global Foundation?
One evening, in 2010, in the suburbs of Northern California, a young girl was taken while socializing with friends in a shopping center parking lot. An attractive trafficker not much older than the teenagers in the group spent time befriending and assessing each teen for vulnerabilities he could exploit. After engaging with the group for hours, he offered to take each of them back to their homes. Upon dropping off every teen except for one, he sexually assaulted her and then moved her to the California Bay Area, where he sold her online multiple times a day to men seeking to have sex with minors. Her friends and family took immediate action, contacting local and state authorities, however, she was trafficked for eight days before she was recovered.

This harrowing event shook the entire area and shocked many community members. At the time, human trafficking was not a widely acknowledged topic and it was assumed that this form of modern-day slavery only took place in third-world nations. A small group of activists knew that something had to be done. The first Break Free Run took place shortly thereafter, and has functioned as a launching pad, eventually growing into a full non-profit organization, now known as 3Strands Global Foundation.

PROTECT: 3SGF’s Human Trafficking Prevention Education Program
After the annual event expanded and officially became 3Strands Global Foundation, leaders saw the need for a presence in the classroom and developed a human trafficking prevention education program. The program was co-founded alongside two other non-profit organizations, Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and Love Never Fails, and was named PROTECT. 

PROTECT provides human trafficking prevention education training and curriculum to students and educators, as well as parents, guardians, caregivers and other community members. The program curriculum is available at elementary, middle, and high school grade levels and includes age-appropriate content that teaches children and teens how to protect themselves and others from the dangers of human trafficking. 3SGF recognizes the importance of teaching students what safe boundaries, healthy relationships, and guarded online activity looks like within the prevention process. All material is delivered through a trauma-informed approach, as it is sadly possible that many students receiving the curriculum have already been exploited and therefore, may experience emotional triggers during lessons.

To date, over 40,000 adults have been equipped with PROTECT Prevention Education and an estimated 500,000 students have been educated on how to stay safe from exploitation. The program has been rolled out in California, Utah, and Texas with other states in the queue. 

Employ + Empower: 3SGF’s Reintegration Program
3SGF also prevents the crime of human trafficking through reintegration and has built the Employ + Empower program. Financial instability is one of the primary reasons that individuals at-risk of being victimized and survivors of human trafficking are exploited and re-exploited. The Employ + Empower team connects survivors and those at-risk with sustainable employment or education programs as well as other resources needed to succeed in the workforce, including professional clothing, transportation, childcare, and more.

To date, the program has connected over 220 survivors and individuals at-risk with sustainable employment or education opportunities. 

3SGF’s Other Initiatives
3SGF sponsored bill AB 1227 (Bonta)-The Human Trafficking Prevention Education and Training Act, which was signed into law and requires prevention education to be taught in California schools, making California a leader in the fight against human trafficking. 

Along with the Break Free Run, 3SGF also hosts other events to raise awareness within local and global communities because they know that awareness is the key to the eradication of exploitation. 3SGF believes that together, we can bring an end to the evil of human trafficking.

How to Get Involved
Want to know how you can stand up against human trafficking and exploitation and partner with 3Strands Global Foundation in pursuit of a world free? Any (one) can be a proponent of freedom. Any (one) can use their voice to amplify the right to a life rid of exploitation. 

Become (one) by signing up today as a monthly donor. You can visit www.3SGF.org to find out more! There, you can also register for the Break Free Run happening Saturday, April 10^th, 2021. Not local to the Sacramento area? Run from anywhere in the world by registering as a Virtual Runner!

Click on the button below to donate to 3Strands Global Foundation.  

Any (one) person can be a force for change, and when a group of (one)s come together, collective impact is made.

For more information about the Safer Buildings Coalition Community Affairs work group, please watch the video in this month’s newsletter, or contact Laurie Caruso at [email protected].