Our Three Pillars

ABOUT AWAKEN NEVADA

Together, these three pillars form the foundation of our approach and inform all of the work that we do, from community outreach and education to providing support and resources for survivors.

Pillar One:

Prevention

Awaken offers preventative education targeting the most vulnerable population: disadvantaged youth. Awaken staff present at school assemblies, deliver classroom-based curriculum to students, and work with youth groups to talk to local students about the realities of human trafficking and how to prevent it from happening to them or their loved ones.


Awaken has worked with victims of trafficking from each and every high school in the Reno/Sparks/Carson area and most of the middle schools. Youth victims who enrolled in Awaken programming in 2019 made up 49.5 percent of Awaken’s program participants, and many of Awaken’s older victims were first trafficked in their youth.


Those who have experienced the child welfare system have unique risks, especially during times when they run away from foster care. Foster youth who run may experience poor health, safety, education, employment, and justice system involvement. Approximately 60 percent of all child sex trafficking victims have histories in the child welfare system.


Lack of stable housing is also a risk factor for youth. More than 3,000 students in the Washoe County School District experience homelessness. Students experiencing homelessness are 87 percent more likely to drop out of school than those with stable housing; those without a high school diploma are 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness later in life. One in five homeless youth are led into trafficking: estimates state 20 percent of homeless youth females are trafficked for sex.


Studies state, “on average, commercial sexual exploitation starts as early as 12-14 years old.” Yet, Awaken suspects that many youth are not being reached. Almost 50 percent of the youth reported never accessing services.


Awaken’s goal is that through prevention efforts, students would be able to identify unsafe situations for themselves and their peers and avoid becoming victims.


To request a speaker to come to your school or youth group, please click here.


 

Pillar Two:

Restoration

Since its inception, Awaken has helped more than 900 women and children. Victims of sex trafficking and CSE struggle in Nevada. They are forced to navigate a culture that “mainstreams” and readily accepts the commodification of sex and yet offers little in the way of social services, mental health, housing or other programs necessary to help victims of trafficking rebuild their lives. Women in and out of the sex trade are sold, raped, beaten, assaulted, kidnapped and murdered at levels high above the national average. While Awaken works extensively with other community partners to help these individuals, the unique and complex circumstances of CSE and sex trafficking victims creates serious challenges and obstacles that require individualized and customized services not often available at domestic violence centers, drug/alcohol rehabilitation centers, or homeless shelters. The experiences, types of trauma, interventions, and outcomes are often quite different. Awaken has customized services for Adults and Youth. Please visit our Services Page to learn more about the opportunities available.


Pillar Three:

City Transformation

Nevada is a sex tourism state. People from around the globe come to visit Nevada, attracted by casinos, brothels, and 24/7 entertainment. Yet while tourists can return home after a long weekend of fantasy chasing, local residents are left with the effects of an economy that thrives on the availability of sex for sale.


Nevada’s sex trade is the largest in the country — 63 percent larger than the next largest state. A 2013 study in the European Journal of Law and Economics compared data from countries that had legalized prostitution versus those that hadn’t. It found that sex trafficking is “most prevalent in countries where prostitution is legalized.” Sex buyers in Nevada are notoriously unconcerned with accessing sex legally or illegally — and many don’t know the difference. Women and children have paid the price for Nevada’s laws.


The entire community has been groomed. Traffickers come to Nevada to recruit women and children for the sex trade, and have bragged this is the easiest state in which to recruit because the laws have done much of the grooming and desensitizing for them. When prostitution is a legal business and viewed as “a job like any other,” it gets the same access and opportunities as any other business.


An important aspect of Awaken’s work is focused on being an advocate for social change and engaging the community. Through the agency’s awareness and outreach efforts, Awaken is reaching a diverse cross-section of Nevadans from grassroots supporters to policymakers. We aim to educate and empower individuals with the information and resources they need to combat sex trafficking and CSE. Awaken offers year-round workshops and trainings for law enforcement, hospitals, social service providers, and faith-based groups. We perform outreach through special events and media campaigns.


Awaken’s commitment to reaching community members is a key component in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking in our area. We cannot combat this crime alone and need all our neighbors to be informed about this egregious human rights violation happening right here in our own backyard. Awaken aspires to be an inspirational model for other communities.


To request a speaker, please click here.

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