By Jenny Almquist

Fierce Freedom Co-Founder and Executive Director

A year ago, I would have never dreamed that as an organization we would be positioned as we are – in a truly strategic way to make change in the state of Wisconsin. As you read through this newsletter you will read about opportunities for change in the world of fighting human trafficking at many levels; not only in Wisconsin but across the upper Midwest with opportunities for even further reach.

If you are not aware, three bills were signed into law just last week by Governor Walker to give law enforcement tools to fight against domestic human sex trafficking. Mindsets, along with laws, are changing fast in our great state and I am thrilled that Fierce Freedom is part of that change! Because of this we have more requests than we could possibly fill for educational presentations. As a result, we are working hard at training volunteers and staff to help meet that need. One way we are doing that is developing online training for people to become Fierce Freedom Advocates. Once a person completes the training program, they will have access to Fierce Freedom training resources and be ready to give presentations and educate in their community. Can you even imagine the potential to bring change to communities across our country? This is in the works right now and we are very excited about this program.

Also, in the coming year, we will begin to educate about labor trafficking in the upper-Midwest. Until now, we have focused primarily on sex trafficking. However, labor and sex trafficking overlap and we are missing an educational opportunity if we address one and not the other. We have a lot of work to do among the agriculture industry, food and tourism industries – and we are prepared to do just that.

In this newsletter, you will see information about our 7th Annual Night of Freedom and Hope. Please make plans to join us, and bring everyone you know. The night will center around stories of people impacted by trafficking – stories of hope and healing. You won’t want to miss this!

I would like to assure each of you that as we fight against human trafficking and all the horrors that come with it, we see much good too. Good people who make changes in their lives to purchase fair trade items, help others understand that pornography destroys lives, men and women getting help for those addictions and of course much, much more. It is difficult to see immediate change but looking back over the past 10 years we see that those changes, big and small, have made a huge difference in our culture. Thank you for the ways you have worked to encourage those changes. Keep up the good work!!