Combatting Human Trafficking!

Volunteer with us to distribute TipCards and Fans to attendees of ComicCon! Help raise awareness and send a clear message that America’s Finest City does not tolerate human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Join us this year on July 21 & 22.

Although human trafficking exists throughout the United States, California is a hot spot for domestic and international human trafficking because of its population, international borders, large economy, extensive ports, and metropolitan regions:

• The average entry age of American minors into the sex trade is 12 – 14 years old;

• Many victims are runaway girls who already have suffered sexual abuse as children;

• California harbors 3 of the FBI’s 13 highest child sex trafficking areas in the nation: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego;

• Foreign nationals also are brought into the U.S. as slaves for labor or commercial sex through force or fraud.

Globalization and the ubiquity and anonymity of the Internet have fueled the rapid growth of sex trafficking, making the trade of women and children easier than ever before.

Last year, more than 200 volunteers from dozens of organizations distributed nearly 15,000 TipCards and Fans to persons attending ComicCon! This was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness and send a clear message that America’s Finest City does not tolerate human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

This effort was well received by ComicCon attendees so we’ll be doing it again this year (July 21/22) with a goal of doubling the effort!

Want to help? Check in with David Merk.