“H
uman trafficking” and “modern day slavery” aren’t words you hear every day in Bethesda — we often think they’re concentrated in international communities. But the reality is more grim than many would expect. The International Labor Organization estimates that there are at least 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally and hundreds of thousands of victims in the United States, 99% of whom are women. To combat this issue, activist Andrea Powell founded FAIR Girls — which stands for “Free, Aware, Inspired, Restored” — in 2003 after her friend was sold into forced marriage. It’s a non-profit organization which provides intervention and supportive care to survivors of human trafficking within the D.C. area and aims to eradicate trafficking through prevention education and policy advocacy. Since its founding, FAIR Girls has remained the only D.C. organization to provide housing tailored to the needs of trafficking survivors. “The thing that’s so surprising to me is that trafficking is happening in Montgomery County,” said FAIR Girls board member Cheryl Battan, a former Whitman parent. “It’s happening a half hour from where you are any time of the day, mostly in hotels and apartments.” According to the National Conference of State Legislatures trafficking activities are most commonly defined as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons for the purpose of exploitation.” The NCSL states that traffickers force their victims into inhumane conditions: prostitution, forced labor and unsafe housing, among others.
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Survivors are usually trafficked by people they know, including romantic partners and family members, according to Polaris Project, a non-profit organization that works to combat and prevent human trafficking and runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Some survivors report directly to FAIR Girls, while the National Human Trafficking Hotline also refers callers to FAIR Girls. The police also directs some victims they find on the street to FAIR Girls. Once in contact with a FAIR Girls representative, victims have the option to stay in FAIR Girls’ free housing, the Vida Home, which provides beds for up to six survivors at a time. Survivors can stay at the Vida Home for a maximum of 90 days before moving into a place of their own. The Vida Home’s address isn’t available publicly, so it offers a safe place for trafficking victims to transition out of slavery without the possibility of their traffickers finding them. “It’s not a shelter at all,” Battan said. “It’s a home.” Forty of the 52 survivors that FAIR Girls supported in 2019 stayed at the Vida Home, which grants from the federal, D.C. city governments and Montgomery County governments pay for. The other 12 survivors lived elsewhere, in housing supported by FAIR Girls’ partner organizations but still received help from the FAIR Girls staff. At the Vida Home, survivors work with one of three case managers to determine a set of goals and a step-by-step plan for getting acclimated to their new, free life. “Case managers provide a whole slew of services from legal and medical services to mental health and group therapy,” Battan said. “It’s very individualized because we meet the girls and young women where they are.” Case management coordinator Jewel Wright currently works with 13 survivors and meets with each of them once a week, connecting them to healthcare, transportation, social services and other housing programs depending upon their needs. “When I meet with a new client, I let them set the pace,” Wright said. “They will open up in their own time. I start out by just listening to them to make them feel comfortable, which allows me to build rapport.”
