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Above the Clouds

Our Mission

Implement a coordinated community response to identify, prevent, and eliminate human trafficking in the Tri-County area. 

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Support mandated reporters, law enforcement, and providers to identify and serve trafficking victims.

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Engage sustainable and sufficient resources to empower those victimized to be thriving community members. 

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About Us

Human trafficking is a dynamic issue requiring action on the part of multiple actors. Law enforcement, social service providers, non-profits, and community members all play key roles in the identification, prevention, and elimination of human trafficking. Established in 2018, the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force works to bring entities together in a collaborative response to this issue.

 

The Task Force is organized into 8 subcommittees: Education, Law Enforcement, Legal Innovations, Child Direct Services, Adult Direct Services, Healthcare, Faith-Based, and Research. Each one of these subcommittees works to employ a different facet of the community in response to human trafficking.

Above the Clouds
 
 
Above the Clouds
Above the Clouds
Chairs:
Brooke Burris, Lincoln Tubman Foundation
Lauren Knapp, Charleston Co. Sheriff

Prevention

  1. Prevention & Education

    1. Leslie Bailey - volunteer

    2. Lindsey Hass - survivor-leader/trainer

  2. Research & Data

    1. Leslie Hill - Citadel Criminal Justice Dept.

    2. Kristen Hefner - Citadel Criminal Justice Dept.

    3. Stephanie Armstrong - MUSC/Human Trafficking & Healthcare Consulting

 

Prosecution

  1. Law Enforcement

    1. Lauren Knapp - Charleston Co. Sheriff

    2. US Attorney’s Office

  2. Legal Innovations

    1. Charleston Pro Bono

    2. Rene Stuhr Dukes - Rosen Hagood Law Firm

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Protection

  1. Child Services

    1. Dee Norton CAC

    2. Dorchester CAC

  2. Adult Services

    1. Kat Wehunt - The Formation Project

    2. Adriana Mattingly - National Crime Victims Center

  3. Healthcare

    1. Jason Betts - MUSC

    2. Karen Drozd - MUSC Sexual Abuse Pediatrics

    3. Kris Oleksyk - Holistic Health Practitioner

 

Partnerships

  1. Faith-Based

    1. Cyndi Mosteller - East Cooper Baptist Church

    2. Maraide Sullivan - St. Michael’s Church

  1. Supporters

  2. Patrons

Above the Clouds
 

About Human Trafficking

Above the Clouds
Above the Clouds

What is Human Trafficking?

An estimated 40.3 million individuals are subject to human trafficking worldwide.​

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International Labour Organization, 2016

Human Trafficking is defined as:

  1. Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or

  2. The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery (USDOS, 2019).