3rd Annual Regional Human Trafficking Summit
ADDRESSING RESILIENCE AND IDENTIFYING EQUITABLE SOLUTIONS
For Advocates Against Human Trafficking
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2023 • 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023 • 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
VIRTUAL/HYBRID OPTION NOW AVAILABLE
SPEAKERS
Click on a speaker’s name below to read their bio.
Keynote Speaker
Former Ambassador of Human Trafficking for President Barack Obama
Luis C.deBaca
Ambassador (ret.) Luis C.deBaca led U.S. government activities in the global fight against contemporary forms of slavery during the Obama administration. As Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, C.deBaca updated statutes created after the Civil War and through the 13th Amendment to develop the victim-centered approach to modern slavery that has become the global standard for combating human trafficking.
In the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), C.deBaca investigated and prosecuted complex criminal cases, negotiated labor and human rights advances, and managed multi-million dollar grant portfolios combating slavery and sexual abuse. As one of the most decorated federal prosecutors in the U.S., he investigated and prosecuted cases of human trafficking, hate crimes, and police misconduct, as well as immigration, organized crime, and money laundering. He built his litigation record into policy, incorporating the voices of victims, workers, and the advocacy community into decision making. As principal DOJ drafter of the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act and a member of the team that negotiated the United Nations’ anti-trafficking protocol, he helped to enshrine the “3P” anti-trafficking approach of prevention, protection, and prosecution in U.S. and international practice.
Following his prosecution career, he served as Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he handled issues of civil rights, immigration, and civil liberties, including revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In the Obama Administration, he served as Director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2009 to 2014 and as the Director of the Justice Department’s Office for Sex Offender Monitoring Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking from 2015 to 2017.
After retiring from government service, C.deBaca was a Senior Fellow of Modern Slavery at Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and served as a Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and Lecturer of Architecture at Yale School of Architecture. He also was a 2017-2019 Soros Open Society Human Rights Fellow focusing on worker-led social responsibility, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
C.deBaca’s teaching and research interests include Criminal Law, Race & Slavery, Policing, Immigration, National Security, Labor, Indian Law, International Law, and Civil Rights. Current projects include an inquiry into the imprint of current and historical forms of slavery and involuntary servitude on the built environment, re-thinking business practices that incentivize the use of forced labor, and preparatory work toward a national slavery memorial in Washington, D.C.
Featured Speaker
Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI)
Krystal Ka’ai
Krystal Ka‘ai is the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. In this role, she is responsible for advising the Biden administration on the coordination and implementation of federal programs and initiatives to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. Prior to joining WHIAANHPI, Krystal worked on Capitol Hill for over a decade, including serving as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) for eight years. She previously held positions with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the State of Hawai‘i, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation. Krystal was born and raised in Hawai‘i and is the first Native Hawaiian to ever lead WHIAANHPI.
Featured Speaker
Region 3 Director, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Ala Stanford
Dr. Ala Stanford was appointed Region III Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by President Biden in April 2022, overseeing Children Youth and Families, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Office of Disabilities and Early Childhood Education. Region III includes Pennsylvania. Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Dr. Stanford gained national recognition during the COVID- 19 pandemic using the infrastructure of her pediatric surgery practice to create a grassroots organization to focus on testing, contact tracing and vaccination in communities devoid of access to care and resources. Her focus on the most vulnerable populations disproportionately impacted by COVID19 saved lives.
Dr. Stanford is a practicing physician for over 25 years. She is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in both pediatric and adult general surgery. She is former director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, a member of the Philadelphia Board of Health, Philadelphia Department of Health COVID19 advisory board, a trusted national leader and public health advocate. In addition to opening a Center for Health Equity to improve health outcomes in communities with the lowest life expectancy, her organization was responsible for providing nearly 100,000 COVID-19 tests and vaccinations. She was recognized by Admiral Rachel Levine and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy as demonstrating best health practices and a national model in the midst of a public health crisis.
Dr. Stanford has received many accolades, notably a: 2021 Top 10 CNN Hero, and 2021 George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award Recipient. Most recently, Winter 2022, she led a FEMA mission, Region III Team to vaccinate students in Philadelphia School District and a mobile vaccination unit in hard hit Southeastern Pennsylvania neighborhoods.
As Regional Director Dr. Stanford’s priorities focus on health equity, COVID19 recovery and response, maternal health, opioid abuse and prevention and mental wellness; in addition to other public health concerns of our nation and those that specifically impact Region III.
SPEAKERS
Reed Bohn, BSW
Interventionist, Project Empower
Reed Bohn, BSW
Reed Bohn, BSW (he/they/Reed) is a LGBTQ+, anti-violence, and reproductive justice advocate with over 15 years of community experience. Presently, his paid work is as an interventionist with Project Empower and the Infectious Disease clinic at Virginia Commonwealth University/Health System (VCU/HS)’s Injury and Violence Prevention Program. Prior to coming to VCU/HS, they were the Crisis Response Team Director/Manager at the Virginia Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. He is an active volunteer with All Options and was a member of the Virginia Community HIV Planning Group from 2013 to 2020. They have attended and facilitated numerous education and outreach opportunities, training, and technical assistance; in addition to receiving certifications in a variety of modalities. His formal education experience is as an abolitionist social worker (cum laude, BSW, from VCU in 2019). To highlight the words of Lydia X. Z. Brown,
“Often, their most important work has no title, job description, or funding, and probably never will.”
– Reed Bohn
Charlee Borg
Senior Program Officer, Learning and Development Management, International Rescue Committee
Charlee Borg
With her extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing national and international anti-trafficking programs across sectors, Charlee Borg weaves first-hand knowledge from over ten years serving survivors of human trafficking to create engaging and relevant training materials. Prior to Framework, Charlee built agency, regional, and state anti-trafficking capacity across the U.S. while consulting as a cross-cultural trauma and crisis response specialist. She has aided human trafficking survivors nationally and internationally by developing and managing programs, providing crisis and long-term therapy interventions, and supporting survivors and organizations better partner together. Charlee received her M.A. in International Disaster Psychology: Trauma and Global Mental Health from the University of Denver with a certificate in Program Development and Evaluation.
M. Elizabeth Bowman
Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University
M. Elizabeth Bowman, PhD, LICSW, LCSW-C
M. Elizabeth Bowman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University. She is also a minor domestic sex trafficking survivor, anti-trafficking advocate, mother of two teens, researcher, clinician, and speaker. In her clinical practice she works with trafficking survivors using trauma-informed yoga group therapy and also has a clinical practice supporting children and adolescents with anxiety and other challenges. She holds clinical social work licensure in DC and Maryland and is a Registered Yoga Teacher, RYT-200. Her research areas include the intersection of child welfare and sex trafficking, organizational culture and supervision in child welfare, and special populations issues in trafficking including LGBT, foster youth, and Deaf youth. She is the founder and executive director of the Restoring Ivy Collective in Washington, D.C., a survivor led organization which provides referral and outreach, group therapy, and support to survivors of sex trafficking with a focus on intentional community.
David Chelmow, MD
Interim Dean at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
David Chelmow, MD
Dr. David Chelmow has been the department of OB/GYN chair since 2010 and he’s also the Leo J. Dunn Professor of OB/GYN. His clinical interests include the full scope of the OB/GYN specialty, particularly woman’s preventative services, cervical cancer screening and prevention, caesarean delivery techniques (particularly wound closure and the prevention of wound complications), prenatal care and gynecologic care of women living with HIV.
Prior to VCU, Dr. Chelmow was on the faculty at Tufts Medical School for 18 years, where he served as residency program director, Division Chief for General OB/GYN and IRB Chair. He is active in a number of national organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors of the American Board of OB/GYN. Additionally, he is President of the Council of University Chairs and Treasurer of ASCCP (American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology). He is also editor in chief of the Medscape OB/GYN Reference and serves on the Residency Review Committee for OB/GYN.
James Dold
CEO & Founder, Human Rights for Kids
James Dold
James Dold is the Founder & CEO of Human Rights for Kids (HRFK). James oversees all of HRFK’s programming and operations work. Under his leadership HRFK has solidified itself as the national expert on human rights issues impacting children in the United States. He is the principal author behind The Fight for Our Soul: A Legislative Blueprint for Changing the Way the Criminal Justice System Treats Children, as well as HRFK’s Annual National State Ratings Report which assesses how well or how poorly states are protecting the human rights of children in the criminal legal system. These reports have inspired policymakers and advocates from across the country to pass laws to bring their states into compliance with human rights standards.
Prior to launching HRFK, James served as Advocacy Director and Chief Strategy Officer for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth where he developed and implemented the advocacy strategy that led to the quadrupling of states that ban life without parole sentences for children in the U.S. Hundreds of people who were told as children that they would die in prison have been released due to his efforts. James also served as Senior Policy Counsel at Polaris Project where he led successful state legislative campaigns resulting in the passage of 40 new anti-human trafficking laws across the country. A survivor of child labor trafficking and sexual abuse himself, James was also the architect behind Nevada’s AB 146 in 2013 which criminalized involuntary servitude of a minor which was based on his experiences as a survivor.
James received dual baccalaureates in Criminal Justice and Psychology from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Maryland School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland and is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. James was a 2016 Halle Scholar with the Aspen Institute’s Justice & Society Program. He was also a finalist for the 2020 Grinnell Prize and 2021 Echoing Green Fellowship. In 2021 James was selected as a winner of the Paul H. Chapman Award by the Foundation for the Improvement of Justice and the Social Innovation Pitch Prize by Echoing Green and Barclays.
Tanya Gould
Anti-Human Trafficking Director for the VA Commonwealth Attorney General’s Office
Tanya Gould
Honorable Tanya Gould is a solutionist fighting against human trafficking, striving to impact legislative policy and raise public awareness. She is the Anti-Human Trafficking Director for the VA Commonwealth Attorney General’s Office and serves on the Governor’s Commission on Human Trafficking Prevention and Survivor Support. This year Tanya received the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking in Persons. She served 2 terms on the on the U.S. Advisory Council on Human trafficking. Tanya has given lectures and trainings at universities, Human Trafficking conferences, and faith communities raising awareness both nationally and abroad. She has served as a consultant to various anti human trafficking organizations, as well as DOJ’s Office for Victims of Crime, DHS’ Blue Campaign, Global Strategic Operatives for the Eradication of Human Trafficking, Inc. and DOS’ TIP office. She also serves on boards and organizations such as Polaris, Beloved Haven and Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum Taskforce on Human Trafficking. Tanya Gould shares her story of being trafficked as part of her advocacy and gives credit to Survivors, family and friends of her community who have helped her in achieving her goals.
Dr. Marian Hatcher
Survivor Leader & Policy Consultant, Ambassador at-large, United Nations
Dr. Marian Hatcher
Dr. Hatcher has worked as a civilian member of law enforcement for 15 years (currently on medical leave). Dr. Hatcher is a national expert on combating the demand, sitting on numerous boards and facilitating trainings on trafficking and prostitution for various law enforcement groups including the F.B.I. and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She has traveled the country speaking at various events and conferences, shedding light on the prevalent issue of tr and telling her own story as a survivor of sex trafficking and domestic violence. She has been featured in documentaries and is recipient of numerous awards including the 2014 Shared Hope International Pathbreaker Award, and 2016 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service from President Obama.
Elisia Lopez
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Elisia Lopez
Elisia Lopez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who provides trauma-informed, human/person centered, and culturally appropriate care in every interaction she has. Elisia is a survivor of intergenerational familial trafficking that began for her at the age of thirteen. She has experience with a wide spectrum of challenges in life, including but not limited to, trauma, mood disorders, anxiety, social injustice, and addictions. She currently works full time with people who live with severe and persistent mental illness who suffer with the underlying feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and other barriers in life just like the rest of us.
Elisia brings a unique perspective of lived experience in all her work. She serves on the Community Advisory Board of Survivors Against Human Trafficking and is the clinical supervisor for New Avenues for Youth in Portland housing team for survivors of human trafficking. She also serves as clinical supervisor to a wonderful group of individuals who are working with a wide variety of youth who face challenges such as homelessness, LGBTQI+ life transitions, grief, survivorship of human trafficking, domestic violence, and systemic oppression. Lastly, she serves as a mentor for those who are trying to rebuild their lives after trauma to empower those who want to take their power back. After earning her BSW at Concordia University, she graduated with her Masters in Social Work from Portland State University.
Heather LaRocca, LCSW
Director, Anti-Trafficking for The Salvation Army
Advisor, New Day to Stop Trafficking Program
Heather LaRocca, LCSW
Heather LaRocca, LCSW is the Director of Anti-Trafficking for The Salvation Army and provides leadership and clinical oversight to the New Day to Stop Trafficking Program (NDSTP). NDSTP delivers trauma informed, wholistic, and victim centered services to survivors of trafficking including task force response to trafficking in Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, transitional housing, 24 hour hotline, intensive mobile clinical case management, a drop in center, court advocacy, Police Assisted diversion program, and trainings.
Ms. LaRocca has been working with victims of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking since 2006. Ms. LaRocca was employed by Women Against Abuse (WAA), the lead domestic violence agency in Philadelphia, for over a decade where she supervised and coordinated the Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline as well as intake to two 100 bed shelters. Ms. LaRocca has advocated for the rights and identification of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence survivors and participates in collaborations of service providers and law enforcement in the greater Philadelphia area. Ms. LaRocca holds her master’s degree in Social Work from Widener University and bachelor’s in Social Work from Messiah College.
Neil Mallon
Senior Training Specialist
Prevention of Adolescent Risks Initiative at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Social Work
Neil Mallon
Neil Mallon, LCSW-C is a Senior Training Specialist with the Prevention of Adolescent Risks Initiative at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work.
In his role, Mr. Mallon is responsible for implementing and overseeing several grant funded initiatives to improve outcomes for child and young adult victims of sex and labor trafficking in Maryland. Mr. Mallon is also an Advisor to the University of Maryland Support, Advocacy, Freedom, & Empowerment (SAFE) Center; a multi-disciplinary service center for survivors of human trafficking. He has also previously served in leadership roles with the Maryland Child Labor Trafficking Learning Collaborative and the Washington County Human Trafficking Task Force. nmallon@ssw.umaryland.edu
Ima Matul
Human Trafficking Advocate, Former White House Advisory Council on Human Trafficking Member
Ima Matul
Ima Matul was born and raised in Indonesia. When she was only a teenager, she got an offer to work in the US. It seemed like a blessing and an opportunity for a better life. A labor recruiter said everything would be taken care of: passports, visas, and tickets. She promised her $150 a month in pay, and while not much, it was more than Ima could earn in Indonesia.
However, when Ima arrived in Los Angeles it turned out the labor recruiter was a trafficker. When she arrived at a house to work the owner explained to Ima what was expected of her: cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for the children, gardening, and washing the car.
The house became a prison. Ima worked 18 hours a day – sometimes more – 7 days a week, with no days off. She never saw a dollar of the promised meager pay. She was forbidden to talk to anyone. She was physically and verbally abused daily. At one point, Ima had to get stitches after the trafficker hit her with a ceramic salt shaker.
Ima wanted to run away, but abuse and threats made her too terrified to leave. Her trafficker warned that if she left the police would arrest her and put her in jail, where she would be beaten and raped. She did not know what to do. She had nowhere to go, no money, and no one she could turn to. Ima didn’t even know where she was. Unable to speak much English, she didn’t know she had any rights.
After 3 years, Ima could not take it anymore. With the constant abuse growing worse by the day, Ima secretly wrote a letter to the nanny next door. It took her a long time to compose that letter; she struggled writing in English and was so scared to get caught. Finally she saw an opportunity, and she gave the nanny the letter.
A few days later, her neighbor arranged Ima’s escape. They drove far from the house where she had been held captive for three years. Ima didn’t ask where they were going – she was just happy and relieved to have escaped.
Ima’s neighbor took her to the offices of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) in Los Angeles, where they provided Ima with counseling, support groups, legal assistance, and job skills training. She learned to speak and write in English and joined a leadership development program offered by CAST. A natural leader, Ima now works there as a Survivor Organizer.
Ima is a powerful speaker and advocate for the rights of immigrant laborers in the United States. She has spoken to politicians and legislators to promote survivor-centered legislation on the issue of human trafficking. She was recently recognized by President Barack Obama as a hero in today’s abolitionist movement.
Shamere McKenzie
Training for National Human Trafficking Hotline, Polaris
Shamere McKenzie
Shamere McKenzie was simply trying to find a way to pay her college tuition when she met her trafficker. He seemed like a nice guy, and he promised her she could make money dancing.
Instead he forced her into sex slavery.
For the next several years, Shamere was forced to perform sexual services both on the streets and inside strip clubs. Strong-willed as she is, Shamere often refused and resisted this man who posed as her boyfriend. Each time, she was beaten to a point where she was unable to take care of herself.
Escape was never an option.
It wasn’t until the police busted the pimp (and her!) that she was able to find a way to liberate herself from his clutches. Even though Shamere was clearly a victim, she was charged alongside the pimp.
Today, Shamere is a free woman. She is empowered by her recognition of her own strength, her faith, and her family and friends. She is now the Chief Executive Officer for the Sun Gate Foundation, an anti-trafficking organization that aims to provide educational opportunities for survivor of human trafficking. She the former Program Assistant for Shared Hope International, an organization whose mission is to prevent, rescue and restore women and children in crisis. In addition, she is a subject matter expert consultant with Fox Valley Technical College Amber Alert TTA; a member of Who is Stolen performance troupe; a mentor to survivors of sex trafficking; a member of the National Survivor Network, the Survivor Leadership Institute and an international speaker on the issue of sex trafficking.
Carol Olson, MA, LPC, ATR, CSAC
Assistant Director VCU Injury and Violence Prevention – Gender and IPV Initiatives and Counseling Programs
Carol Olson, MA, LPC, ATR, CSAC
Carol Olson manages two programs under Injury and Violence Prevention. She has over 16 years of experience in sexual violence, d/ipv, and stalking program development; leading response and advocacy teams in two of the largest service areas in Virginia; which included multiple rural counties. She has served in executive leadership roles in local, regional, state-wide, and national organizations developing programs, designing policy, and training effective teams. She will supervise the collaboration with Empower and the participating local sdvas as well as onboarding and training the advocate. She will coordinate with CTCCE and the external partners on incorporating training on the intersection of d/ipv, mental health, and substance abuse. Olson is licensed in the state of Virginia and certified in substance abuse with expertise in screening, response, and treatment. She is trained in Motivational Interviewing and is a certified Mental Health Crisis responder. Carol will be an asset around the training topics of responding to substance abuse and mental health patients. She will work with internal and external partners to ensure successful program implementation and oversee data integrity and reporting.
She has presented extensively locally to international on sexual and domestic violence including most recently (2021) at the following conferences:
End Violence Against Women International: Project Empower: Best Practice in Hospital-based Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Patient Care
Trauma Center Association of America: Project EMPOWER: A Best Practice in hospital-based IPV/SV Care
PanAmerican Trauma Society: Adapting Hospital-Based Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Programs to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention: ADAPTING HOSPITAL-BASED INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE PROGRAMS TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (co-presenter)
American Public Health Association – Adapting Hospital-Based Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Programs to the COVID-19 Pandemic
End Violence Against Women International – Best Practice in Hospital-Based Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Patient Care
Upcoming Publications
Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care & Emergency Surgery – ADAPTING HOSPITAL-BASED INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE PROGRAMS TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Shea Rhodes, Esq.
Co-Founder and Director of the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Shea Rhodes, Esq.
Shea M. Rhodes, Esq. has dedicated her career to combating violence against women, protecting the rights of those who are oppressed or exploited, and championing human rights. She is a national expert on laws related to sex trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and prostitution policy. As the Co-Founder and Director of the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE Institute) at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Ms. Rhodes works with and on behalf of victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Additionally, the CSE Institute serves as the data and information clearinghouse for Pennsylvania stakeholders working to implement Pennsylvania’s comprehensive human trafficking statute enacted in 2014.
Ms. Rhodes’ work at the Charles Widger School of Law also includes teaching the course Human Trafficking, which seeks to address human trafficking from the legal and policy perspectives. This course explores the laws related to the various needs of human trafficking survivors, rhetoric, and popular culture perceptions of human trafficking, and how to respond to the diverse physical, emotional, and psychological needs of survivors through trauma-informed lawyering skills.
Ms. Rhodes was awarded a 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Scholar grant for the Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Program by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to conduct research in Austria and Sweden. Her research, titled “Discouraging the Demand that Drives the Exploitation of Persons that Leads to Human Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation,” looks at whether Austria and Sweden have successfully implemented a directive from the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children. The directive calls on all States Parties to take legislative or other measures to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking.
Ms. Rhodes is also a member of several anti-trafficking initiatives, locally and internationally, including Philadelphia’s Anti-Trafficking Coalition, the Pennsylvania Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy Work Group (PAHTAWG), Shared Hope International’s JuST Response Council. She is a founding Steering Committee member and is currently on the Executive Committee for World Without Exploitation (WorldWE). She also sits on the Board of Directors for Dawn’s Place, a residential treatment program for women who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. In May of 2019, Shea was inducted as a fellow into The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, which is a not-for-profit medical, educational, and cultural institution that serves to advance the cause of health and upholds the ideals of the heritage of medicine.
Prior to forming the CSE Institute in 2014, Ms. Rhodes served the Philadelphia community as an Assistant District Attorney. During that time, she helped found Project Dawn Court and develop a Law Enforcement Working Group to facilitate effective handling of human trafficking cases. Before joining the District Attorney’s Office, Ms. Rhodes served as a staff attorney for the Crime Victim’s Law Project where she represented victims of sexual violence.
Ms. Rhodes regularly conducts trainings and presentations throughout the Commonwealth and nationally. Ms. Rhodes’ written materials, including policy papers, legal resources, and newsletters, can be found on the CSE Institute website. She is a graduate of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and the University of Kansas.
Dawn Schiller, M.A.
Training Director, Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), LA County Project, Consultant, Speaker, Human Trafficking Survivor Leader
Dawn Schiller
Dawn Schiller is the Training Director, L.A. County Project for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST). She is an expert survivor-leader in the anti-trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault movements. Abused and trafficked on the streets of Hollywood in her youth her subsequent years of struggle to survivorship, education and service to others offer valuable first-hand insight to community advocates. Today, she is a national speaker, educator, consultant and author.
Dawn earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude in 2012 from Eastern Oregon University with honors in communication and gender studies. She received the “Women of Vision and Courage” award from EOU President’s Commission on the Status of Women. She is a Phi Kappa Phi Kathleen Greey Fellow and received a teaching fellowship from Oregon State University earning her Master of Arts in Women, Gender, & Sexuality in 2020. Dawn is a VISTO volunteer and regularly visits the girls in Los Angeles juvenile halls who struggle with substance abuse, sharing her experience, strength, hope, and recovery.
Dawn taught Women’s Studies and Activism at Oregon State University. Her academic presentations and trainings infuse lived experience on topics of anti-violence, anti-trafficking (Commercial Sexual Exploitation & Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children), trauma and trauma-informed care, teen/child abuse, the media, ally-ship, resilience, addiction, recovery and healing. Her memoir, “The Road Through Wonderland,” was published by Medallion Press.
Nationally, Dawn is a violence and human trafficking expert consultant with the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, the Department of Health & Human Services Office on Trafficking in Persons (NHTTAC) and the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. She is a founding member of “Survivor 2 Survivor” (S2S) and member of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking’s (CAST) “Resilient Voices.”
Above all else, Dawn’s greatest joy is the privilege to be a parent to her talented daughter.
Dawn welcomes you to connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-schiller-m-a-54586316/