The Human Trafficking Awareness Team
Messiah’s “Human Trafficking Awareness” team is part of our Social Justice Ministry.
Human Trafficking Awareness is at the intersection of working for long-range change in the areas of racial justice and homelessness, and responding to immediate needs through our community outreach team.
When did Messiah begin its journey with Human Trafficking Awareness?
In 2023, we held an information night with a variety of speakers: detectives from the city of Madison police and Dane county sheriff's departments, Jan Miyasaki with Project Respect, Diane Hanson with United Madison and Jevon Diming with Pierre Outreach Safe House.. We learned human trafficking happens in Dane County, Wisconsin, the United States and the world. We learned that due to generational trauma, some people are more vulnerable than others.
If you are interested in being a member of this group in order to receive information and possibly take action steps, please contact Elizabeth Crummy.
January is Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Slavery and human trafficking might seem like problems that could never happen close to home. It’s easy to think of them as things that happened in the past, or on different continents, but certainly not in a place like Wisconsin, right?
The National Human Trafficking Hotline has identified more than 218,000 victims of human trafficking in the country since 2007, when the hotline first began operating, with 111 cases of human trafficking identified in Wisconsin in 2024.
9 WI orgs to support during Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month
1. 5-stones
P.O. Box 2163, Appleton
When 5-stones founder Connie Campbell went on a mission trip in 2010, it served as an eye-opening experience. The Wisconsin resident witnessed young girls being used in a brothel, according to 5-stones’ website.
2. The Bridge to Hope
2110 4th Ave. N, Menomonie
For more than four decades, The Bridge to Hope has been working toward the goal of ending domestic abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
3. United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS)
2701 South Chase Ave., Suite B, Milwaukee
Providing support and services to human trafficking survivors is just one of the many services that United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS), a Milwaukee-based organization, offers.
4. Hope House of South Central Wisconsin
720 Ash St., Baraboo
The Hope House of South Central Wisconsin has undergone some transformation over its four decades of existence.
5. Sojourner Family Peace Center
619 West Walnut St., Milwaukee
Serving more than 10,000 clients per year, Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee is the state’s largest nonprofit provider of domestic violence prevention services.
6. Fight to End Exploitation
P.O. Box 85687, Racine
The Fight to End Exploitation initially started small, as a group of Racine Dominicans, a group of religious sisters based in the southeastern Wisconsin city, who launched a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking in 2012.
7. End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin
1400 East Washington Ave. #227, Madison
First founded in 1978, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin has been working with survivors of sexual assault, domestic abuse, and human trafficking for nearly 50 years.
8. Her Alliance
P.O. Box 956, Green Bay
One of the most recent nonprofit organizations that is seeking to help combat human trafficking, HER (which stands for Heal, Empower, and Restore) Alliance started up in 2025. Formerly known as Awaken, HER Alliance became an independent nonprofit organization with a goal to empower survivors of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, and also raise awareness of the issue through educating the local community.
9. Fierce Freedom
421 Graham Ave., Eau Claire
Some people don’t realize how close to home human trafficking can be, but Fierce Freedom, a nonprofit organization based in Eau Claire, wants to raise awareness that it can be happening anywhere.
Read the entire article here:
9 WI orgs to support during Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
Human Trafficking Awareness Speaker - February 1 - 9:20 - 10:20 am
Pastor Jeff was a featured speaker at a Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center fundraiser earlier this year. Their mission is to reduce trauma and promote healing for children and adults with intellectual disabilities who are victims of or witnesses to crime.
November 29-30 their director Jennifer Ginsburg spoke at the services and Messiah made a donation of $300 to their programs. Jennifer brought awareness that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 20 boys will be abused by the time they are 18-years old by a trusted family member or friend. More than 50% of adults have experienced sexual abuse or have witnessed or experienced family violence in their lifetime. The abuse of children, domestic violence, trafficking— it’s all part of the same problem which this team works to address.
Jennifer will return to Messiah on February to give a presentation and answer questions during our Adult Education time.
The Briarpatch Way: Walking Beside Youth
Visit https://www.briarpatch.org for more details about the organization and to see the complete November Newsletter.
Here are some excerpts:
- In 2025, we continued our successful Youth Housing Demonstration Program and housed 29 individuals who were previously unhoused. Not only did we offer rental assistance and case management, we also started a cooking class for these emerging adults, so that they could learn the basics of preparing meals.
- In 2025, we launched our Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) Program which will provide mental health support to youth who qualify for the program. To be a part of the County’s program, an agency must have three CCS staff members. However, understanding that there are limited bilingual CCS providers in Dane County, we also plan to help meet that community need.
- Because each youth/young adult is unique, the way we walk alongside them is also unique. We serve youth with depth and focus, because that’s what is needed when they come to Briarpatch, whether that’s for overnight shelter, support navigating the justice system, finding a job, or joining one of our many youth support groups.
You may be asking yourself “What is Human Trafficking?”
Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception in order to be exploited. In every region of the world, traffickers exploit vulnerable women, girls, men, and boys of all backgrounds for profit. Even without knowing, we might have come across its victims. Traffickers often use violence, blackmail, emotional manipulation, removal of official documents, fraudulent employment agencies, and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.
In addition in 2023 we made a site visit to Project 16:49 in Janesville to view their successful homeless teenage program & shelter.
In 2024 we made a site visit to Briarpatch Youth Services in Madison to view the great work they do with Dane County homeless teenage youth in supporting them.
Human trafficking takes place for many exploitative purposes:
