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Welcome to Eight Principles Voices.
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Conversations with those who are making a difference.
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I'm your host, Larry Johnson, founder of the Eight Principles.
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Now join me as I welcome this week's guest as they invite us to come along on their journey.
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Hello, everyone.
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It's Larry Johnson, your host of Eight Principles Voices, and I am really thrilled to have a lady by the name of Brittany Dunn here with me.
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And she's going to keep you informed and maybe a little bit entertained.
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You know, I'm not that much.
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But she's the chief operating officer of Safe House Project.
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Did I get that right, Britney?
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You did, sir.
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And this is not your typical um, I decided I wanted to change the world story, and I'd like her to tell us a little bit more about it.
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Because she doesn't come out of the nonprofit environment, neither does her co-founder, who is the chief executive officer.
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But they um they sort of responded to God's calling and said, okay, we're just gonna go into this and see what happens.
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And they've been in it now eight years, I think.
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And uh they're and she's gonna explain.
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I hope she'll tell us a little bit about the struggle in the early days.
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That's what I really want to hear.
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But um, so without further ado, Brittany, it's a pleasure to have you with me.
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Well, thank you, Larry.
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It's a pleasure to be here.
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We're gonna have fun.
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I can't wait.
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So I covered a little bit of that now.
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Now what is it that you're trying to address?
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I mean, I mean, I should say, what is it that caught your heart that moved you in this direction?
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What was it about, you know, what you're doing?
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Yeah, so our organization, Safe House Project, really responds to the most critical needs of victims of human trafficking as they exit out of that exploitation and help get them into safe house programs.
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But long before obviously I understood that issue, God really started to work on my heart around just even the prevalence of this.
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When I started to learn about it, it was the early 2000s, had just moved to Atlanta and um was hearing that there were 300 girls being trafficked on the streets of Atlanta every night.
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And I couldn't.
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Now, when you say when you say trafficked, you mean street prostitutes is what we're talking about here.
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Child victims of human, yes, of sex trafficking.
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So these children were being sold for commercial sex on the streets of Atlanta every single night.
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And that that broke my heart.
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And but at that point, you know, I was early on starting out my career.
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I was in um technology, doing international business, develop mergers and acquisitions, really didn't necessarily see that as my career path.
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So over the next 10 years, God just took me on a learning journey.
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I ended up marrying a USA Navy, naval aviator.
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And so with that life, we got to move all over the US.
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And so I started to invest- Now, see some people see that as a downer, but you saw it as an upper moving.
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Oh, what I mean, yeah, a top gun pilot.
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What can you get wrong there?
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So um, no, we got to move and we got to see different communities.
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And that meant that I got to learn about what human trafficking and specifically child sex trafficking was looking like in all of these different communities.
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And so the last duty station we had before we moved to Hampton Roads, Virginia, which is where Safe House Project launched out of, was outside of Reno, Nevada, where the brothels are still active.
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And so I had a madam of a brothel who lived up the street from me, and she was legally allowed to recruit the kids right out of our high school into the brothels because they were a taxpaying business.
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Now, where is this?
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Outside of Reno, Nevada.
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And Oh, that's right.
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Nevada's where prostitutions legal.
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I was like, so where is this?
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Okay.
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I know, but it's so shocking because you hear about this, but and I would had seen it in other communities.
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And these were underage kids.
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Yes, they were being recruited right at 17, right when they would turn 18, which would then become legal age.
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But they were so vulnerable and they were being recruited, and it was just a um really eye-opening experience to see how this was playing out if it wasn't an illegal industry in other communities.
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And so really got up, started to really open my eyes to how this was happening at a very brass tax level.
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So, fast forward, moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where I met my co-founder through Bible study.
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And both of us uh had been on our own journeys to understanding what human trafficking looked like.
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We were both reading the book Circle Maker by Pastor Mark Batterson at a national community church, which is all about just standing in the circle until God tells you kind of what's next and trying to figure out what he wanted us to do on this issue.
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Um it was not the most ideal time to launch a nonprofit.
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I mean, I was on maternity leave with my second.
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I had a two-year-old.
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Uh, Christy had two twin, uh, seven-year-old boys and a five-year-old daughter.
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So between us, there were five kids, and her husband deployed.
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My husband gets three days' notice, he deploys.
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My daughter is five weeks old on the kitchen table.
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And that's how you hired a nanny between the two of you?
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Is that what you did?
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We no, we became each other's nanny.
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We did not did it together.
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So, baby on the table, kids playing around us, and God said go.
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And he cast such a large vision in those first three months that we knew that the vision that he gave us, he would have to provision.
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So, who else did you seek out for help?
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I mean, there's some legal issues, there's some other stuff.
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I mean, who other who other people came around you to kind of get this thing going?
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It's the most beautiful piece of that whole story.
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We had one of our visionaries early on was a Christian hip-hop artist who had worked a lot with marginalized populations, kids in fatherless homes, kind of seeing a lot of the vulnerabilities.
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We had the head of a large um trade school and education system.
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And at that point, we were focused a lot on identification training and helping people understand the problem.
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Um, in addition, we had some really great early board members who had been, you know, the past president of the International Franchise Association, other ones from the intelligence community.
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So, how did you how did you acquire these people?
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I mean, usually when someone forms a nonprofit, their first board is what's called family fools and friends.
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I mean, the people they can acquire.
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So were these prior association, or you were introduced to these people?
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How did it happen?
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A lot of them were prior association, but there were a few that became through as introductions and just as we started talking about the issue of human trafficking, I think it was new on a lot of people's radar.
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And we had people leaning in saying, okay, if this is really happening in our community, I want to be part of finding those solutions that are actually working.
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And so I think we saw people drawn to just the complexity.
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It's not a it's not a single issue.
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It is a very complex criminal enterprise that thrives at the intersection of legal and illegal industry.
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And at the heart of it are kids, on average 12 years old, that are being sold.
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And so when you think about those numbers, it just can't help but compel people to be, want to be part of the redemption story.
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I think it's something that you said that I think should be emphasized.
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It is a complex criminal enterprise.
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This is not just people snatching people off the street.
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Okay, it's it's it's a lot more complicated, it's a lot more lucrative.
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There are very strong forces behind this.
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Um, and maybe you don't want to tell me, but have you ever been threatened?
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You felt threatened in any of your work?
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Oh, absolutely.
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Um, we said that you said that, like I said, I'm gonna walk out the street.
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Oh, absolutely.
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Oh, absolutely.
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No, I mean, we have, and you know, we've had to take a lot of security measures to protect ourselves as you know leaders of this organization and our team.
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But at the end of the day, we believe that God called us to this.
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And if you are operating under his anointing, then you are operating in his will and he's gonna protect you.
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So, although, yes, my family has been swatted um for about 12 weeks this summer by um trafficking rings, we've had death threats.
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I've had my kids' images sent to me.
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Yes, we go up against some of the worst parts of humanity, but in that we see the greatest parts of humanity because we see miracle and miracle happen for the least of these.
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And when you get to step into somebody's restorative journey and see God move in ways that most of us don't understand, it doesn't help like you are you are compelled because you're seeing the light literally push back the darkness.
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Yeah.
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See, this gives me um, you know, I hear this stuff all the time.
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I mean, I listen to the news, I read, I read the Wall Street Journal, blah, blah, blah.
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Uh, you're and I suspected these things, but when you tell me, it's very compelling.
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Uh, it comes across uh three-dimensional, not two-dimensional.
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Sure.
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So um, so then you've had to live with the realities of increased security, of forging ahead, of doing these things.
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Um it I take it this has not dissuaded you in any way.
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No, it just fires me up any more, even more because I'm that Satan's gonna put that many people on you to try to dissuade you from going after your God-called vision and mission.
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I think that tells you you're in the going in the right direction.
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And I have no problem pissing off Satan if I know that I'm operating within God's will.
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Well, uh, one of the tests of knowing you're having an impact is having real enemies, regardless of what you're doing.
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And I think that's certainly been validation for you as well.
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Um, now I know that you don't have a house of your own, meaning a place of your own that you that you have for these children.
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Now you just do boys or girls, or just girls, or how do you do it?
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Is it all women or victims?
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All victims of human trafficking.
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All victims.
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Okay.
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Um, so um since you don't have a uh a facility and yet I look at your website and you're like pretty much all over the country, how do you handle that?
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Yeah, so our team is really at that critical place when somebody has 10 seconds of insane courage to exit a trafficking situation, we're getting those calls.
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And at that moment, our team is coordinating the extraction from that trafficking experience.
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We're coordinating the crisis management of what's going to happen in that safety planning for the next, you know, 72 hours to a week to keep somebody safe before we identify the right safe house program somewhere in the country where they can really go and heal for up to two years.
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Those safe house programs are our partners.
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They do incredible work around education and therapy and medical treatment.
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But where we sit is at that pivotal moment when somebody is exiting that trafficking experience and needing that lifeline of support.
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Let's break that let's let's break that work down for a minute.
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Yeah, of course.
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How does some how does someone exit this?
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You make it sound like I'm getting off an airplane.
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Let's let's be a little more detailed.
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How do you if I'm if I'm 12 years old, I know that's a stretch, but if if if if I'm 12 years old and I'm trapped in this, how would I ever exit it?
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I mean, no one's coming to rescue me, I don't think.
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How does it work?
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They it really actually can look very different depending on the situation.
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So recently we had a survivor who was able to get herself to an emergency department.
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And so she got in there, she disclosed to the nurse what is happening to her.
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You mean an ER in a hospital.
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Exactly.
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Up to there, was able to speak with a nurse and was translating what was happening to her.
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Her trafficker was a long-haul truck driver.
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He was literally circling the hospital waiting for her to exit to snatch her up again.
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They called our team.
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We worked alongside the hospital staff to identify a tunnel that went underneath the main hospital to an administrative building somewhere else on site.
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We were able to transport the victim through that tunnel and have an extraction team meet her on the other side.
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From there, we had chaperones and people along the way that got her to the airport.
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We were able to maintain um law enforcement support, got her on that first plane, and then had when she touched down in the city where we had an emergency program waiting for her, there were victim advocates waiting to receive and take her into care.
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Let me let me ask you a question.
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In a situation like that, why wouldn't the why wouldn't the hospital just call the police?
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That one was she was over the age of 18, and not every survivor wants um the wants law enforcement involved.
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Kids can look a lot of different ways on how they're identified.
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Um when we talk about kids, over 50% are first trafficked by a family member.
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And so it's the people that they let's say that let's let me hit put that by me again slowly, Brittany.
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How much, how many fifty percent of kids are first trafficked by a family member.
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Okay.
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Let's let that sink in for a minute.
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All right.
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Well, aside from it being appalling, um that makes my skin crawl, Brittany.
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Yep, mine too.
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It's what got me into this.
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My first survivor that we served had been trafficked from the age of six by her uncle and sold for$300 per buyer over eight times every single night.
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Eight times in a 24-hour period.
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Yes.
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Oh, this is disgusting.
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Correct.
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And when you see that and you see somebody's resilience to escape that and tell somebody what's going on and have that courage, you have no choice but to find solutions for people.
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See, this is where um I think um, you know, all the sanitized objective language doesn't really begin to describe what the situation really is.
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This is why I'm pushing you to get more details here.
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This is what people need to hear and need to understand.
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Um I'm so, and I know you you're not really involved in this piece of the puzzle, but I'm wondering uh what sort of long-term uh psychological damage these children have after they're rescued.
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Um, we work very closely alongside.
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So even as they go into the safe house programs, we're working with the program and the survivor through their journey because it it's long term.
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I mean, I have survivors that we have walked alongside for the past seven years, and it's because of the long-term psychological damage.
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Um, on average, someone will have 10 and a half psychological um disorders.
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A lot of that is, you know, complex PTSD, uh, dissociative disorders.
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Some have dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality historically.
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We support schizophrenia.
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Uh schizophrenia is different than dissociative identity disorder, but now both borderline personality, bipolar.
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So we are dealing with some of the most complex mental health referrals in the country every single day, which is what makes it so imperative that our team be able to do that deep assessment to identify that individual's unique needs and help place them in a program that meets that because you're dealing with mental health, but you can also, I mean, we've had girls as young as 13 years old exiting pregnant.
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So they're not just coming out having to think about their own mental health.
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They're also having to consider that they're about ready to bring a baby into this world, and often one that was conceived at the hands of either their trafficker or a buyer of them.
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And so we are dealing with people at the most raw, vulnerable, horrific pieces of how our society operates.
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And it's our privilege to walk alongside them.
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But that's why we always tell people that first week is so critical because we're setting the tone for somebody to trust us and trust the resources that we're bringing alongside them to truly transform their life.
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Um, I'm trying to let this sink in here.
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I'm I'm still with you.
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Um this is um so are you?
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I know you were the chief operating officer now.
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So do you still get in uh you still have contact with with with patients with your with your charges?
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You still have contact?
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Okay.
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We think it's important to stay proximate to the issue.
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It doesn't mean I get to do it every day, but we want to make sure that we never feel disconnected from the people that we serve.
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Okay, all right.
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So how many uh how many states are you in off the top of your head?
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All 50.
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All 50.
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Okay.
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And you've been around for eight years.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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But you're just I get the impression though, you're just scratching the surface of this thing.
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It's such a big behemoth sitting out there.
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It's the second largest criminal enterprise, and we are only at a 1% identification rate.
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Now, I I heard I heard it's uh a a fact or a factoid someplace, and you can either confirm or or correct me on this, that the US is actually the biggest market for trafficking in the world.
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Is that correct?
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We're in the top three with Mexico and the Philippines, apart according to the Department of State.
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And a huge part of that is because we have the largest demand for commercial sex in the world.
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Okay, well, that's sort of it must have been where I I heard that.
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And um so um um this is scary, but it's wonderful and it's redeeming, and it's all those things wrapped into one, Brittany.
00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:22.960
So how are you see yourself doing this for a while, then I take it.
00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:25.279
You're not ready to move on to anything else.
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.160
Nope.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:39.200
We have an audacious belief that God is going to start moving this country to really respond to this issue at scale and watching people become part of the fabric of the solution, not be part of the problem.
00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:44.559
And so I am here to see this thing taken all the way.
00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:52.079
So then um uh from what I know of your model uh that you use, it's imminently scalable.
00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:52.960
Is that correct?
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:53.920
Correct.
00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:04.319
So we have staff all around the country and we have incredible survivors of human trafficking that are now on staff being able to support individuals as they exit.
00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:16.559
Um, you know, we have incredible licensed clinical social workers, you know, there's just this entire group of people who are truly called with unique gifts to serve individuals in so many different capacities.
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.440
And so we have one of the best teams in the field.
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:25.519
You um uh how many of your field sites have you personally visited?
00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:32.160
I have gone to probably 15 now.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:43.200
We um and we also did a few years ago, Christy and I actually did a drive from the east coast to Colorado and visited a lot of partners along that.
00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:47.680
So there were a lot more in there in that scene than you and I thought of when you said that.
00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:48.240
Okay.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.440
You know the movie Thelma and Louise, right?
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.200
Oh, we are like Thelma and Louise.
00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:54.880
That's the first thing I thought of.
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:55.920
Oh, 100%.
00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:01.599
Except that we put all five kids in the trunk, not in the trunk, but in the backseat.
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:02.480
Oh, I heard that.
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.119
I heard that.
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.880
You everyone, you heard what you said.
00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:15.759
But so we brought all five kids along for this adventure and showed them what it looks like to truly serve people in different communities and really showcase it.
00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:24.160
But collectively, our team has set foot into over 120 um organizations over the past 18 months.
00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:24.799
Okay.
00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.960
Well, I hope when you took that uh coast to coast trip that you gave your kids some entertainment, some of the sides on the way.
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:35.680
We saw the largest ball of twine, which fulfilled my childhood dream.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:40.160
I wanted to see the largest ball of twine since I was six years old.
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:49.599
It took a two-hour detour to Cocker City, Kansas, and I called the docent who's in charge of it, and she let me add twine to the ball.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.160
Ooh, well, you are a special person, Brittany.
00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.200
I just need you know, if you don't take away anything today, just know that you can go to Cocker City, Kansas and add twine to the largest ball.
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:01.359
Oh, I will keep that on my list.
00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.519
Now, when I moved out from uh western New York, I'm in Idaho now.
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:07.359
I don't know if you knew that or not, but I am.
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:15.839
And uh we were going through the upper Midwest, and and I have three daughters, and they were into Laurel Ingalls Wild, as you might imagine.
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.000
So we had to take that detour.
00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.759
It was about 90 minutes up to her home and then back again.
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:22.079
Yes.
00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:24.799
I I I've done similar things like that.
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:25.759
That's great.
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:26.480
Okay.
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:32.000
Um I I um what what is it?
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:37.680
What message would you like our listeners to get from you today?
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.640
What would you like them to remember about this interview?
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:54.319
I think the most important thing is that this is a complex issue, but it takes every single one of us understanding what human trafficking looks like in our community, being able to report it.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759
We just launched a brand new AI tool and mobile app called Simply Report that you can download.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:12.559
Download out of the Google or Apple Play Store, go on and report suspected trafficking that will route to our law enforcement partners within five seconds or route somebody to our survivor support team if they need services.
00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:19.440
But that real-time intelligence is what is going to allow us to increase identification above 1%.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.119
And then we get more survivors that we get to serve and watch them exit exploitation.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:32.559
And so my call to action today is that you don't have to understand all the complexities of human trafficking.
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:36.480
We just need you to care and lean into a hard issue.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:45.759
So if I were going to do this, and this is the first thing that comes to me, um do if I report something, do I put a target on my back using this app?
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:59.680
No, that's the great part is it's an anonymous real-time, and you can decide as the reporter if you provide your information or you can do it completely anonymously, and it allows that information to be relayed to law enforcement.
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:11.599
And then if we start to see where maybe something doesn't have a ton of um actionable insights in the very first report, but let's say you report something, then a few days later I report something and somebody else does.
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:20.000
We're able to draw those um cases or those tips together to help start painting a picture for law enforcement where something might be going on.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.160
And so it's more about the collective movement than it is about the one.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:25.279
Oh, okay.
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:31.440
So these things are amalgamated using an algorithm so that they can be identified and prioritized.
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.519
Well, that's pretty clever, Brittany.
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:36.319
Um, so whose bright idea was that?
00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:54.000
We had an incredible team who came up with this, but it really was led by um a gentleman who was known for one being one of the first five founding members of Department of Homeland and creating how we predict in the United States when somebody's moving from extremist to terrorist.
00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:05.039
We redid those algorithms with behavioral indicators of human trafficking and developed our own proprietary system for evaluating and analyzing the data coming in.
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:10.480
And through that, we knew that we needed every community member to be seeing and saying something.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.480
And so Simply Report is simply that.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.799
It's simply report your suspicions.
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:17.119
You don't have to be completely confident.
00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.039
You just need to be, you just need to care.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:28.559
And so that's where Simply Report is the power of the people coming together to see uh human trafficking truly tackled in the United States.
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.759
Another question.
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:37.039
Okay, I've reported something, and and you're you've taken it seriously.
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.039
I mean, I'm not some crank out there.
00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.519
I may be a crank, but not a crank with this.
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:47.759
And what would be the next course of action?
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:56.000
Would it be uh I guess it depends on the situation, but uh alerting law enforcement, alerting so alerting someone else?
00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.559
And I I mean, how does it how I'm trying to figure out how this happens and I'm I'm putting it together.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.480
Can you break it down a little bit for me?
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:12.960
Okay, so you come onto the chat bot and you start saying, okay, I was at a hotel this weekend and I saw men coming and going from this hotel room regularly.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:19.039
They didn't seem to be staying the night, and then the next morning I saw a girl that looks 12 years old come out of the room.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:26.240
She looked exhausted and tired and disheveled and was dressed inappropriately for her age, or whatever your situation is that you see.
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.039
And these are all obviously unrelated middle-aged men coming and going.
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:32.880
Well, that's a that's a sign right there.
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:33.599
Okay, keep going.
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:34.000
Right.
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.960
So then you could come onto the app and be like, okay, this is what I saw.
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.720
And then it's going to start based on the situation asking you additional things.
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:46.400
It might ask you for general demographic information about either the child or the men coming and going.
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:53.440
It could ask if you saw any markings on the individuals, if you saw a license plate, if you were, you know, had a car in view.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:04.240
And so it's working to draw out maybe some of those things that you didn't even necessarily remember that maybe you saw that can help build a more comprehensive picture for law enforcement.
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:15.920
Once that tip is submitted, it is routed to our law enforcement partners and it goes through an analysis to determine the likelihood of trafficking and the actionability.
00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:25.359
If it is deemed immediately actionable or like a life risk or it's actively happening, then we deploy dispatch to that situation, or dispatch could deploy law enforcement.
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.799
This could be real time, is what you're telling me.
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:34.000
So this isn't this doesn't go to some queue and somebody in the office gets to it next week.
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:35.279
No, no, no, no.
00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:37.200
We can't, we these are people's lives.
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:39.359
So it's well, I know that Brittany.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:40.240
You don't have to conclude.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.920
We use technology as a tool, but we have a human-centric response on the other side.
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:53.920
Okay, see, but but you know, and I know when you call some bank, I mean, I'm just trying, see, I'm trying to, I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself here.
00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:55.200
I appreciate you.
00:26:55.599 --> 00:27:06.480
So uh, but I mean because if it's one thing I can't stand, these damn AI bots, and I never get to speak to somebody new and they and they and I'm going, I'm in some sort of loop.
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.880
Yes, but you're not that way, is what you're telling me.
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:10.079
No, no, no, no.
00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:15.599
We want to make sure that that tip gets to a real person who can then triage the situation.
00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:22.160
So for some, they might get routed to our survivor support team if they need that um resource and referral into safe housing.
00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:30.079
If it's tips that are coming in and we are able to help somebody exit, then we want to get that into the hands of the right person as quickly as possible.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.240
It is really critical.
00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:36.240
So, and let's go back to the example you used, the the hotel example.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:37.599
And I'm sure there's a lot of that.
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.559
That just sounds intimate, you know, very realistic.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:45.279
Um, so then the police would show up at the hotel.
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.799
And so what would they tell the desk clerk or the manager?
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:50.559
Who how how would they, do you know what they do?
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.079
Say, hey, where's this room?
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.720
And because they may not know the number of the room.
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:56.079
Um Right.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.400
And that can be a complicating factor.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:59.200
Sometimes they will.
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:01.440
So I mean, usually that would be a question that would be asked.
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:06.240
Like if it's coming in from somebody who's in the room next door, okay, well, what room was this happening in?
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:19.920
So they would have a room number, you they would work alongside the GM at the hotel or whoever is the highest ranking employee on site, or if they have a safety, depending on what level of hotel we're talking about, that can differ.
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:30.480
Um, and then usually it starts with a door knock just to assess the safety, almost like a well check of a child if you were to request that from child protective services for somebody's home.
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:43.440
And then from there, you know, we do a lot on victim-centered approach to law enforcement, helping train our law enforcement partners on how to go in and read a room to understand whether or not you have a victim of human trafficking.
00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:53.839
And so there's a lot of questioning that they use and different um just um techniques for helping discern what might be happening.
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:54.640
Okay.
00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:55.519
All right.
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:03.680
And then if they assume if they really have a serious sense of something's going on, they can they can take custody of the minor.
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:04.400
Correct.
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:22.480
So then at that point, if it's they would um remove the the victim, separate them from the trafficker, trafficker would be arrested, victim would be connected to a victim advocate, and then our team would be liaising alongside the victim advocate to start the process of finding a safe house program for that child or that individual.
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:23.119
Okay.
00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:23.839
All right.
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:29.920
Well, when you were saying they have a certain way of questioning people, uh, a certain memory came to mind for me.
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.119
You're like this.
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.000
I I lived up in uh in the Buffalo area for a number of years.
00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:43.039
And, you know, if you know anything about the geography, you're right there on the Canadian border, and we'd go to and from Canada.
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.400
You know, you go over to on the other side of the falls for the day and you come back.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:49.039
And that was before it was required to have a passport.
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.160
I mean, you didn't just show a uh uh whatever.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:58.559
If you had uh US plates on your car and you had a uh a driver's license, you were you were good, you're good to go.
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:04.240
Well, I had three daughters, as you know, and my middle daughter, she liked to be too cute for half.
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:13.680
So we're coming back into the US, and the border agent is just asking my three parents, my three girls, and he asks my middle one, are these your parents?
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:14.640
No, they're not.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.480
I don't know who these people are.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:17.680
Oh my god.
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:20.160
I mean, I wanted to wring her neck.
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:22.000
I mean, this was just too much.
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:33.119
Okay, so we're hauled out of the car and into there, and yeah, it's like I mean, it was sorted out fairly quickly because these people are pretty smart and they could tell what this girl was up to.
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:34.720
But it was like, how would you?
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.519
I mean, talk about feeling like uh what is this?
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.279
These aren't my parents.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:42.079
I who are these people, I've never seen them before.
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.599
Just wait till we get you home, just wait till we get you home.
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:52.000
Um, she was also the one who was uh we called her Houdini because she'd be in the in the car seat in the back.
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:56.559
And this usually happened by the way, going to church on Sunday morning is when it usually happened.
00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:06.960
And we're riding along, we had to be on an interstate for a while, and I look up and she's like, what, two, three, maybe, and she's standing on the back seat, da-da, like this.
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:14.880
Okay, and then by the time I can get over and get back to her, she's sitting in her seat, like, is there something wrong?
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:16.880
I mean, you just want to wring her neck.
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:20.960
She's but she's a delight, a delightful lady, not that she's all grown.
00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:24.079
But uh, it's like she's taking care of herself.
00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.240
Yeah, very, very, a lot of personality, a lot of personality.
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:31.359
Yeah, but uh, but I just had to share that with you.
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:44.559
Like, oh well, you know, I I would like for us to do this again because next time I want to talk to you about some success stories.
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.519
You can change the names, obviously, but uh, you've been in this eight years now.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:55.200
So I'm sure you have some some uh success stories that you can share with us.
00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.240
Um you do incredible work, Brittany.
00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:02.400
And I don't say that lightly, and I think you know me well enough already.
00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:03.599
I don't say that lightly.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.799
All right, and you're doing serious work.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.720
Um you you're sort of you're very disarming, you know.
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:25.680
For those of you who's listening to this, she's Britney's very disarming and cheerful, and she looks like she just came off the golf course or at the country club for lunch, but she's a very serious woman, and when you start talking with her, you get a chance of oh, yeah, there's real depth there.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:26.079
Yeah.
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:33.680
And that's the reason I kept bringing trying to bring you out during our interview here, because people I mean, people you hear this stuff on the news all day long.
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.240
All right, it's you know, fodder.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:48.240
And yet, you know, what I'm trying to do, and you've done a very good job today, is make it human and put a very human face on it and the challenges that you faced to make this a reality.
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.039
I mean, it's one thing to say, oh, well, God called me to do this.
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:52.640
Well, you can kind of flip those words off.
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:53.680
Anyone can say that.
00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:14.000
But then when you tell me about the challenges that are involved in being successful and your own personal challenges that you've endured because of, say, for instance, those who don't want this to happen, all right, who are your active, purposeful enemies, um, then it becomes very real, you see, and that there's a price to pay for doing this kind of thing.
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:19.200
So um um uh I I've been I just want to say I've been very impressed.
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:20.400
Well, thank you.
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:21.599
I appreciate your time.
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:23.359
Um, we're gonna do this again.
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:23.920
Great.
00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:25.680
And as I said, think about success.
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:26.960
I'm gonna give you some time.
00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:29.680
Success stories is what I want to hear next time.
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:33.440
Oh, I have so many success stories for you and I can talk for days.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:34.000
All right.
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:39.759
So, well, I'm gonna get it set up again in the not too distant future because I do want to continue this conversation.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:42.000
Um this has been delightful.
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:46.720
Um, so is is are you sort of the front person, or does your CEO get involved?
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:51.119
Or I'm just curious why you're on there and she's not, or I don't know how this all came to be.
00:33:51.680 --> 00:34:19.360
We both um just kind of take different engagements depending on kind of schedules and what time allows, but it's always we're both running in a million directions and love the opportunity to connect with people because we love to sorry, we love to share about our work and the survivors that we get to serve because they truly are the heartbeat of this organization and they are the reason we get up every day and run harder, run faster towards our mission.
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.440
So this is safehouseproject.org.
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:30.000
And um, if someone wanted to reach out to you personally, Brittany Dunn, how would they do that in a safe way?
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:38.000
Um, they can email me at Brittany, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y at safehouseproject.org, and I would love to connect.
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:39.599
And you actually respond.
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.280
It's not an AI bot, right?
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:43.119
Oh no, I like responding.
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:45.360
That's the best way to meet people.
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:58.000
That's the joy of this work is I have met more people from so many different industries and fields, and you just get to see how it really takes a collective impact approach to go after the world's hardest issues.
00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:00.000
So yeah.
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.639
Well, I want to thank you for your time.
00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:08.960
Yeah, and I want to thank our viewers for their time, and I hope they've been as enlightened as I have been.
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:12.480
Uh, I like learning new things, I like seeing what people are doing.
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:20.639
Um, so uh we're gonna have another someone, I guess, in another week, but I'm we're gonna get back with Britney sooner rather than later because I do want to hear her success stories.
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:24.639
And so thank you, Brittany, and thank you, listeners, very soon.
00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:26.880
Have a great day.
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:30.559
Thank you for listening today.
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:36.239
Join us for our next episode when I'll have another thought-provoking leader as my guest.
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:39.039
Guest comments and opinions are their own.
00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:44.000
The recording is copyright by the eight principles, all rights reserved.
00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.400
Welcome to Eight Principles Voices.
00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.519
Conversations with those who are making a difference.
00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.919
I'm your host, Larry Johnson, founder of the Eight Principles.
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Now join me as I welcome this week's guest as they invite us to come along on their journey.
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Hello, everyone.
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It's Larry Johnson, your host of Eight Principles Voices, and I am really thrilled to have a lady by the name of Brittany Dunn here with me.
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And she's going to keep you informed and maybe a little bit entertained.
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You know, I'm not that much.
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But she's the chief operating officer of Safe House Project.
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Did I get that right, Britney?
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You did, sir.
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And this is not your typical um, I decided I wanted to change the world story, and I'd like her to tell us a little bit more about it.
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Because she doesn't come out of the nonprofit environment, neither does her co-founder, who is the chief executive officer.
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But they um they sort of responded to God's calling and said, okay, we're just gonna go into this and see what happens.
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And they've been in it now eight years, I think.
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And uh they're and she's gonna explain.
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I hope she'll tell us a little bit about the struggle in the early days.
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That's what I really want to hear.
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But um, so without further ado, Brittany, it's a pleasure to have you with me.
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Well, thank you, Larry.
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It's a pleasure to be here.
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We're gonna have fun.
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I can't wait.
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So I covered a little bit of that now.
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Now what is it that you're trying to address?
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I mean, I mean, I should say, what is it that caught your heart that moved you in this direction?
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What was it about, you know, what you're doing?
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Yeah, so our organization, Safe House Project, really responds to the most critical needs of victims of human trafficking as they exit out of that exploitation and help get them into safe house programs.
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But long before obviously I understood that issue, God really started to work on my heart around just even the prevalence of this.
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When I started to learn about it, it was the early 2000s, had just moved to Atlanta and um was hearing that there were 300 girls being trafficked on the streets of Atlanta every night.
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And I couldn't.
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Now, when you say when you say trafficked, you mean street prostitutes is what we're talking about here.
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Child victims of human, yes, of sex trafficking.
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So these children were being sold for commercial sex on the streets of Atlanta every single night.
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And that that broke my heart.
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And but at that point, you know, I was early on starting out my career.
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I was in um technology, doing international business, develop mergers and acquisitions, really didn't necessarily see that as my career path.
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So over the next 10 years, God just took me on a learning journey.
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I ended up marrying a USA Navy, naval aviator.
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And so with that life, we got to move all over the US.
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And so I started to invest- Now, see some people see that as a downer, but you saw it as an upper moving.
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Oh, what I mean, yeah, a top gun pilot.
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What can you get wrong there?
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So um, no, we got to move and we got to see different communities.
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And that meant that I got to learn about what human trafficking and specifically child sex trafficking was looking like in all of these different communities.
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And so the last duty station we had before we moved to Hampton Roads, Virginia, which is where Safe House Project launched out of, was outside of Reno, Nevada, where the brothels are still active.
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And so I had a madam of a brothel who lived up the street from me, and she was legally allowed to recruit the kids right out of our high school into the brothels because they were a taxpaying business.
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Now, where is this?
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Outside of Reno, Nevada.
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And Oh, that's right.
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Nevada's where prostitutions legal.
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I was like, so where is this?
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Okay.
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I know, but it's so shocking because you hear about this, but and I would had seen it in other communities.
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And these were underage kids.
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Yes, they were being recruited right at 17, right when they would turn 18, which would then become legal age.
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But they were so vulnerable and they were being recruited, and it was just a um really eye-opening experience to see how this was playing out if it wasn't an illegal industry in other communities.
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And so really got up, started to really open my eyes to how this was happening at a very brass tax level.
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So, fast forward, moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where I met my co-founder through Bible study.
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And both of us uh had been on our own journeys to understanding what human trafficking looked like.
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We were both reading the book Circle Maker by Pastor Mark Batterson at a national community church, which is all about just standing in the circle until God tells you kind of what's next and trying to figure out what he wanted us to do on this issue.
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Um it was not the most ideal time to launch a nonprofit.
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I mean, I was on maternity leave with my second.
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I had a two-year-old.
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Uh, Christy had two twin, uh, seven-year-old boys and a five-year-old daughter.
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So between us, there were five kids, and her husband deployed.
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My husband gets three days' notice, he deploys.
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My daughter is five weeks old on the kitchen table.
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And that's how you hired a nanny between the two of you?
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Is that what you did?
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We no, we became each other's nanny.
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We did not did it together.
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So, baby on the table, kids playing around us, and God said go.
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And he cast such a large vision in those first three months that we knew that the vision that he gave us, he would have to provision.
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So, who else did you seek out for help?
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I mean, there's some legal issues, there's some other stuff.
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I mean, who other who other people came around you to kind of get this thing going?
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It's the most beautiful piece of that whole story.
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We had one of our visionaries early on was a Christian hip-hop artist who had worked a lot with marginalized populations, kids in fatherless homes, kind of seeing a lot of the vulnerabilities.
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We had the head of a large um trade school and education system.
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And at that point, we were focused a lot on identification training and helping people understand the problem.
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Um, in addition, we had some really great early board members who had been, you know, the past president of the International Franchise Association, other ones from the intelligence community.
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So, how did you how did you acquire these people?
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I mean, usually when someone forms a nonprofit, their first board is what's called family fools and friends.
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I mean, the people they can acquire.
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So were these prior association, or you were introduced to these people?
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How did it happen?
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A lot of them were prior association, but there were a few that became through as introductions and just as we started talking about the issue of human trafficking, I think it was new on a lot of people's radar.
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And we had people leaning in saying, okay, if this is really happening in our community, I want to be part of finding those solutions that are actually working.
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And so I think we saw people drawn to just the complexity.
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It's not a it's not a single issue.
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It is a very complex criminal enterprise that thrives at the intersection of legal and illegal industry.
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And at the heart of it are kids, on average 12 years old, that are being sold.
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And so when you think about those numbers, it just can't help but compel people to be, want to be part of the redemption story.
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I think it's something that you said that I think should be emphasized.
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It is a complex criminal enterprise.
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This is not just people snatching people off the street.
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Okay, it's it's it's a lot more complicated, it's a lot more lucrative.
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There are very strong forces behind this.
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Um, and maybe you don't want to tell me, but have you ever been threatened?
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You felt threatened in any of your work?
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Oh, absolutely.
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Um, we said that you said that, like I said, I'm gonna walk out the street.
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Oh, absolutely.
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Oh, absolutely.
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No, I mean, we have, and you know, we've had to take a lot of security measures to protect ourselves as you know leaders of this organization and our team.
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But at the end of the day, we believe that God called us to this.
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And if you are operating under his anointing, then you are operating in his will and he's gonna protect you.
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So, although, yes, my family has been swatted um for about 12 weeks this summer by um trafficking rings, we've had death threats.
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I've had my kids' images sent to me.
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Yes, we go up against some of the worst parts of humanity, but in that we see the greatest parts of humanity because we see miracle and miracle happen for the least of these.
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And when you get to step into somebody's restorative journey and see God move in ways that most of us don't understand, it doesn't help like you are you are compelled because you're seeing the light literally push back the darkness.
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Yeah.
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See, this gives me um, you know, I hear this stuff all the time.
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I mean, I listen to the news, I read, I read the Wall Street Journal, blah, blah, blah.
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Uh, you're and I suspected these things, but when you tell me, it's very compelling.
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Uh, it comes across uh three-dimensional, not two-dimensional.
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Sure.
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So um, so then you've had to live with the realities of increased security, of forging ahead, of doing these things.
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Um it I take it this has not dissuaded you in any way.
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No, it just fires me up any more, even more because I'm that Satan's gonna put that many people on you to try to dissuade you from going after your God-called vision and mission.
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I think that tells you you're in the going in the right direction.
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And I have no problem pissing off Satan if I know that I'm operating within God's will.
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Well, uh, one of the tests of knowing you're having an impact is having real enemies, regardless of what you're doing.
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And I think that's certainly been validation for you as well.
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Um, now I know that you don't have a house of your own, meaning a place of your own that you that you have for these children.
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Now you just do boys or girls, or just girls, or how do you do it?
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Is it all women or victims?
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All victims of human trafficking.
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All victims.
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Okay.
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Um, so um since you don't have a uh a facility and yet I look at your website and you're like pretty much all over the country, how do you handle that?
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Yeah, so our team is really at that critical place when somebody has 10 seconds of insane courage to exit a trafficking situation, we're getting those calls.
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And at that moment, our team is coordinating the extraction from that trafficking experience.
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We're coordinating the crisis management of what's going to happen in that safety planning for the next, you know, 72 hours to a week to keep somebody safe before we identify the right safe house program somewhere in the country where they can really go and heal for up to two years.
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Those safe house programs are our partners.
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They do incredible work around education and therapy and medical treatment.
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But where we sit is at that pivotal moment when somebody is exiting that trafficking experience and needing that lifeline of support.
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Let's break that let's let's break that work down for a minute.
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Yeah, of course.
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How does some how does someone exit this?
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You make it sound like I'm getting off an airplane.
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Let's let's be a little more detailed.
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How do you if I'm if I'm 12 years old, I know that's a stretch, but if if if if I'm 12 years old and I'm trapped in this, how would I ever exit it?
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I mean, no one's coming to rescue me, I don't think.
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How does it work?
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They it really actually can look very different depending on the situation.
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So recently we had a survivor who was able to get herself to an emergency department.
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And so she got in there, she disclosed to the nurse what is happening to her.
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You mean an ER in a hospital.
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Exactly.
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Up to there, was able to speak with a nurse and was translating what was happening to her.
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Her trafficker was a long-haul truck driver.
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He was literally circling the hospital waiting for her to exit to snatch her up again.
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They called our team.
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We worked alongside the hospital staff to identify a tunnel that went underneath the main hospital to an administrative building somewhere else on site.
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We were able to transport the victim through that tunnel and have an extraction team meet her on the other side.
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From there, we had chaperones and people along the way that got her to the airport.
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We were able to maintain um law enforcement support, got her on that first plane, and then had when she touched down in the city where we had an emergency program waiting for her, there were victim advocates waiting to receive and take her into care.
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Let me let me ask you a question.
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In a situation like that, why wouldn't the why wouldn't the hospital just call the police?
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That one was she was over the age of 18, and not every survivor wants um the wants law enforcement involved.
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Kids can look a lot of different ways on how they're identified.
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Um when we talk about kids, over 50% are first trafficked by a family member.
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And so it's the people that they let's say that let's let me hit put that by me again slowly, Brittany.
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How much, how many fifty percent of kids are first trafficked by a family member.
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Okay.
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Let's let that sink in for a minute.
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All right.
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Well, aside from it being appalling, um that makes my skin crawl, Brittany.
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Yep, mine too.
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It's what got me into this.
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My first survivor that we served had been trafficked from the age of six by her uncle and sold for$300 per buyer over eight times every single night.
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Eight times in a 24-hour period.
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Yes.
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Oh, this is disgusting.
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Correct.
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And when you see that and you see somebody's resilience to escape that and tell somebody what's going on and have that courage, you have no choice but to find solutions for people.
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See, this is where um I think um, you know, all the sanitized objective language doesn't really begin to describe what the situation really is.
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This is why I'm pushing you to get more details here.
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This is what people need to hear and need to understand.
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Um I'm so, and I know you you're not really involved in this piece of the puzzle, but I'm wondering uh what sort of long-term uh psychological damage these children have after they're rescued.
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Um, we work very closely alongside.
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So even as they go into the safe house programs, we're working with the program and the survivor through their journey because it it's long term.
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I mean, I have survivors that we have walked alongside for the past seven years, and it's because of the long-term psychological damage.
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Um, on average, someone will have 10 and a half psychological um disorders.
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A lot of that is, you know, complex PTSD, uh, dissociative disorders.
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Some have dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality historically.
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We support schizophrenia.
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Uh schizophrenia is different than dissociative identity disorder, but now both borderline personality, bipolar.
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So we are dealing with some of the most complex mental health referrals in the country every single day, which is what makes it so imperative that our team be able to do that deep assessment to identify that individual's unique needs and help place them in a program that meets that because you're dealing with mental health, but you can also, I mean, we've had girls as young as 13 years old exiting pregnant.
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So they're not just coming out having to think about their own mental health.
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They're also having to consider that they're about ready to bring a baby into this world, and often one that was conceived at the hands of either their trafficker or a buyer of them.
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And so we are dealing with people at the most raw, vulnerable, horrific pieces of how our society operates.
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And it's our privilege to walk alongside them.
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But that's why we always tell people that first week is so critical because we're setting the tone for somebody to trust us and trust the resources that we're bringing alongside them to truly transform their life.
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Um, I'm trying to let this sink in here.
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I'm I'm still with you.
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Um this is um so are you?
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I know you were the chief operating officer now.
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So do you still get in uh you still have contact with with with patients with your with your charges?
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You still have contact?
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Okay.
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We think it's important to stay proximate to the issue.
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It doesn't mean I get to do it every day, but we want to make sure that we never feel disconnected from the people that we serve.
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Okay, all right.
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So how many uh how many states are you in off the top of your head?
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All 50.
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All 50.
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Okay.
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And you've been around for eight years.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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But you're just I get the impression though, you're just scratching the surface of this thing.
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It's such a big behemoth sitting out there.
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It's the second largest criminal enterprise, and we are only at a 1% identification rate.
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Now, I I heard I heard it's uh a a fact or a factoid someplace, and you can either confirm or or correct me on this, that the US is actually the biggest market for trafficking in the world.
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Is that correct?
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We're in the top three with Mexico and the Philippines, apart according to the Department of State.
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And a huge part of that is because we have the largest demand for commercial sex in the world.
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Okay, well, that's sort of it must have been where I I heard that.
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And um so um um this is scary, but it's wonderful and it's redeeming, and it's all those things wrapped into one, Brittany.
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So how are you see yourself doing this for a while, then I take it.
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You're not ready to move on to anything else.
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Nope.
00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:39.200
We have an audacious belief that God is going to start moving this country to really respond to this issue at scale and watching people become part of the fabric of the solution, not be part of the problem.
00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:44.559
And so I am here to see this thing taken all the way.
00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:52.079
So then um uh from what I know of your model uh that you use, it's imminently scalable.
00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:52.960
Is that correct?
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:53.920
Correct.
00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:04.319
So we have staff all around the country and we have incredible survivors of human trafficking that are now on staff being able to support individuals as they exit.
00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:16.559
Um, you know, we have incredible licensed clinical social workers, you know, there's just this entire group of people who are truly called with unique gifts to serve individuals in so many different capacities.
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.440
And so we have one of the best teams in the field.
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:25.519
You um uh how many of your field sites have you personally visited?
00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:32.160
I have gone to probably 15 now.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:43.200
We um and we also did a few years ago, Christy and I actually did a drive from the east coast to Colorado and visited a lot of partners along that.
00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:47.680
So there were a lot more in there in that scene than you and I thought of when you said that.
00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:48.240
Okay.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.440
You know the movie Thelma and Louise, right?
00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:53.200
Oh, we are like Thelma and Louise.
00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:54.880
That's the first thing I thought of.
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:55.920
Oh, 100%.
00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:01.599
Except that we put all five kids in the trunk, not in the trunk, but in the backseat.
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:02.480
Oh, I heard that.
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.119
I heard that.
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.880
You everyone, you heard what you said.
00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:15.759
But so we brought all five kids along for this adventure and showed them what it looks like to truly serve people in different communities and really showcase it.
00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:24.160
But collectively, our team has set foot into over 120 um organizations over the past 18 months.
00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:24.799
Okay.
00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:30.960
Well, I hope when you took that uh coast to coast trip that you gave your kids some entertainment, some of the sides on the way.
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:35.680
We saw the largest ball of twine, which fulfilled my childhood dream.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:40.160
I wanted to see the largest ball of twine since I was six years old.
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:49.599
It took a two-hour detour to Cocker City, Kansas, and I called the docent who's in charge of it, and she let me add twine to the ball.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.160
Ooh, well, you are a special person, Brittany.
00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.200
I just need you know, if you don't take away anything today, just know that you can go to Cocker City, Kansas and add twine to the largest ball.
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:01.359
Oh, I will keep that on my list.
00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.519
Now, when I moved out from uh western New York, I'm in Idaho now.
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:07.359
I don't know if you knew that or not, but I am.
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:15.839
And uh we were going through the upper Midwest, and and I have three daughters, and they were into Laurel Ingalls Wild, as you might imagine.
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.000
So we had to take that detour.
00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.759
It was about 90 minutes up to her home and then back again.
00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:22.079
Yes.
00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:24.799
I I I've done similar things like that.
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:25.759
That's great.
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:26.480
Okay.
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:32.000
Um I I um what what is it?
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:37.680
What message would you like our listeners to get from you today?
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.640
What would you like them to remember about this interview?
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:54.319
I think the most important thing is that this is a complex issue, but it takes every single one of us understanding what human trafficking looks like in our community, being able to report it.
00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759
We just launched a brand new AI tool and mobile app called Simply Report that you can download.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:12.559
Download out of the Google or Apple Play Store, go on and report suspected trafficking that will route to our law enforcement partners within five seconds or route somebody to our survivor support team if they need services.
00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:19.440
But that real-time intelligence is what is going to allow us to increase identification above 1%.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.119
And then we get more survivors that we get to serve and watch them exit exploitation.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:32.559
And so my call to action today is that you don't have to understand all the complexities of human trafficking.
00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:36.480
We just need you to care and lean into a hard issue.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:45.759
So if I were going to do this, and this is the first thing that comes to me, um do if I report something, do I put a target on my back using this app?
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:59.680
No, that's the great part is it's an anonymous real-time, and you can decide as the reporter if you provide your information or you can do it completely anonymously, and it allows that information to be relayed to law enforcement.
00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:11.599
And then if we start to see where maybe something doesn't have a ton of um actionable insights in the very first report, but let's say you report something, then a few days later I report something and somebody else does.
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:20.000
We're able to draw those um cases or those tips together to help start painting a picture for law enforcement where something might be going on.
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:24.160
And so it's more about the collective movement than it is about the one.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:25.279
Oh, okay.
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:31.440
So these things are amalgamated using an algorithm so that they can be identified and prioritized.
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.519
Well, that's pretty clever, Brittany.
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:36.319
Um, so whose bright idea was that?
00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:54.000
We had an incredible team who came up with this, but it really was led by um a gentleman who was known for one being one of the first five founding members of Department of Homeland and creating how we predict in the United States when somebody's moving from extremist to terrorist.
00:23:54.160 --> 00:24:05.039
We redid those algorithms with behavioral indicators of human trafficking and developed our own proprietary system for evaluating and analyzing the data coming in.
00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:10.480
And through that, we knew that we needed every community member to be seeing and saying something.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.480
And so Simply Report is simply that.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.799
It's simply report your suspicions.
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:17.119
You don't have to be completely confident.
00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.039
You just need to be, you just need to care.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:28.559
And so that's where Simply Report is the power of the people coming together to see uh human trafficking truly tackled in the United States.
00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.759
Another question.
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:37.039
Okay, I've reported something, and and you're you've taken it seriously.
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.039
I mean, I'm not some crank out there.
00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:41.519
I may be a crank, but not a crank with this.
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:47.759
And what would be the next course of action?
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:56.000
Would it be uh I guess it depends on the situation, but uh alerting law enforcement, alerting so alerting someone else?
00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.559
And I I mean, how does it how I'm trying to figure out how this happens and I'm I'm putting it together.
00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.480
Can you break it down a little bit for me?
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:12.960
Okay, so you come onto the chat bot and you start saying, okay, I was at a hotel this weekend and I saw men coming and going from this hotel room regularly.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:19.039
They didn't seem to be staying the night, and then the next morning I saw a girl that looks 12 years old come out of the room.
00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:26.240
She looked exhausted and tired and disheveled and was dressed inappropriately for her age, or whatever your situation is that you see.
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:31.039
And these are all obviously unrelated middle-aged men coming and going.
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:32.880
Well, that's a that's a sign right there.
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:33.599
Okay, keep going.
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:34.000
Right.
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.960
So then you could come onto the app and be like, okay, this is what I saw.
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.720
And then it's going to start based on the situation asking you additional things.
00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:46.400
It might ask you for general demographic information about either the child or the men coming and going.
00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:53.440
It could ask if you saw any markings on the individuals, if you saw a license plate, if you were, you know, had a car in view.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:04.240
And so it's working to draw out maybe some of those things that you didn't even necessarily remember that maybe you saw that can help build a more comprehensive picture for law enforcement.
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:15.920
Once that tip is submitted, it is routed to our law enforcement partners and it goes through an analysis to determine the likelihood of trafficking and the actionability.
00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:25.359
If it is deemed immediately actionable or like a life risk or it's actively happening, then we deploy dispatch to that situation, or dispatch could deploy law enforcement.
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.799
This could be real time, is what you're telling me.
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:34.000
So this isn't this doesn't go to some queue and somebody in the office gets to it next week.
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:35.279
No, no, no, no.
00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:37.200
We can't, we these are people's lives.
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:39.359
So it's well, I know that Brittany.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:40.240
You don't have to conclude.
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:45.920
We use technology as a tool, but we have a human-centric response on the other side.
00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:53.920
Okay, see, but but you know, and I know when you call some bank, I mean, I'm just trying, see, I'm trying to, I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself here.
00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:55.200
I appreciate you.
00:26:55.599 --> 00:27:06.480
So uh, but I mean because if it's one thing I can't stand, these damn AI bots, and I never get to speak to somebody new and they and they and I'm going, I'm in some sort of loop.
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.880
Yes, but you're not that way, is what you're telling me.
00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:10.079
No, no, no, no.
00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:15.599
We want to make sure that that tip gets to a real person who can then triage the situation.
00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:22.160
So for some, they might get routed to our survivor support team if they need that um resource and referral into safe housing.
00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:30.079
If it's tips that are coming in and we are able to help somebody exit, then we want to get that into the hands of the right person as quickly as possible.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.240
It is really critical.
00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:36.240
So, and let's go back to the example you used, the the hotel example.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:37.599
And I'm sure there's a lot of that.
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.559
That just sounds intimate, you know, very realistic.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:45.279
Um, so then the police would show up at the hotel.
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.799
And so what would they tell the desk clerk or the manager?
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:50.559
Who how how would they, do you know what they do?
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.079
Say, hey, where's this room?
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.720
And because they may not know the number of the room.
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:56.079
Um Right.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:58.400
And that can be a complicating factor.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:27:59.200
Sometimes they will.
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:01.440
So I mean, usually that would be a question that would be asked.
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:06.240
Like if it's coming in from somebody who's in the room next door, okay, well, what room was this happening in?
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:19.920
So they would have a room number, you they would work alongside the GM at the hotel or whoever is the highest ranking employee on site, or if they have a safety, depending on what level of hotel we're talking about, that can differ.
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:30.480
Um, and then usually it starts with a door knock just to assess the safety, almost like a well check of a child if you were to request that from child protective services for somebody's home.
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:43.440
And then from there, you know, we do a lot on victim-centered approach to law enforcement, helping train our law enforcement partners on how to go in and read a room to understand whether or not you have a victim of human trafficking.
00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:53.839
And so there's a lot of questioning that they use and different um just um techniques for helping discern what might be happening.
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:54.640
Okay.
00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:55.519
All right.
00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:03.680
And then if they assume if they really have a serious sense of something's going on, they can they can take custody of the minor.
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:04.400
Correct.
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:22.480
So then at that point, if it's they would um remove the the victim, separate them from the trafficker, trafficker would be arrested, victim would be connected to a victim advocate, and then our team would be liaising alongside the victim advocate to start the process of finding a safe house program for that child or that individual.
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:23.119
Okay.
00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:23.839
All right.
00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:29.920
Well, when you were saying they have a certain way of questioning people, uh, a certain memory came to mind for me.
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.119
You're like this.
00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.000
I I lived up in uh in the Buffalo area for a number of years.
00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:43.039
And, you know, if you know anything about the geography, you're right there on the Canadian border, and we'd go to and from Canada.
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.400
You know, you go over to on the other side of the falls for the day and you come back.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:49.039
And that was before it was required to have a passport.
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.160
I mean, you didn't just show a uh uh whatever.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:58.559
If you had uh US plates on your car and you had a uh a driver's license, you were you were good, you're good to go.
00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:04.240
Well, I had three daughters, as you know, and my middle daughter, she liked to be too cute for half.
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:13.680
So we're coming back into the US, and the border agent is just asking my three parents, my three girls, and he asks my middle one, are these your parents?
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:14.640
No, they're not.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.480
I don't know who these people are.
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:17.680
Oh my god.
00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:20.160
I mean, I wanted to wring her neck.
00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:22.000
I mean, this was just too much.
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:33.119
Okay, so we're hauled out of the car and into there, and yeah, it's like I mean, it was sorted out fairly quickly because these people are pretty smart and they could tell what this girl was up to.
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:34.720
But it was like, how would you?
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.519
I mean, talk about feeling like uh what is this?
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.279
These aren't my parents.
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:42.079
I who are these people, I've never seen them before.
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.599
Just wait till we get you home, just wait till we get you home.
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:52.000
Um, she was also the one who was uh we called her Houdini because she'd be in the in the car seat in the back.
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:56.559
And this usually happened by the way, going to church on Sunday morning is when it usually happened.
00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:06.960
And we're riding along, we had to be on an interstate for a while, and I look up and she's like, what, two, three, maybe, and she's standing on the back seat, da-da, like this.
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:14.880
Okay, and then by the time I can get over and get back to her, she's sitting in her seat, like, is there something wrong?
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:16.880
I mean, you just want to wring her neck.
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:20.960
She's but she's a delight, a delightful lady, not that she's all grown.
00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:24.079
But uh, it's like she's taking care of herself.
00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.240
Yeah, very, very, a lot of personality, a lot of personality.
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:31.359
Yeah, but uh, but I just had to share that with you.
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:44.559
Like, oh well, you know, I I would like for us to do this again because next time I want to talk to you about some success stories.
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:49.519
You can change the names, obviously, but uh, you've been in this eight years now.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:55.200
So I'm sure you have some some uh success stories that you can share with us.
00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.240
Um you do incredible work, Brittany.
00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:02.400
And I don't say that lightly, and I think you know me well enough already.
00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:03.599
I don't say that lightly.
00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.799
All right, and you're doing serious work.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.720
Um you you're sort of you're very disarming, you know.
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:25.680
For those of you who's listening to this, she's Britney's very disarming and cheerful, and she looks like she just came off the golf course or at the country club for lunch, but she's a very serious woman, and when you start talking with her, you get a chance of oh, yeah, there's real depth there.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:26.079
Yeah.
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:33.680
And that's the reason I kept bringing trying to bring you out during our interview here, because people I mean, people you hear this stuff on the news all day long.
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.240
All right, it's you know, fodder.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:48.240
And yet, you know, what I'm trying to do, and you've done a very good job today, is make it human and put a very human face on it and the challenges that you faced to make this a reality.
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.039
I mean, it's one thing to say, oh, well, God called me to do this.
00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:52.640
Well, you can kind of flip those words off.
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:53.680
Anyone can say that.
00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:14.000
But then when you tell me about the challenges that are involved in being successful and your own personal challenges that you've endured because of, say, for instance, those who don't want this to happen, all right, who are your active, purposeful enemies, um, then it becomes very real, you see, and that there's a price to pay for doing this kind of thing.
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:19.200
So um um uh I I've been I just want to say I've been very impressed.
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:20.400
Well, thank you.
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:21.599
I appreciate your time.
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:23.359
Um, we're gonna do this again.
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:23.920
Great.
00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:25.680
And as I said, think about success.
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:26.960
I'm gonna give you some time.
00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:29.680
Success stories is what I want to hear next time.
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:33.440
Oh, I have so many success stories for you and I can talk for days.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:34.000
All right.
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:39.759
So, well, I'm gonna get it set up again in the not too distant future because I do want to continue this conversation.
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:42.000
Um this has been delightful.
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:46.720
Um, so is is are you sort of the front person, or does your CEO get involved?
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:51.119
Or I'm just curious why you're on there and she's not, or I don't know how this all came to be.
00:33:51.680 --> 00:34:19.360
We both um just kind of take different engagements depending on kind of schedules and what time allows, but it's always we're both running in a million directions and love the opportunity to connect with people because we love to sorry, we love to share about our work and the survivors that we get to serve because they truly are the heartbeat of this organization and they are the reason we get up every day and run harder, run faster towards our mission.
00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:23.440
So this is safehouseproject.org.
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:30.000
And um, if someone wanted to reach out to you personally, Brittany Dunn, how would they do that in a safe way?
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:38.000
Um, they can email me at Brittany, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y at safehouseproject.org, and I would love to connect.
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:39.599
And you actually respond.
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.280
It's not an AI bot, right?
00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:43.119
Oh no, I like responding.
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:45.360
That's the best way to meet people.
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:58.000
That's the joy of this work is I have met more people from so many different industries and fields, and you just get to see how it really takes a collective impact approach to go after the world's hardest issues.
00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:00.000
So yeah.
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.639
Well, I want to thank you for your time.
00:35:02.960 --> 00:35:08.960
Yeah, and I want to thank our viewers for their time, and I hope they've been as enlightened as I have been.
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:12.480
Uh, I like learning new things, I like seeing what people are doing.
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:20.639
Um, so uh we're gonna have another someone, I guess, in another week, but I'm we're gonna get back with Britney sooner rather than later because I do want to hear her success stories.
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:24.639
And so thank you, Brittany, and thank you, listeners, very soon.
00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:26.880
Have a great day.
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:30.559
Thank you for listening today.
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:36.239
Join us for our next episode when I'll have another thought-provoking leader as my guest.
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:39.039
Guest comments and opinions are their own.
00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:44.000
The recording is copyright by the eight principles, all rights reserved.
