In support of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Wonder Girls, a non-profit | after-school program for middle, high school, and college girls with a mission to build confidence, leadership, community and business skills powers back up for its annual anti-child trafficking campaign. Their mission is to fight back, educate, and prevent trafficking from happening in their communities by using their voices as vehicles of change.

“Human trafficking is not talked about enough in the United States and we are using our platform to bring awareness. We often think it happens overseas, but sadly, it’s happening right here, and right now in our own backyards. Through our campaign, we are showing our girls how to protect themselves or someone they know while also demonstrating what it means to be strong brave leaders of their own lives,” said Natalie Maniscalco and Irene Zervoudis, Co-Founders of Wonder Girls.

This month-long initiative is dedicated to helping teens stay safe on and offline and providing teens, parents, and educators with facts and important information on how to keep our children safe. The campaign features a PSA with Wonder Girls from Cliffside Park and Lyndhurst High Schools and also includes volunteer days in partnership with The Center for Safety and Change at all of the school locations, a virtual workshop, and a free community Summit at Dominican University in partnership with The Center for Safety and Change and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The Summit, held on Saturday, January 21, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. is open to teens, parents, and educators, and will be led by child trafficking advocates, experts and survivors to discuss the impact of child trafficking in our communities and preventative measures that we all need to be aware of including self-defense and online safety workshops. Wonder Girls will also grant a $1,500 scholarship to a high school senior or college student who is interested in or studying within the fields of law, criminal or social justice, security, cyber security and / or law enforcement.

For more information, please visit wondergirlsusa.org and you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn for monthly posts dedicated to bringing awareness to this important cause.

If you or someone you know is being trafficked or abused, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline—a 24/7, confidential, multilingual hotline for victims, survivors, and witnesses of human trafficking at 1-888-373-7888 or Text HELP to 233733 (BEFREE). Learn more To donate to Wonder Girls, please visit: www.wondergirlsusa.org