Healthy Choices, Brighter Tomorrows

The myths of sex-trafficking are long standing and set hard. The reality is much scarier and much closer to home. Most believe that sex-trafficking only happens in other countries like Thailand, Philippines, India or Africa. However Portland’s notorious 82nd Avenue is one of largest hubs for sex trafficking in the U.S. Roughly 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide and over 300,000 victims in the U.S. each year.

Many people think that only homeless or high-risk kids are vulnerable to the lures of sex-trafficking and that most girls “choose” to go into the world of prostitution.

This is false. Good students from stable homes are being lured in by young men posing as caring boyfriends who promise an exciting future of money, glamor and freedom from parental rules… Only to find a life of prostitution, pornography and extreme violence… even death.

Children who are victims of sex-trafficking are pulled in through deceptive, manipulative tactics designed by a well crafted grooming process that young people need to be made aware of.