The following program contains frank discussion of suicide, and exploitation and crimes against adults and children.

Viewer discretion is advised.

On today's show will feature two nonprofits in the fight against sex trafficking.

One is dedicated to restoring the lives of survivors.

The other is working globally to uncover the financial crimes that fuel exploitation.

We're stronger together.

Chattanooga.

Stay tuned.

Welcome to Chattanooga.

Stronger together.

I'm Barbara martyr.

Joining us is Sarah Mckinnis, CEO and co-founder of Willow Bend Farms.

She is here to talk about her work with survivors of sex trafficking and their journey toward healing and hope.

Sara.

So I'm so glad you're here with me today for this show.

What is Willow Farms and its purpose?

So will have been farms is a nonprofit organization with a mission to restor survivors of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and sexual violence.

When did it get started?

We started in 2017.

So we've been in business about eight years.

Yes.

So, so who d you serve in at Willoughby End?

Well, so who do we not serve?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So we serve, men, women, boys and girls.

The youngest that we have served a six and the oldest we've served is 62.

So it's a wide breadt of individuals that we are able to serve in this world.

So in a year span, approximatel how many people would you serve?

Around 250 a year.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Yes.

So nationwide o maybe in the state of Tennessee.

Where does Chattanooga rank in all of this?

So Chattanooga ranks numbe four in the state of Tennessee.

I have the opportunity to sit on the Human Trafficking Advisory Council for the State of Tennessee.

And a few years ago, we went through a process of working to look at all the vulnerability factors for every community in the state.

And, when that report finished, when it was completed, and ranked Chattanooga as number four with a score of 96.8% on the vulnerability population index.

And so there is a lot that happens here that a lot of people just don't realiz is happening in this community.

But let's talk about your work with, I think it's called Engage Together.

Yes.

Let's talk about that work because I think that will help to give more in-depth information on what you're actually doing.

Right.

To fight this.

Right.

So engage together, Tennessee, as a project that the Human Trafficking Advisory Council that that is hosted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, launched into several years ago.

And, it was just really important to look at what was happening across the state, who is serving, victims, and, and providing service to survivors across the state.

And what are the, where are our gaps and services?

And that's always been, you know, a thing for me.

My heart is, you know, where are the gaps?

Where can we be the gap fill or not reproducing what somebody else is doing?

But how do we, you know, truly fill those gaps that are going on?

So that project really eliminated all of that across the entire state.

And the the way that the project works is it takes 24 publicly held data points and so engage together.

Tennessee and Belmont University partnered together, and they analyze those 24, data points to come up with the the VPI, the vulnerability population index.

And for Chattanooga, it came out at is at a 96.8%, which is really high.

It's number four in the state.

That's true.

So when you talk about gaps i services, what are those gaps?

So there are we we are very thankful that across Tennessee we have a number of organizations that, that offer residential services in those types of things.

But we look at the gaps tha particularly for youth services that are neede because the average age of entry into human trafficking is 12 to 13 years old.

And, so one of the things that we've worked on her in Chattanooga specifically, is we have a lot of nonprofits in Chattanooga, and very thankful for that.

And, there are agencie that serve youth that interact with victims of human trafficking, even though they may not even identify that on the onset.

But how do we, like, empower them?

How do we work together on that to be able to provide those services effectively?

And utilize what is here while we get up to speed on having all of the availability of services that are needed.

In addition to that, there's labor trafficking that happens in the state of Tennessee.

And so labor trafficking services are vastly different than those for sex trafficking victims.

And so that report, the engage together really highlighted a lot of things and then gave recommendations for every community across the state on what can be done in their community.

So it's been really pivotal in our work because we work with so many communities, to say, hey, you know these are the recommendations.

Here is here's the reality of what's happening in the community, and this is what we can do to change it.

some of the services that you guys provided will have been let's talk about that a little bit too.

Yeah.

So our we have five strategi initiatives as an organization.

And within that, all five of them fall under either restoration or prevention.

And so with our restoration we've really got a continuum of care.

We've got an emergency response center where when someone is actively identified, like what you're mentioning, they have a place that they ca go 7 to 14 days, up to 30 days.

And, and in that service we're really looking and working with that individual o what is it that they want to do.

Are they ready to receive services?

Do they need to go somewhere else for safety or are they safe here?

Do they want to apply for our long term program or some, another partner organization?

We've been able to place people in 35 of the 50 states and through through that particular program.

And we also have a long term residential.

That's two years, where there's a lot of holistic care that goes into that.

You know, there's no cost fo the individual to, to be there.

And we go through just so many thing that we work with an individual, but we also have transitiona housing, a vocational program.

But then we work with community clients who may not need that residentia We also do prevention, education, awareness, demand reduction.

And then what you were just talking about is what we call rescue opportunities or opportunities for those who want a safe way out.

And so we have had the opportunity to work with all levels of law enforcement, federal, state and local, to identify victims, to be able to offer services at point of contact and, and just, just be present for them and, and see what is it that their next steps are, what are they willing to do whether they want to do?

Because I think there's a misconception that a lot of people ar they're just ready and willing.

They want to receive assistance.

And sometimes that's not the case.

And there's some people that don't even identif as being trafficked, you know?

And, I can tell you in my own instance you know, I was trafficked as a as a young gir and then again in my adulthood and I did not recognize that, that that was what was happening.

And, and so, you know and we don't go in and say, hey, you've been trafficked, you know, but understanding what is going o and what is a part of someone's story, and journeying alongside of them is extremely important.

Being able to listen to them.

Yeah.

And listen to the heart and even if they're not ready to receive services at that point in time, we stand steady.

That's that's been our calling is we're here, you know, and sometimes it's going to take some testing ground.

Can I trust you?

Yeah.

Are you going to be there and being willing to sit in that space, and not say no, you need to do this or no, you need to change your life.

You're not putting your journey on them, you know because their journey is theirs.

And so being willing to stay steady is really important in this work.

And I'm very thankful.

Several years ago, we worked with all the other anti-trafficking agencies that work in Chattanooga, and we sat down together and we really wanted to diminish, like any competition or, you know, like, anything that was going on amongst amongst us to come together to work collaboratively and collectively.

And so we formed One Voic Collective to really identify, you know, what services as each agency, where, where they're strong points.

How do we support each other?

How do we protect our community and truly be a safety net for the community working together and break down any barriers for, people to receive services that are you awake program?

Is that what you're talking about?

No, that's one voice collective.

Yeah, yeah.

Are you awake?

Is is our prevention, education and awareness where we d a lot of specialized education?

Yeah.

We hold an annual conference that's two days long.

That gives very specialized education to empower the community on understanding what trafficking is and what it isn't, and how to serve survivors and serve them well.

And they get to hear from survivors through that, through that process as well.

Which is which I think is very pivotal.

And, and then we also have, opportunities for those who are victims to reach out, through that.

Are you awake as well and have a safe space to receive services?

Yeah.

Are there volunteer opportunities for something like this?

Oh, absolutely.

Oh, okay.

We love our volunteers.

Okay.

We can not do the work that we do without our volunteers.

We do have a process that people can go through.

There's an application on our, on our website.

We we do background checks.

We do a number of different things just because of the nature of the work that we do.

But there are people who collect donations for us there.

There are others who teach classes, life skill classes.

There's so many opportunitie of individuals to work with us.

Yeah.

Participate in our storefront because we have a vocational progra where the ladies make products and, and and sell them so, so items and, they help develop that program and they weigh that effort.

And so we have some volunteers that are very intereste in being a part of that process.

So the products and services that on your website, it is.

Oh, awesome.

Yes.

Okay.

And so some of the services and things that you provide, not only I think we talked about medical, there's dental, there's legal, ge a GED college workforce development, housing for 6 to 18 months.

But I love the products and everything.

I've been to a couple of things where some of the products were displayed.

And they develop the product and they have business meetings.

They come up with, business plans and, and research and development.

So they're really building in-depth skills through that program and then taking that product all the way to market.

And we we had a, a lad recently, she, had showed a bag and she was like, I can't do this.

You know, I don't I don't know how to do it.

And then the first one sold, she was like, oh my gosh, it's so you know, and and just the celebratio around that or when, you know, the first item that they were part of developing is sold.

It's magnificent, you know, and we're very lucky to now have survivors that have come through all of our programs on staff with us now.

And that's what tells me this, that this thing is going somewhere, you know, it's no about me or the organizations.

It's about what they are going to do.

Yeah.

Moving forward, Sarah thank you so much for coming in and educating me.

More about will have been in the work that you're doing that your story also too, but also educating her viewers that just be more awar of what's going on around you.

And if you need help to reach out.

Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Up next, we'll have Dave Orland from the noble.

Stay tuned.

The following program contains frank discussion of suicide, and exploitation and crimes against adults and children.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Welcome back.

We're joined by Dave Wallin executive director of the noble.

This organization work to uncover the global financial networks behind trafficking, fraud, and other crimes.

Dave, thank yo so much for being with me today.

Thank yo for the opportunity to be here.

So tell me what the novel is and why the work you're doing so important.

Thanks, Barbara.

That that the noble.

It's an international movement to begin with.

It's not just an organization.

There are people throughout the world.

We have about 2000 actual members that are associated with us, but we've got thousands more that use our material and access us through some of the training materials and all that we do.

But our purpose is really to abolish what we call human crime.

And for us, human crim is defined at this point around four major initiatives or four major crimes.

So human trafficking, as yo mentioned, it's a global issue.

That's huge.

But child online, child sexual exploitation or child sexual exploitation is just an increasing it's a heinous crime.

It's growing.

We're doing everythin we can to help try to stop that.

Scams in general, because most of these things, in some way or another, lead back to scams or fraud where people are being exploited.

And then wha we're seeing another big growth in is an elder financial exploitation where people are leaning into that.

But our focus is t to ignite this global movement and to encourage people to educate people and to encourage them to work together to be able to solve these problems, because they're way too big for any one organization trying to solve on their own.

Yeah.

Do you work with banks and financial institutions?

Predominantly, our work is with financial institutions.

We have found that.

I guess the best example I can give folks is that all of us, at some time or another, have had small leaks in and our plumbing at home.

I had a friend of mine that went on vacation and about the day that he left, just and one of the supply lines to one of his toilets upstairs sprung a big leak.

And it spewed for two weeks and they walked home and got in the door.

Water was literally cascading down the steps.

The hole upstairs was ruined, downstairs was ruined.

And all the way down into the basement.

What would have prevented all that.

As if somebody could have gone and just turn the spigot off as soon as it started.

And that's what we do.

We work with financial institutions to use the monitoring systems that they currently do to identify where those things are beginning to happen, where a likelihood or suspicious activit may be around one of these areas of human crime, and they have the ability to just turn that spigot off.

And when you stop the money from flowing, since all these things are based on financial, then it stops the activity.

We don't really know how many people we prevented from being pulled into human trafficking, or child exploitation or senior exploitation.

Because our job is t turn it off before it happens.

Wow.

So you work with a lot of other agencies and it's like all hands on deck because they all bring certain expertise to the table, and then their dot come together or they're puzzle pieces come together to build the whole puzzle, and then you actually follo the money to get to the root of what's causing it.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

There is this whole process of education and prevention that people get involved in, that we can, we can help the community.

And a Better Business Bureau does an excellent job in alerting people of current scams going on in our area.

Those are the scams that are happening.

We'll talk salmon a little bit I'm sure, about the trafficking and the sextortion and some of those things that are going on with exploitation.

But there are organizations like that that do an excellent job at what they do.

But the medical society is very involved in the medical community.

When they think that they find some sort of trafficking or exploitation and or abuse, they have a system and a process to report that back to law enforcement.

There's hospitality that are used, whether it's hotels or motels or Airbnb or Vrbo.

All of them are doing a really good jo and leaning into this question and trying to find those areas where there's something going on.

But when they do that in isolation, it may not be enough fo law enforcement to move forward because it's just in isolation.

Yeah.

But when you can link that with what's happening in transportation Uber, Lyft, taxis, share all the rideshares, al those folks that are out there.

And you link that with financial transactions that are taking place and you start, as you said, putting all those puzzle pieces together and build that picture.

It begins to create a picture that law enforcement can now take and do something with.

And then they can take action on.

And what we're trying to do, what all of us are trying to do is to work better together than we have in the past.

It's really important to be done.

This is a hidden crime for the most part.

They want they're doing everything they can to keep it under the radar.

Yeah.

You may not think today when you go out to the grocery store or you're driving on the road that help somebody around, maybe trafficked or involved in exploitation.

But chances are they are so they do their best to keep it hidden.

And as they do their best to do that, we have to do our best to uncover it.

And that monitoring that detection work is really important.

So all these different industries that are working together, our real specialty and focus is helping the financial institutions which have thousands of people and they spend millions of dollars every year already monitoring transaction for terrorism and gun transfers and drugs and cartel and any work that may come in.

What we do is spend time with them to help find both the scenarios, the potential red flags, the other things that they could look for within their systems that might point to human trafficking or child exploitation or senior exploitation or scams in general.

And then their teams go to work taking that in and taking action on that.

Working toward that, reporting to the federal government or local law enforcement.

We do a lot with Homelan Security and FBI and every bank and every credit unio and every financial institution works for local law enforcement to try to do what they can to help break these systems down.

And you're also with 19 countries, I believe we are we are w are an international movement.

And there are organizations, there are other organizations that in some cases we partner with that are doing great work there.

On the education side of what they do.

But when all of us this is one of the interesting parts about it, everybody is very willing to cooperate acros international lines as an NGO.

So if somebody does something really well, they're sharing that knowledge and information when they're sharing the campaigns with us.

We have a campaign that we've been running for several years called we call it Project Umbra, which is the dar shadow, dark side of the shadow.

But i was it was first run in Canada by a group of NGOs and all the banks, they're working on the same thing looking how do we monitor transaction to look for child exploitation within our systems.

So you start with data that you may have access to what's referred to as negative data.

We know these people are already involved in it, but are they involved within our banking system or are we know this URL is commonly used?

The dark web is where most of this stuff resides.

There are some NGOs that work that just go scrape the dark web, and they're finding out who these people are and bringing that information up.

And then when we can feed tha into the financial institutions where they could begin to connect, where these people are working or how they're working, it creates a network that we can then provide again to law enforcement so they can do their work.

Yeah.

You mentioned NGOs.

I just want to clarify, clarify for our viewers, NGOs, non-governmental organizations, which are nonprofits in the United States, are all nonprofits.

And then foreign countries are called NGOs.

And everything like that's true and everything.

So give me an example of elder abuse.

Oh, there's so many that are going on right now.

All of these exploitation factors, what they're looking for i the vulnerability within people.

So they're operating within fears that they have.

So somebody may have a fear of loneliness and they'll throw out these little phishing that's called phishing because they're throwing lines out to see who they might hook and what they might do, but they may drop something to someone.

One of the common one we see is in the romance scam.

Somebody is there.

Their husband passed away.

They're alone.

Somebody reaches out with a message that might just say, hey, I haven't talked to you for a while, or, hey, I got one yesterday.

Here you go.

Oh my gosh.

Some people are responding.

Say, hey you may have the wrong number.

Well once they have a live response, it goes typically from whatever automated phishing that they're using because they're using a lot of an activity to then put a live human on.

And they start this interaction with you and they want to figure out where is your vulnerable.

And you might say they may say something as simple as, you know, I, I really appreciate you taking this cal and just at least answering me.

That means so much to me.

Must be a really nice person.

And then they start this interaction.

And over a period of time it falls into this area of a romance and.

And after a season of time, hey, I'd love to come the United States or my daughter is having some financial struggles and I don't have the money to help or whatever reason.

Yeah.

And people begin to say well I can help with that.

And then they'll go and begin to send money to that person and that will continue until all the money's gone.

Yeah.

And then when it's gone suddenly that person disappears.

So I have one last question.

What is six torsion.

Yeah.

Sextortion is a it's an emerging crime.

It's been around for several years.

But again it hasn't.

It's grown dramatically since Covid.

It i this process typically targeting 13 to 16 year old boys, 13 to 18 year old boys.

Again, this vulnerability, the desire to be liked by someone and this desire to find this girl that finds them particularly attractive or whatever, and they post everything on social media.

So the folks that are going out to look can look at the social media.

They know everything that kids involved in, and then they'll start speaking to them about that, as if they are some young lady that they've met in school or came by to visit their school and saw them.

And a friend to me, friend of mine told me who you were, an so I just wanted to reach out.

They may continue tha conversation for 3 or 4 weeks, and then they typically begin to provide pictures that are pretty compromisin of what the young lady would be.

She would be say, here's a picture of me.

I'd love to see you.

Eventually, if the young man presents a picture of him that's very compromising, they immediately revert to extortion and they may.

They already have downloaded.

If they're on a sports team or the sports who all their team members are, if they're in a church group, who their church members are, their family members, and they threaten to send these pictures to all of these people i they don't start giving money.

So you can imagine a 14 year old kid sitting at home and suddenly thinking, oh my gosh, everybody's going to see these pictures.

I know what I've done.

They get this huge embarrassment.

Some of them, too many of them actually don't know where else to go and they commit suicide.

Yeah.

I think this show is probably one of the toughest that we've done here in the studio, because we had Willoughby come in.

And then the noble group and everything.

But it's so important to educate our viewers.

Wake up, be observant, be cautious.

Think twice.

If it does look right, smell right is probably not right.

That's right.

So anyway, Dave thank you so much for coming in.

And I really, really appreciate it.

Well thank you Thank you for the opportunity.

And thank you for joining us.

We hope you've learned more about the amazing work being done by our local nonprofits.

We love to hear from you.

Email us at stronger at WTC tv.org or use the hashtag stronger WTC on social media.

I'm Barbara Marde and from all of us here at TCA.

We'll see you next time.

Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborne Foundation.

The Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.