Preventing Exploitation Through Youth Mentoring
Children Are Targeted by Predators
“Every day in the United States, children and adolescents are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.”* All youth have a strong need for love and belonging, and traffickers exploit that need for their own gain. However, there are additional obstacles that some children face that put them in harm’s way for exploitation.
Abuse or Neglect
Homelessness
Poverty
Foster Care
Domestic Violence
Children of Sex Workers
Runaways/ LGBTQ Youth
Immigrants & Refugees
Traffickers exploit these things and coerce young women into a life of slavery.
However...
We believe prevention is possible
Our approach to prevention is to pair young women and men with caring mentors who saturate them with a message of self-worth and hope. These interactions occur weekly after school at our Compassion Youth Mentoring locations.
Compassion Youth Mentoring offers young people
Through mentorship we can foster healthy adult-youth relationships, create a safe space of belonging, teach advocacy and warning signs, and demonstrate the love of Jesus. Together we can equip youth in our neighborhoods to become successful adults, free of exploitation.
Current Compassion Youth Mentoring Locations
We currently work with local churches to serve youth in seven communities spanning three states.
SE Portland, OR
Clackamas, OR
Milwaukie, OR
Oregon City, OR
San Tan Valley, AZ
Tacoma, WA
“Whether it be the harder way, the more inconvenient way, or the impossible, these women and men I have met over the last seven years have helped drastically change my life. Whether it be faith, addiction or just habits. They’ve done this without even knowing it.”
– Andrea Crane, Compassion Youth Mentoring Alumni
Want to fight trafficking in your city?
Have you ever wondered what you and your church can do to address the issue of human trafficking in your community, but don’t know where to start and aren’t interested in recreating the wheel? Are you excited to collaborate with others but don’t know the first thing about getting a group of churches to work together? We are excited to offer our Adorned In Grace Toolkit, which offers practical and thorough guidance for those who are passionate about rallying a group of churches in their city or neighborhood to prevent trafficking.
Recent Adorned In Grace Stories from the Blog
Like these stories? Grow in your journey of purposeful compassion by receiving stories, encouragement, and other service opportunities right to your inbox!