2024 Conference Program

This year's conference is dedicated to Barbara Amaya's impactful life and legacy.

Barbara was a human trafficking survivor and survivor advocate who dedicated her life to fighting trafficking and advocating for survivors of this heinous crime. We at ATI were privileged to serve alongside her.

Hear from presenters who provide practical tips on keeping yourself and loved ones safe and offer solutions you, too, can play a role in to keep this heinous crime from occurring in your community.

Disrupting the accessibility of child sexual abuse material: An industry approach

Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Bowman | founder and Executive Director, Restoring Ivy Collective

M. Elizabeth Bowman is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University. She is also a minor domestic sex trafficking survivor, anti-trafficking advocate, mother of two teens, researcher, clinician, and speaker. In her clinical practice she works with trafficking survivors using trauma-informed yoga group therapy and also has a clinical practice supporting children and adolescents with anxiety and other challenges. She holds clinical social work licensure in DC and Maryland and is a registered yoga teacher, RYT-200. Her research areas include the intersection of child welfare and sex trafficking, organizational culture and supervision in child welfare, and special populations issues in trafficking including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), foster youth, and deaf youth. She is the founder and executive director of the Restoring Ivy Collective in Washington, DC, a survivor-led organization which provides referral and outreach, group therapy, and support to survivors of sex trafficking with a focus on intentional community.

Disrupting the accessibility of child sexual abuse material: An industry approach

Tara Wallace | data analyst/lived experience consultant

Tara Wallace is a data analyst with Restoring Ivy Collective. As a survivor of human trafficking, she understands the importance of incorporating the voices and perspectives of those with lived experience in solutions-based approaches to combating commercial sexual exploitation. She is passionate about using her professional experience in the financial technologies (FINTech) industry, strategic management, academic research, accounting, and project management to aid in the development of resources for fellow survivors and anti-trafficking allies. She is currently pursuing a geospatial technologies graduate degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Online predators and social media: What everyone needs to know to keep our children safe

Dawn Ferrer | Executive Director, A Safe Place

Dawn Ferrer is Executive Director of A Safe Place, a non-profit in Wilmington, NC, that works with sex trafficking survivors and women who have been commercially sexually exploited. In this position, she expands the programs offered to survivors, establishes community partnerships, and presents community awareness programs. She is also the primary human trafficking trainer in the southeastern region of NC for Trillium Health Resources where she trains crisis intervention law enforcement, EMS, 911 operators and other professionals on how to identify and help survivors using a trauma-informed, person-centered approach.

Dawn’s major accomplishments during her time at A Safe Place include developing the policies and procedures for their former 12-bed emergency shelter and helping to develop the new long-term residential program called The Farm. She also developed the minor prevention program, EmpoweredMe!, which is a 10-week after-school program for middle school girls. Dawn hopes to take this program on a national level with help from the partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

One bad apple spoils the bunch: Pornography is like a rotting apple - A special livestream session with the speaker: 7:00 pm ET, September 19

Alcinda Hatfield | educator and marketing specialist

Alcinda Hatfield is currently a community ambassador with Anti-Trafficking International and a Colson Fellow. Previously, she worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service in China and India conducting market research, and also worked in India with the U.S. Department of State. After returning to the U.S., she focused on raising her three children and teaching educational programs at her farm in Virginia.

Alcinda has mentored hundreds of children through volunteer programs in local faith-based and secular organizations. More recently, she developed a sex trafficking prevention curriculum for faith-based communities titled Know the Truth to Recognize the Lies in conjunction with Anti-Trafficking International’s Just Ask Prevention curriculum program.

Going on the offensive to eradicate human trafficking - A special livestream session with the speakers: 7:00 pm ET, September 26

Bill Woolf | adjunct professor, George Mason University and Mt. Aloysius College

Bill Woolf started his professional career as a police officer. He completed more than 15 years in law enforcement, where he specialized in advanced investigations of human trafficking, missing and exploited children, gangs, and other forms of organized and financial crime. Mr. Woolf developed expertise in safety and security, executive protection and movement, civil disturbance, weapons of mass destruction, and mass-casualty response as a FEMA-certified ICS commander. Mr. Woolf also served as a federal task officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Because of Bill’s vast expertise, he has been asked by representatives from both sides of the aisle to testify in front of the Virginia state legislature, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, as well as the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe. He even served in an official capacity as a Special Advisor to the White House on the Domestic Policy Council and most recently as Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Bill has also worked extensively advising government officials in the countries of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Netherlands as well as advising and supporting corporations, non-profit entities, and law firms on a wide array of subjects. He also founded a successful non-profit organization in 2013 which grew to have an international presence.

Going on the offensive to eradicate human trafficking - A special livestream session with the speakers: 7:00 pm ET, September 26

Brittany Dunn | co-founder and COO, Safe House Project

Brittany Dunn is COO and co-founder of Safe House Project. Brittany served as a member of the Virginia Governor’s Commission on Human Trafficking Prevention and Survivor Support. Prior to Safe House Project, Brittany spent 10 years in international business development at CareerBuilder.com. Brittany Dunn has a B.A. in economics and English from Wellesley College. She graduated top of her class with an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, Pi Sigma Alpha, Wellesley Alumnae Association, the Naval Officers’ Spouses Club, and is an active member in her church. Brittany has been featured in The Hill, CBN Interactive, The Pilot, and Missouri Physicians Magazine. Brittany has trained law enforcement, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and corporations on the issue of human trafficking in the United States. She is a military spouse, mother of two, lifelong learner, world traveler, and protector of the vulnerable.

Transitioning from a multidisciplinary to an interdisciplinary approach for human trafficking prevention

Carolyn Kinkoph | co-founder, Alliance Against Human Trafficking

ATI is thrilled to welcome back Carolyn Kinkoph to our annual Anti-Trafficking Conference!

Carolyn is a human trafficking survivor parent, advocate, and co-founder of the nonprofit Alliance Against Human Trafficking 501(c)(3). Her coalition includes local, county, state and federal agencies, plus non-government partners who have been supportive in building a multidisciplinary team to combat human trafficking in Northeast Ohio and beyond. She is passionate about providing human trafficking education to diverse audiences as a means of promoting awareness, prevention, and providing community service information for victims and their families.

Carolyn is a former Ohio State Bar Association Certified Paralegal with 16 years of experience. She is an Advocate Member of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars, and a former member of the Health, Education, Advocacy, Linkage (Heal) Trafficking Education and Training Committee. Carolyn is currently employed as the administrative secretary for both the Departments of History and Philosophy & Religious Studies at Cleveland State University (CSU). She is the former interim secretary for both the CSU Department of Africana Studies and the CSU School of Film & Media Arts. She is a doctoral candidate in Urban Studies and Public Affairs at Cleveland State University.

Some of our speakers shed light on the conditions that cultivate human trafficking situations in their community, in hope their case studies demonstrate the challenges we face around the world to fight this international atrocity, and what you can do to help.

Case study: How child sex trafficking suspects are not only trafficking adults and juveniles but are committing other felonious acts when they conduct their illegal activities

Heidi Chance | retired Phoenix Police Department human trafficking detective

Heidi Chance recently retired from the Phoenix Police Department after 25 years of service. Before retiring, she was a detective in the HEAT (Human Exploitation and Trafficking) Unit for 13 years, identifying and rescuing juveniles and adults who are victims of sex trafficking. Currently she works for Arizona Department of Gaming as a Special Agent. She investigates illegal gambling operations occurring outside of tribal land areas.

Since 2014, she often travels across the United States teaching other law enforcement agencies for the National Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College, Amber Alert program. She is also featured in the Frontline PBS documentary “Sex Trafficking in America.” Detective Chance recently began consulting when creating Achanceforawareness.com as part of her own outreach to continue educating the public about sex trafficking awareness and to continue to train law enforcement about sex trafficking, educating on proactive undercover operations, as well as prosecutors about sex trafficking investigations.

Sri Lankan experience of fighting human trafficking: Task force and its system

Major Dimuthu Abewardhana | member, Coordinating Committee of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, Sri Lanka

Major Dimuthu Abewardhana is presently employed as a staff officer/member of Coordinating Committee of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, Sri Lanka.

Macc Bucc: The long pursuit of justice for Dallas’s most notorious pimp

Dave Clark | detective, Dallas Police Department

Dave Clark is a detective with the Dallas Police Department and has been assigned to the Child Exploitation Unit for the last fourteen years. He is responsible for the investigation of cases involving sexual crimes committed against children, including the trafficking and abduction of children. He has been the lead detective in several high profile cases during his time in the unit. He has also been a part of several operations involving the identification and recovery of juveniles being trafficked through prostitution, and the prosecution of those adults responsible for the exploitation of those juveniles. He has interviewed over 500 juvenile victims of child abuse and has interrogated hundreds of suspects accused of sexually abusing children. Detective Clark has trained thousands of law enforcement throughout the country in the topics related to child abuse investigations.

The nature and extent of human trafficking and sexual exploitation among U.S. college students in Southern California

Lianne A. Urada, Ph.D. | associate professor of social work, San Diego State University, and associate adjunct professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego

Lianne A. Urada, Ph.D., is a core faculty member for the SDSU-UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use. Her research focuses on developing and testing interventions to address human trafficking, homelessness, HIV, and historical community trauma. Her 50+ publications include a focus on women and human trafficking in the U.S., Philippines, Mexico, and Russia. She is funded by the Nemeth Foundation to investigate the nature and extent of human trafficking and sexual exploitation among U.S. college students. She is also principal investigator of a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant to develop and test an intervention for unstably housed individuals using opioids at public libraries. She also completed a NIDA K01 grant examining community mobilization and its potential to reduce HIV/STI risk and violence among substance-using women in the commercial sex trade in Tijuana, Mexico, and led similar community-based intervention research in the Philippines.

As a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Urada worked seven years with women and men living with HIV in Los Angeles County. She was also on faculty at the UCLA School of Social Welfare for several years and received her educational degrees from there. She serves on the Board of Directors for Christie’s Place (transforming the lives of women affected by HIV/AIDS) and is a former councilmember of the San Diego Regional Human Trafficking & Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Advisory Council.

The rise in digital human trafficking in Sub-Saharan African countries (how technology has elevated modern slavery)

Michael Brako | law enforcement officer and investigator, Economic and Organized Crime office, Ghana

Michael Kusi Brako is a Ghanaian law enforcement officer who works as an investigator at the Economic and Organised Crime office (known by its acronym as “EOCO”). He works at the Institution’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit. He holds a Master of Arts degree in conflict, peace and security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra-Ghana. He has undergone several trainings and workshops with Expertise France, the UK Border Force, Investigation Judicial in Costa Rica, the Kofi Annan International peacekeeping training Center, the UK Immigration Enforcement, International Justice Mission and The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and West African Regional Training Center.

He is the author of Security Paradigms in Africa and Beyond. His interest areas are investigating organized crime, intelligence gathering, preventing border trafficking, and prosecuting perpetrators of human trafficking.

Child abuse and youth trafficking in Nigeria with special reference to the Ijora community in Lagos metropolis

Bolarinwa Michael Omotosho | veteran youth worker, pastor, and certified leadership coach

Bolarinwa Michael Omotosho is a humanitarian, peace educator, and a teacher of theology. The author of over 30 resources and books on youth culture, Bolarinwa Michael is a member of the International Association of Study of Youth Ministry in Africa (South Africa) and a member of the Youth Work WA, Australia. He is the current president of Anchor International Youth and Teen Work Academy, Lagos, where he has offered a 100 percent tuition scholarship to over 470 students of the academy between 2021 and February of 2023. Bolarinwa Michael is also the chairman board of trustees of Anchor Humanitarian Care and Social Medical Initiative (a non-governmental organization) raising next-generational leaders, saving lives, and alleviating the suffering of communities in conditions of crises born of conflict, neglect, or disaster, and advancement of human development.

Omotosho holds a higher national diploma in marketing, a postgraduate diploma in social work, a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in theology, a Master of Arts in Christian leadership, and a Doctor of Philosophy in church growth and Christian ministry. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, Nigeria, a licensed management consultant, and a licensed associate member of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

We have presenters speaking to services and other support you can embrace and establish — regardless of your position in the community and type of employment — to minimize the threat of human trafficking in your community.

Human trafficking: Get off the stool of "Do nothing"

Claude Jones | member of Truckers Against Trafficking

Claude Jones is the founder of a company named Failure Turned Into Success Incorporated. When he started his journey, he was sick, broke, homeless, and coming out of a very bad marriage. Claude was bless to have purchased a semi-tractor and when he signed the contract for his truck he reached down into his pocket; all he had left to his name was one penny. Instead of worrying about his own needs, he chose to give out scholarships to people in need.

Since that time, he was featured in thirteen magazines that spanned throughout the United States and Canada, giving him millions of dollars of advertisement. Claude also wrote a book titled, “It is time to heal, The Claude Jones Story,” and has had great success with the book. He’s been able to inspire a lot of people to take a chance on themselves by stepping out on their faith and moving forward with it.

Beyond the criminal case: Holistic solutions for human trafficking survivors through attorney and social worker partnerships

Amanda Elkanick Oder | Chief Advocacy and Education Officer, Texas Advocacy Project

Amanda Elkanick Oder is a passionate and experienced leader in the field of gender-based violence. As the Chief Advocacy and Education Officer at Texas Advocacy Project, a non-profit agency that provides free legal and social services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking, she oversees the strategic direction and implementation of the organization’s advocacy, training, and education programs.

With nearly 20 years of dedication to combating gender-based violence, Amanda has held various critical roles, such as shelter advocate, program director, and policy analyst. She has extensive knowledge and expertise in cases involving domestic violence, strangulation, stalking, and human trafficking, and has provided expert testimony in these areas. She also actively participates in state and national task forces, community groups, and committees, contributing her strategic vision and exceptional partnership-building skills. Additionally, she has conducted over 400 workshops, reaching more than 10,000 individuals, demonstrating her passion for spreading awareness and knowledge. Amanda holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology and criminal justice from Sam Houston State University.

Applying "victim intervention marketing" metrics to better understand and intervene in human trafficking situations

Vernon Murray | assistant professor of marketing, Marist College

Vernon studied sociology at Queens College in New York City. He earned an MBA at Michigan State University, and a PhD in Marketing with a minor in applied statistics at the University of Alabama. He taught Consumer Behavior at De Paul University in Chicago and has taught marketing and marketing research at Marist College for the past thirty years. He recently created and taught “Social Marketing for Human Trafficking Intervention” at Marist. Vernon has worked as a coding analyst at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, in Christian Community Development in Jackson, Mississippi, and serves as a pro bono vice president of Fang Protective Services. FPS holds consultative status at the United Nations, and is a member of OSAC, a civilian arm of the U.S. State Department. Vernon began studying human trafficking after participating in UNICEF meetings in New York. His human trafficking research has been published in the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Archives of Criminology (Polish Academy of Sciences) and more. He has presented more than a dozen human trafficking papers at the University of Nebraska, Creighton University, the University of South Florida, the University of Toledo, and at the Society for Marketing Advances. He frequently works with his marketing students on human trafficking presentations held under the CURSCA (student research) program at Marist College. His goal is to help equip the next generation of leaders who will oppose human trafficking.

Human trafficking assessment and intervention at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Danielle Daniels | social worker, VA

Danielle Daniels is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in California with a concentration in mental health and she also has a master’s in public administration with an emphasis in public management. Danielle has over 16 years of professional experience in behavioral health and public administration. For over 5 years, Danielle has worked at Veterans Affairs (VA) as a social worker in various capacities to include: Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program (IPVAP) coordinator, Veterans Integrated Services Networks 22 IPVAP lead coordinator, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer + veteran care coordinator, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. With a strong background in administration and program development, Danielle is most passionate about serving the needs of our veterans, their families and caregivers and VA staff who experience or use intimate partner violence. A proud graduate of the University of Southern California (USC), when Ms. Daniels is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and in the garden.

Human trafficking assessment and intervention at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Katie Papke | lead, Veterans Affairs National Human Trafficking Prevention and Education Committee

Katie Papke is a licensed master social worker, certified advanced alcohol and drug counselor, and a clinically certified human trafficking victims services provider. She is the lead of the Veterans Affairs (VA) National Human Trafficking Prevention and Education Committee. She is from the Homeless program at Battle Creek, Michigan VA Medical Center. She has been the team lead and program coordinator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program since 2009. Prior to that, she worked at the Grand Rapids, Michigan community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) as a substance abuse specialist. Katie started with the VA in 2005 as a social work intern at the West Palm Beach, Florida VA Medical Center.

In addition to the VA, Katie has years of experience in community education and is a social work program adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Katie has her own private practice and has a passion working with individuals who have experienced human trafficking, sexual assault, and trauma.

Human trafficking assessment and intervention at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Amy Ashcraft | licensed certified social worker (LCSW)

Amy Ashcraft is a licensed certified social worker (LCSW) working for the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2012 and in the Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Assistance Program since 2014. She has been a social worker for almost 25 years working in various roles including mental health, hospice/palliative care, oncology, primary care, and contracted work with the Department of Human Services. Mrs. Ashcraft began her VA career at Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System (CAVHS) in 2012 and transitioned to the VA Central Office Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program in 2020 on special assignment. In 2023, she returned to CAVHS where she continues her work with veterans who experience IPV, sexual assault, and human trafficking as well as working to expand the benefits of the Compact Act. She is currently a doctoral candidate attending Walden University pursuing her PhD in social work with a concentration in criminal justice. Her research focus is on the area of human trafficking identification, prevention, and awareness.

Listen to stories about survivors and their loved ones as these presenters share lessons learned along the way and empower victims and concerned community members on what we can all do to combat human trafficking in its various forms.

What is family-controlled human trafficking and organized abuse?

Kait Gannon | founder and CEO of Mezzo Allies, Inc.

Kait Gannon is a survivor of family-controlled sex trafficking, the host of the podcast The Ugly Truth About the Girl Next Door and the founder/CEO for Mezzo Allies, Inc. Kait has lived experience as a survivor. After multiple escape attempts out of her trafficking, Kait took to a podcast to once and for all break the silence and get the help that had been missing for over two decades of her life. She, along with her co-host Laurie, have shed new light on the specific issues surrounding family-controlled human trafficking. What was born out of desperation for help gained traction among the community and other survivors. This sparked the idea for Mezzo Allies, Inc. Mezzo is the Italian word for “the middle,” a word for which Kait and Laurie have referred to as the space between victim and survivor. Kait and Laurie now speak on the tenacity and determination it takes both survivor and their advocates to walk through this messy space to the other side of healing and safety. They talk through the specific characteristics of family-controlled commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and what it takes to get safe from this type of abuse. Kait is a mom of three young kids and a fierce advocate for those who need help.

What is family-controlled human trafficking and organized abuse?

Laurie Krull, LCSW-R | Clinical Director for Mezzo Allies, Inc.

Laurie Krull, LCSW-R, is a clinical social worker, co-host of the podcast The Ugly Truth About the Girl Next Door and Clinical Director for Mezzo Allies, Inc. Laurie has over 30 years of clinical experience specializing in trauma. Laurie met Kait in 2017 which was the start of her journey toward safety, freedom, and healing. Finding existing programs and services to be unhelpful, Kait and Laurie began the podcast to give Kait back her power and voice. Mezzo was born to begin to fill the gaps in the public narrative about family-controlled sex trafficking and to provide support to other survivors and their supporters.

Wake up, homeschooling mamas! Don't think it can't happen to your kids

Faith Berens | educational consultant

A former public and private school teacher turned homeschooling mom of two children with unique learning needs, Faith has a passion for helping students meet their full potential and for encouraging families and students impacted by disabilities. She also applies her advocacy for students with disabilities by serving on the board with SPED Homeschool, in addition to having her own in-home private practice where she serves as an educational consultant, reading interventionist, and homeschool evaluator.

Faith enjoys writing, speaking, and supporting families who have children with learning differences and various exceptionalities, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia. Her areas of expertise include the identification and remediation of reading difficulties and dyslexia. She has completed Level 1 training in NILD educational therapy and is Level 2 certified in Equipping Minds cognitive therapy. She is currently a doctoral student at Regent University, where she is pursuing an Ed.D. in educational leadership.

How being a victim of human trafficking can promote awareness, provide education, outreach, prevention, and support services to the community, victims, and their families

Dr. Vanessa Miller | associate professor of psychology, Athens State University

Dr. Vanessa Miller is an associate professor of psychology at Athens State University. She holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology (specialization in cognitive neuroscience) from the University of California, Riverside, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Chapman University in Orange, California.

Dr. Miller is a trained instructor in The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which facilitates dialogue and education across profound social differences. Inside-Out courses bring traditional college students and incarcerated students together in jails and prisons for semester-long learning. These courses ignite enthusiasm for learning, help students find their voice, and challenge students to consider what good citizenship requires.

How being a victim of human trafficking can promote awareness, provide education, outreach, prevention, and support services to the community, victims, and their families

KeraGrace Watts | graduate student of clinical mental health counseling, Troy University

KeraGrace Watts is a part-time advocate for human trafficking victims/survivors. Ms. Watts received her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Athens State University in Athens, Alabama. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. As a survivor of human trafficking, Ms. Watts’ experiences provide her with a unique understanding of what an individual goes through in each season of their journey toward restoration and growth.

She has presented on various topics regarding the field of human trafficking, including the correlation between drugs and human trafficking, the vulnerabilities targeted by traffickers, and the typologies of traffickers. While understanding the basics of human trafficking is vital in prevention, educating individuals on the unspoken details of these encounters will promote awareness in the community, as well as a deeper grasp on what goes on behind closed doors.

The untold stories of West African sex trafficking victims in Europe

Ochuko Joy Agbeyegbe | international human rights attorney and anti-trafficking advocate

Ochuko Joy Agbeyegbe has dedicated most of her career to the rescue of countless sex and labor trafficking victims in Europe, Africa, and Middle Eastern countries. She is the founder of End Trafficking International, a nonprofit that works to rescue and assist victims around the world.

Ochuko Joy has masterminded several rescue missions as well as used her experience as a lawyer to ensure the arrest of human traffickers. She has gathered evidence for human trafficking trials and lived in a home where victims were harbored, putting her life on the line, just to obtain evidence against traffickers. Ochuko Joy has been invited as a speaker to several international conferences, including International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference and Women In Media Newark Film Festival.