A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, COURTNEY ALBERT
It is hard to believe that we are already almost halfway through June. As I look back over the work GWTF has done so far in 2026, I am filled with pride and excitement. GWTF has focused our efforts on key aspects of our mission: direct service for survivors and partnership with providers that facilitate and expand our coalition of survivor-centered programming and care. To share a few examples, GWTF has helped seven survivors so far this year through our Rapid Response Support System, and GWTF partnered with St. Michael’s College to create a class on Human Trafficking.
INITIATIVES
St. Michael’s College Human Trafficking Course, Colchester, Vermont
Spring Semester Edith had the pleasure of co-teaching a class at St. Michel’s College with Omara Rivera- Vázquez, Ph.D. This innovative undergraduate course- Human Trafficking: Awareness to Action– integrated community-engaged learning and technology to deepen students’ understanding and inspire meaningful action. The course immersed students in survivor-informed perspectives, local case contexts, and real-world advocacy work. Simultaneously, students developed digital literacy and modern advocacy skills, podcasts, and social media campaigns designed to raise awareness among peers and the broader community. Edith and Omara invited Courtney, as a guest lecturer, to share her clinical knowledge and expertise with the class on the totality of the victim experience, trauma, coercive control, and the importance of being survivor-centered.
GWTF and St Michael’s College were accepted to present a session we call “From Awareness to Action: Transformative, Community-Engaged, and Technology-Enhanced Pedagogy for Human Trafficking Education in Criminology” at the International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in September to share how we developed the curriculum; preliminary analysis results will also be discussed as they relate to growth in student awareness, interdisciplinary competence, and civic responsibility. The presentation will highlight replicable strategies for educators, insights from community partnerships, and examples of student-led digital advocacy. We will delve into how this model offers a transformative approach to trafficking education, one that moves students beyond passive learning and equips them with the tools to become informed, ethical, and engaged change agents.
We will also be teaching the St. Michael’s course again in Spring 2027!
RAPID RESPONSE SUPPORT SYSTEM (RRSS)
Our RRSS continues to play a vital and valuable role for the State of Vermont’s Human Trafficking response. So far in 2026, we have been privileged to assist seven survivors, two on a longer-term scale, and all of which have co-occurring victimizations of sex, labor, and forced criminality. Our RRSS continues to receive financial support from the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services. Despite federal administration changes that have reduced some support for survivors, we have maintained our program’s survivor-centered core mission thanks to streamlined, logistically sound operations.
We also continue to work in tandem with our Vermont Human Trafficking Case Manager Coordinator and the Vermont Network programs, especially HOPEWorks in Burlington. When we receive a case, we immediately engage with them to customize wraparound services, housing, and transportation support, with the goal of creating both short- and long-term plans.
Partnership with Freedom Insight
Give Way to Freedom prioritizes our shared vision with Freedom Insight. We are continuing our work and focus on airports and other transportation modalities. Our consulting and trainings focus on helping staff learn practical and clear strategies, definitive protocols, and appropriate non-sensationalized messaging and signage. We are currently engaging in think-tank style meetings to determine our future initiatives.
Rotary International and Rotary Club of Essex, Vermont
Rotary provides GWTF with a venue to address ways to decrease core vulnerabilities to trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Rotary dedicates a portion of its time and resources to increasing food security and supporting youth leadership. This focus included assisting a graduate student, Grace Gray, to obtain a Rotary International scholarship to study healthy and equitable food systems in Italy. She is returning to Vermont for her career and will definitely be making a global and local impact in this field.
Access to healthcare can also decrease vulnerabilities. Edith & Essex Rotary, along with several other local Rotary Clubs, was awarded a Rotary District & International grant for the Dattilio Medical Mission. This endeavor is set to deliver a shipping container holding $500,000 U.S. dollars of critical equipment, items such as respiratory care systems, tracheostomy tubes, oxygen masks, surgical supplies, surgical instruments, orthopedic items, I.V. supplies, gauze, bandages, ICU beds, crutches, wheelchairs, and diagnostic tools to Stip, Macedonia, where the Vermont National Guard has a longstanding sister community relationship.
Thank you for staying current on our anti-trafficking work and for your support of Give Way to Freedom! Please consider a donation – click here.
If you suspect human trafficking, think you are in a human trafficking situation, or want to know more about community and survivor resources in your area, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text BEFREE anytime, day or night.