Dear WestCoast Community,

On April 17, we hosted a symposium to surface some of the key dilemmas we face in adequately serving exploited youth, We Can Do Better: Improving our response to child sex trafficking in Alameda County. The panel and subsequent discussion is meant to guide our collective efforts towards improving the system for youth. To learn more about the symposium, please read this article in the Chronicle of Social Change.

You can take action right now to improve services for sexually exploited youth. Click here to learn more about current legislative proposals, and how to support them.

We extend our thanks to the sponsors who supported the symposium, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, Zellerbach Family Foundation, andGirls Rights Project. We are also grateful to our panelists, who represent a range of organizations and systems that work with trafficked youth:

• Justice Bobbe Bridge, ret., CEO, Center for Children & Youth Justice, Seattle, WA
• Honorable Rhonda Burgess, Presiding Judge, Alameda County Juvenile Courts
• Leslie Heimov, Executive Director, Children’s Law Center, Los Angeles
• Michelle Love, Director, Alameda County Social Services, Division of Children and Family Services
• Jennifer Madden, Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County
• Aisha Mays, MD, Family Physician, Native American Health Center, School Based Health Centers
• Pat Mims, Sexually Exploited Minors Program Coordinator, Bay Area Women Against Rape
• Adela Rodarte, Transition Age Youth Services Coordinator, WestCoast Children’s Clinic
• Withelma “T” Ortiz-Walker Pettigrew, Survivor Leader and Advocate

Please let us know if you have questions regarding the symposium or legislative proposals. We will also have a video of the event available soon.

Thank you,
Stacey Katz