A Face to Reframe Closes: Not the Usual Nonprofit Story
A Face to Reframe
Press Release
November 28, 2018
A Face to Reframe Closes: Not the Usual Nonprofit Story
On December, 31, 2018, A Face to Reframe will officially dissolve, but not for the reasons that most nonprofits close their doors. We have accomplished the goals toward which we’ve been working these many years and it is with great excitement that we feel we have worked ourselves out of being needed in our community.
A Face to Reframe was founded in 2010 and received 501(c)3 status in 2011. Our original mission was to reframe with dignity those who had been marginalized through participatory photography projects. As we focused more on preventing human trafficking, we broadened our mission to include more art, trainings, and community building.
In 2013, Fort Collins Police Department and Larimer County Sherriff’s Office both conducted human trafficking operations with the volunteer participation of the U COUNT Campaign, a local anti-trafficking organization partnered with A Face to Reframe. As a result, the Larimer Anti-Trafficking Community Response Team was birthed with two goals: galvanize a unified community response to human trafficking and get the right people and agencies trained. We started meeting quarterly and by 2015, A Face to Reframe had absorbed the leadership and presented the bulk of community based trainings.
In 2015, we began to focus on educating those most vulnerable to being trafficked in our community: our youth. After trial and error, we developed a 50-minute training, “Changing the Lens,” on the reality of local trafficking and presented to thousands of students in Thompson and Poudre high schools and CSU’s Campus Connections. We slowly concluded that the most effective and sustainable approach for kids is to have a familiar face they can access again in the building. In Thompson, we trained the School Resource Officers in “Changing the Lens” and in Poudre, we trained staff and pushed for each building to develop a pathway of sustainable delivery of the curriculum.
By 2017, Colorado Human Trafficking Council had developed a core 101 curriculum and A Face to Reframe had 7 professionals trained in our county to facilitate this. In 2018, we led the steering committee for the inaugural Northern Colorado Human Trafficking Symposium, bringing a dual-track training to interested citizens and professionals alike. Meanwhile, government systems “caught up” and now have internal processes, mandated training, and response protocols unique to their services. Various working groups and teams formed to address high risk youth, trafficked youth, adult victims, and prosecution.
We have stood in the gap while systems best equipped to address human trafficking caught up, legislation passed, and the community became more and more aware. It is time to step out of the middle of it all and allow the various teams, schools, and agencies to do what they do best.
Highlights for A Face to Reframe:
2013 Partnered to launch Larimer Anti-Trafficking Community Response Team
2015 Power ART Curriculum piloted
2015 Partnered to launch Concerned Citizens Against Human Trafficking
2015 Partnered to form First Offender Restoration Initiative (sex buyer’s diversion school)
2015 “Faces Fighting Human Trafficking” youth photography project debuts at CSU Human Rights Film Festival
2016 First “Changing the Lens” Train the Trainer
2017 Loveland and Fort Collins Mayors proclaim January Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
2017 Thompson Valley High School becomes first school to educate entire student body in one semester on “Changing the Lens” human trafficking prevention training
2018 Inaugural Northern Colorado Human Trafficking Symposium sells out at 650 attendees
Ways to Get Involved Locally:
- Larimer Anti-Trafficking Community Response Team (now open to the public) absorbs Concerned Citizens Against Human Trafficking: Find out more at www.larimerantitrafficking.com or on Facebook @larimerantitrafficking
- 2nd Annual Northern Colorado Human Trafficking Symposium at CSU: April 29, 2019
- Request a Human Trafficking 101 training at larimerco_facilitators@state.co.us
- Through 2019, the A Face to Reframe website will remain live and “Changing the Lens” and “Power ART” curriculum available for free: www.afacetoreframe.org/youth-training
Locally Based Organizations:
- Free Our Girls: www.freeourgirls.org
- UCOUNT Campaign: www.ucountcampaign.org
- Life for the Innocent: www.lifefortheinnocent.org
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