Dear Friends of the Creativity Shell,

We need your help to #Disrupt the Supply Chain in order to protect our children from being lured into the dark world of sex trafficking.

The Creativity Shell is a nonprofit organization on a mission to use creative trades to educate and inspire the next generation of makers. Our organization teaches sewing/ textile arts, cooking, architecture and other creative classes to students in public libraries, schools and shelters that rescue children from homelessness and human trafficking. Our classes are designed to educate and inspire children by teaching them essential life and practical skills.

During the last 5 years, we have gained first-hand experience working directly with children who have been rescued from sex trafficking.  As horrible as it is to know this dark world exists right in front of our faces, it is not as bad as when we identified a disturbing trend in the world of sex trafficking called luring AND that luring is completely legal.

What is Luring? (Please join us on Thursday, September 24, 2020 @ 6PM (Central Time) to find our more about Luring.)
Luring is an organized crime where human traffickers hire the services of multiple entities of people to entice vulnerable children to run away from homes and right into the world of human/sex trafficking.

Why is it a Crime?
Kidnapping a child is illegal. When a child runs away however, it is not illegal and very often law enforcement is limited on their resources to help. Human Traffickers are using this loophole to entice or lure children away from their homes under the guise of them being classified as a runaway even when/if they are being held against their will at that time.

Who is involved?
Human/sex traffickers sell boys and girls to people willing to pay for their services. To obtain targets, human traffickers find Target Finders and Target Groomers in multiple locations. Target Finders often hire Target Groomers to build closer relationships with Targets.

Target Groomers are often the same age, might attend the same schools or are in similar social settings are their Targets.  Target Groomers usually have plenty of Targets they are working “on” and many Targets see them as boyfriends/girlfriends, friends or peers.

Where does Luring occur?
Social Media
Luring often begins with the “friending” of the Target on social media by Target Groomers.  They often give plenty of praise, adoration and gratitude to the Target in hopes of gaining their relationship and trust.

Schools  
Target Groomers can often pose as friends or peers in schools.  They are paid by Target Finders (who are paid by Human Traffickers) to find vulnerable Targets and groom them accordingly.

How can we prevent children from being Lured?
We need to educate and empower our children so they can identify the people who are trying to groom them.  By closing this loophole, we can disrupt the supply chain and stop our children from being lured away by sex traffickers.

What do we need to do?
Aside from a child being lured away from home and classified as a runaway, another legal loophole in luring for example is age.  Target Groomers are often the same age as the Targets, and it is not illegal to be in a relationship with someone who is your age.  This protects Target Groomers because even though they are being paid to entice the Target into a relationship with them, it is not classified as statutory rape.

There are many other legal entanglements that make luring difficult to classify as a crime even though it is a very well-organized criminal activity. In an ideal situation, we would need to build a coalition of politicians, lawyers, parents and other interested groups to band together to close the legal loopholes and make Luring a Crime. But in reality, it is difficult to arrest a target groomer for example when the only thing they have legally done was befriend someone.

What are we going to do?
#Disrupt the Supply Chain 

We need your help to join our campaign and #Disrupt the Supply Chain.

What can you do?

1. Get Educated!
2. Join a team
3. Disrupt the Supply Chain

Traffickers target children who are vulnerable. Help us find and help vulnerable children to not become vulnerable!

Sponsor a School:
When you sponsor a school, you can choose the school you will like to sponsor, or we can choose a school for you.  Please note, many schools in low income neighborhoods are at high risk for luring/sex trafficking because traffickers look for children who are most vulnerable.

Sponsorship of a School Includes:

• Posters for the schools to post throughout the school and in classrooms.
• Child friendly/educational handouts for children to take home.
• Education/Classes for teachers and staff that raise awareness about luring.
• Support for parents/guardians at the school to form an anti-luring team.

Going Forward/Long Term Goals:

• Reduce the number of children getting Lured into sex trafficking,
• Make the word Lured a part of the lexicon. Children can be kidnapped; they can run away and they can be lured away.
• Have an Anti Lured team in ALL Middle & High Schools in and around the Houston area.
• Create a partnership with law enforcement to recognize children who were Lured Away as being in danger

Meetings:
Thursday, September 25, 2020 at 6PM Central 7PM Eastern: What is Luring?
Second Meeting: October 8, 2020: Psychological Debt
Third Meeting: October 22, 2020: Psychological Profiling: What type of children do human traffickers lure?

Please Donate/Support this Program!