Bravestone Project from the beginning
Bravestone Project was founded by 5 individual women who have had experiences with individuals who have been trafficked and/or have experienced sexual traumas in one form or another. We are passionate for the need to change things in our community to better help victims and survivors.
Our priority is to help survivors of human trafficking and sexual traumas find hope, healing, and restoration of their mind, body, and spirit. From day one we wanted to help find a safe space and provide opportunities for survivors to regain their independence and freedoms.
We recognized right away that we needed to focus our sights on a few things: Safe Housing, Education, Care Advisory, Peer Lead group.
EDUCATION-Educating the public and breaking the myths that human trafficking doesn’t exist on the Western Slope of Colorado. Educating organizations that want to be informed and want to help the best ways to help survivors. If you would like to know more about our trainings visit our programs page.
CARE ADVISORY - Being a trauma informed, victim centered organization, it was fairly easy for us to see that survivors need more than just a case manager they need what we call care advisory. This offers opportunity to choose what is the best for the survivor in the moment. Survivors come to us with various forms of crisis moments. Since we want the survivor to realize that they can now choose, we will sit down with them and find out from the survivor what we can do to help them in that moment. We do not close a case unless it is absolutely known the survivor no longer is in need of our help. For more on our Care Advisory go to our programs page.
BRIO’s Place - Our peer program led by survivors of sexual traumas for survivors of sexual traumas and/or human trafficking. We value the need for those who have experienced a sexual trauma to gain an understanding that they are not alone, there are people who have been there and they can help provide comfort and assistance working through the effects from the traumas that are either freshly there, ones that have been there a long time, or new ones that just come up with out knowing exactly why they came up. We offer opportunities to be among others who have experienced similar traumas without judgement or blame. For more on Brio’s Place visit our Programs Page.
Bravestone Project’s priority is specializing in the aftercare for individuals who have suffered sexual traumas and/or human trafficking. Survivors of human trafficking and/or sexual traumas may find difficulty in making decisions for everyday life. They may have addictions they need help working through before they can move forward with anything else. They may have injuries that need attending to. They will need help with their mental and physical health. There are many more needs that survivors may need as they navigate as a survivor.
In 2020 we looked at our data from our and what was available to us. It lacked in a lot of things. Now in 2024 we are working to make those changes. Our job is to not only be the voice for those who can not be the voice right now, but we are breaking the myths of human trafficking in our area, educating many professionals and others on what human trafficking looks like, what to do when you come across a victim, and how we can work together to help survivors go beyond surviving and THRIVE.
The data we collected in 2020 it showed that there were thousands of survivors of human trafficking being discovered with less than 500 beds for safety. So in May of 2020 we held our first fundraiser. It was at that fundraiser we realized the need for educating the public first, working in collaboration with other organizations from around the state and beyond we educated several individuals and organizations.
The data for human trafficking is very hard to get. The more education that is being put out there the more people are becoming aware of the problems and the magnitude of the situation. Below you will see a chart of what we know without any numbers listed. These are charts with sex assaults and possible human trafficking situations that are not being called human trafficking.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations recognize and define two primary forms of human trafficking:
Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age. (22 U.S.C 7012(11)(A)).
Forced labor is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. (22 U.S.C 7102(11)(B)).
Additional legal definitions are contained in 18 U.S.C. Chapter 77 (Criminal Definitions) and 19 U.S.C 1307 (includes definition of “Forced Labor” for the purposes of implementing the federal prohibition on importation of goods produced with forced labor.)
According to Colorado House Bill 17-1017 passed in 2017 - Revised 18-3-504
18-3-504 - Human Trafficking for sexual servitude - human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude (2) (a) (I) A person who knowingly sells, recruits, harbors, transports, transfers, isolates, entices, provides, receives, obtains by any means, maintains, or makes available a minor for the purpose of commercial sexual activity commits human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude.
(II) A person who knowingly advertises, offers to sell, or sells travel services that facilitate an activity prohibited pursuant to subsection (2)(a)(I) of this section commits Human Trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude.
According to the Colorado Human Trafficking Council for forms of human trafficking it is important to understand that both Federal and Colorado law breaks human trafficking conduct into two broad categories of labor trafficking, or involuntary/labor servitude, and sex trafficking, or sexual servitude. It is important to note that sex trafficking and labor trafficking are not mutually exclusive categories. Sex trafficking victims are exploited for their labor and labor trafficking victims can experience sexual assault as a part of their victimization.
Labor Trafficking refers to the exploitation of an individual to perform labor services through the use of force, fraud or coercion.
Sex Trafficking involves the exploitation of an individual to engage in commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion. It is important to note that according to the federal and state law, any person under the age of 18 years of age induced into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking and it is not required to prove force, fraud, or coercion.
For more information on human trafficking and the laws or even what it looks like you can go to the following sights: www.dhs.gov/bluecampaign , thisishumantrafficking.com, The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, National Human Trafficking Hotline, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, cdpsdocs.state.co.us.
