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America’s children are being targeted by traffickers, and two organizations are launching an unprecedented campaign to help stop it before it starts.
Selah Freedom, one of the nation’s leading anti-sex-trafficking organizations, and L.Y.N. Funding Dreams (“L.Y.N.”), today announced Right Here, a 90-day national campaign built on an groundbreaking, fundraising model: every $2 donation helps fund Selah Freedom’s dream of stopping child trafficking before it ever happens — and makes the donor eligible to apply for one of five personal Dream Grants of up to $250,000 to fund a dream of their own.
The giant they’re facing is real. Commercial sexual exploitation generates an estimated $173 billion a year worldwide [attribution: International Labour Organization], and its youngest targets are children — not in a faraway country, but in American communities, most often exploited by someone they already know. The vast majority of victims are never found: fewer than half of one percent of trafficking victims worldwide are ever identified or formally rescued, and among survivors who do escape, fewer than one percent ever see their trafficker convicted [attribution: Atlantic Council; UNODC]. Many of the survivors Selah Freedom serves report being first exploited between ages 12 and 14, often after years of grooming.
Selah Freedom has spent 15 years proving the giant can be fought. Since 2011, the organization has served more than 7,500 survivors and trained more than 100 organizations across 35 states and five countries. At the heart of its mission is a simple but urgent goal: get there first. Since 2021, Selah Freedom’s Team has provided training to more than 95,000 youth and adults to recognize and stop exploitation before it starts, with 94% of trained children able to identify body-safety rules, 92% able to name three trusted adults, and 91% able to tell the difference between a secret and a surprise — the knowledge that can make a child harder to reach by a predator.
"We will go to the ends of the earth to bring a survivor home. But our greatest dream is a generation of children who never need rescuing at all. Every $2 in this campaign helps us get to a child before a trafficker does, and I can't think of a more powerful thing an ordinary person can do with two dollars."
Here is how we can get there first. For 90 days, every American can step forward:
- Give $2 or more at www.lynfundingdreams.org/selah. Every donation builds toward a $1 million goal funding Selah Freedom’s prevention, outreach, and survivor-restoration work.
- Every donor becomes eligible to apply for one of five L.Y.N. Dream Grants ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 — personal grants awarded to fund donors’ own dreams. Dream Grants are merit- and need-based, selected through committee review — not a drawing, raffle, or sweepstakes.
- When the $1 million goal is reached, Dream Grant applications close. Donations to Selah Freedom’s mission continue to be accepted beyond the goal.
L.Y.N. — whose founding conviction is that generosity shouldn’t be a one-way street — operates what the organizations describe as a first-of-its-kind model in the United States: a giving platform that gathers donations for world-changing causes and issues life-changing personal grants back to the donor community.
"Selah Freedom has a dream — to make child trafficking something we prevent instead of something we grieve. But they're not the only ones with a dream. That's exactly why L.Y.N. exists: when everyday people fund world-changing causes, we believe their own dreams deserve funding too. Generosity was never meant to be a one-way street."
To join the fight, or learn more, visit www.lynfundingdreams.org/selah. Members of the media may request interviews with Selah Freedom leadership and survivor-leaders, b-roll, and campaign assets using the contact below.
If you or someone you know needs help, call Selah Freedom’s helpline: 1-888-8-FREE-ME.
About Selah Freedom Bringing light into the darkness of sex trafficking. Founded in 2011, Selah Freedom exists to end sex trafficking and bring freedom to the exploited through four core programs: Prevention, Awareness, Outreach, and Residential, alongside national Consulting that equips other organizations to do the same. Selah Freedom has served more than 7,500 survivors, trained over 100 organizations in 35 states and five countries, and holds a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and Candid’s Platinum Seal of Transparency. Learn more at selahfreedom.com.
About The L.Y.N. Project Fund world-changing causes, receive life-changing grants. L.Y.N. is a public charity built on a simple conviction: the people who fund the missions that change the world have dreams of their own worth funding. Through its giving platform, L.Y.N. gathers donations for vetted causes and awards merit- and need-based personal Dream Grants to its donor community. Learn more at LYNfundingdreams.org/selah.