The Freedom Drivers Project (FDP) is a first-of-its-kind, mobile exhibit serving as a remarkable tool to educate members of the trucking industry, law enforcement and general public about domestic sex trafficking and how the trucking industry is combating it. From the compelling exterior imagery on this 48-foot trailer to the interior’s video monitors and actual trafficking artifacts from women and children who had been enslaved by traffickers, this trailer serves as a powerful education tool for many. It also celebrates the real Truckers Against Trafficking who are working to drive change in this area, and connects deeply with visitors, both intellectually and emotionally, to drive greater awareness about the problems and the simple action steps anyone can take to help. Click here to learn more.
The Shipping Partners Program seeks to engage major purchasers of shipping to encourage their carriers to implement TAT materials as a regular part of training and orientation. Building on the corporate social responsibility movement, and leveraging purchasing power, TAT is utilizing pre-existing relationships between shippers and their carriers to train even more drivers. Click here to learn more.
Coalition Builds bring law enforcement agencies at all levels of government together with the general managers of truck stops, representatives of trucking companies and state trucking associations to provide extensive training resulting in a significant increase in anti-trafficking activity in a local area. Click here to learn more.
The Industry Training Program is TAT’s core program that drives the biggest impact by training hundreds of thousands of industry members about the realities of domestic sex trafficking and how the trucking industry can combat it. By speaking all over the country, utilizing a robust social media program, and via our industry-specific materials, TAT partners with trucking schools, the carriers themselves, the truck stop industry, as well as manufacturers and state and national trucking associations in order to spread the word. TAT training has resulted in a significant increase of reports of possible trafficking to the national hotline from truck drivers, which has resulted in victim recoveries and the arrest of criminals. Click here to learn more.
Our State-Based Initiatives build on the groundbreaking work done by the Iowa Motor Vehicle Enforcement agency with TAT materials, by activating the appropriate government agencies in outreach work to the trucking industry. The Iowa MVE Model organizes the state patrol and other law enforcement entities to utilize entry points into the trucking industry to spread the TAT anti-trafficking message. Key components of the SBI include: training state patrol and other law enforcement agencies on the crime of human trafficking; using weigh stations, rest stops, cdl issue/renewal, safety compliance meetings, and ports of entry to spread the anti-trafficking message; mandating TAT training at CDL entry-level; expanding the NHTRC and TAT’s law enforcement network; and assisting in investigations. Click here to learn more.
The TAT Dealership Partner program (TDP) program provides a specific pathway for manufacturers from all corners of the industry to not only support TAT financially, but raise awareness about the realities of domestic sex trafficking and the effective and innovative work of TAT by becoming a distribution point for our materials. Click here to learn more.
Busing on the Lookout (BOTL) equips members of the busing industry (both commercial and school) to recognize and report potential human trafficking situations. Traffickers often utilize buses to transport their victims; they recruit potential victims out of bus terminals and bus stops; and at times school is one of the last places children, who are being trafficked, are seen before disappearing entirely. If every bus driver and bus station employee could be trained to identify the signs of human trafficking and how to report it effectively, TAT believes more victims will receive assistance and more traffickers will be arrested. Click here to learn more.
To ensure that law enforcement and trucking are aligned in the fight against human trafficking, TAT provides in-depth training to law enforcement. This training, co-taught by a TAT field trainer/survivor leader, enables both trucking and law enforcement to hear the same messaging and see each other as a reliable resource in the disruption of trafficking rings, the recognition of victims and the arrest of perpetrators. In addition, it places a special emphasis on equipping officers to take a victim-centered approach in dealing with this crime. Click here to learn more.
Truckers Against Trafficking is committed to utilizing industry overlaps to ensure that every truck driver in America is TAT trained. The energy industry intersects with trucking through midstream transportation, heavy machinery all the way down to fuel logistics. Once we began exploring these overlaps, we found that an industry-specific approach could benefit the energy industry as well. With that in mind, we have connected our different program options with energy companies. Check out the action steps your company can take to combat human trafficking.
In an effort to scale sustainably, TAT is seeking to replicate its model across borders, modes and industries. TAT’s model is highly replicable, due to the way it creates pathways, which expands its reach, and secondly, the way it turns people who are ordinarily bystanders into a trained and vigilant army that recognizes what they are seeing and know how to take action against a crime. This removes the traffickers’ best defense – ignorance or apathy on the part of people who might see it happening. By using TAT’s model, every person, working within his/her sphere of influence, can play a critical role in fighting this crime by effecting social change – whether in seeing or reporting the crime, introducing the concept and training to others, being the catalyst for changing company policy or becoming a “TAT champion” and working to raise either personal, corporate or industry involvement to the next level. This, in turn, often elevates TAT’s standing both within and outside of the industry, allowing rapid expansion of the model into other industries. Click here to learn more.
If you are 70 1/2 or older, you can make a Tax-Smart Gift to Support Truckers Against Trafficking with a “rollover” gift from your IRA directly to TAT.
YOUR BENEFITS
Support TAT’s Critical Mission
Satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). If you have not already satisfied your RMD, you can satisfy all or part of that requirement and make a gift to TAT at the same time.
Save on taxes. The funds you donate are not recognized as income for federal income tax purposes. You can enjoy tax benefits and still support TAT even if you do not itemize your deductions.
HOW TO MAKE AN IRA ROLLOVER GIFT TO TAT
Contact your IRA custodian to obtain the appropriate form to make an IRA charitable rollover. The form may refer to the rollover by its technical name, “qualified charitable distribution,” or QCD. On the form, specify the amount to be transferred to TAT, identify TAT by its full legal name, and include TAT’s tax ID no. 45-2696572.
The IRA plan custodian should make the check payable to TAT and mail it to:
Truckers Against Trafficking
Attn: Kendis Paris
PO Box 816
Englewood, CO 80151
Please instruct the IRA plan custodian to reference your name and address on the check; otherwise, it may be difficult to identify that you are the donor when the check arrives.
Questions: Please contact Kendis Paris at kparis@truckersagainsttrafficking.org
A member of the Truckers Against Trafficking team would love to speak with you about this option. Please send an email to kparis@truckersagainsttrafficking.org to get the conversation started.