Thank you for making the 2021 Hope Rising a huge success!
July 28, 2021
Thank you for joining us for our 2021 Hope Rising event
Your donation is bringing audacious hope to our community.
Donors from all around joined in and helped us reach our goal of $100,000 which unlocked our matching gift to double your giving for a grand total of $244,000! Your generosity keeps our vital programs running to make a world without human trafficking a possibility!
YOU helped make the following urgent priorities possible:
Support four students studying under the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship during the 2021 academic year
Full launch of the Flourish Academy with continuous cohorts in 2021
Equip 1,000 students with anti-trafficking awareness curriculum through the kNOw MORE! program
Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis is a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab. She is a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women and past psychology representative to the United Nations. Dr. Thema was honored by the California Psychological Association as scholar of the year and honored by the Institute of Violence Abuse, and Trauma for her commitment to mentorship in the area of trauma psychology. She hosts the Homecoming Podcast, a mental health podcast on YouTube and iTunes, and has been a media expert on CNN, NPR, and OWN TV, among other networks.
Music by Sky Green
We would like to give a special thanks to Sky Green and the Point Loma Nazarene University Chapel band for providing music for the event. Enjoy more music from Sky Green here.
2021 Hope Rising Awards
The Hope Rising Awards were created to honor community leaders from government, education, community activism, faith-based organizations, and service agencies who exemplify the collaboration and courage it takes to end human trafficking in our region.
Keelin Washington is currently completing her Social Work and Psychology dual-degree program. She is currently working at Point Loma Nazarene University as a Program Facilitator on multiple anti-human trafficking programs. Including support groups and the kNOw More program an awareness curriculum for middle and high school-aged youth. She has taught at schools all over San Diego County, talked with thousands of students, and partners with other lived experience experts to continue the work. Keelin is the Survivor Leader and Mental Health Coach at Generate Hope a safe house that provides healing and a real way out. She has spoken at conferences, The Washington Times podcast, and media interviews. Keelin has created training videos and developed a curriculum for organizations working with survivors. As a lived experience expert God has given her a plan and a purpose, and she has dedicated her life to bringing awareness and recovery to the community and survivors she serves.
Amy Sharpe is the Chair of the Health Subcommittee on the San Diego Human Trafficking & CSEC Advisory Council. She is also a Paralibrarian at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego. She received the 2016 the MLGSCA Outstanding Health Sciences Library Paraprofessional of the Year Award. She has received a Center of Recognized Excellence (C.O.R.E.) and a Pillar Award from Sharp healthcare for her work addressing human trafficking.
Amy started gathering clinicians to discuss human trafficking in March of 2018. In September 2018, this group became the Health Subcommittee to the San Diego Region Human Trafficking & CSEC Advisory Council. She is the Chair of this multidisciplinary subcommittee supporting clinicians and healthcare systems in addressing human trafficking. She plans monthly Health Subcommittee meetings featuring best practices, resources, and vulnerable populations. She created a welcome packet with best practices for healthcare systems to establish protocols and education addressing human trafficking. This welcome packet is among the resources hosted by HEAL Trafficking, making it available to all health care systems.
She advocates for legislation to support victims/patients, and clinicians addressing the challenges of human trafficking. She completed the Human Trafficking Education and Training Academy hosted by the experts at HEAL Trafficking and networks with her cohort and other experts to teach and support best practices. She is using her knowledge to teach in the community equipping current and future clinicians with best practices to support patients who have been trafficked. She has moderated expert panels on human trafficking at the 7th Annual SART Summit for the California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center and the HT-RADAR 2020 Human Trafficking Research Conference. She co-presented "Myths, Realities, and the Clinical Scope of Influence: Addressing Human Trafficking in a Clinical Setting" with the Director of Forensic Health Services for San Diego County at the 2020 International Association of Forensic Nurses Conference.
She is a foster youth mentor to twin boys who have adopted her as their aunt. She is the Foster Youth Mentor Program volunteer of the year for 2021.
Fanny Yu has been a prosecutor for 19 years and is currently the Human Trafficking & Internet Crimes Against Children team leader in the Juvenile Division of the District Attorney's Office. After graduating from law school and passing the CA bar, Fanny moved in November 2001 to start her career at the San Diego City Attorney's Office, Criminal Division. She joined the San Diego County DA's Office in Jan. 2004 where she has handled murder, child molest, rape, SVP commitments, possession and distribution of child porn, and human trafficking cases. For the last 8 years Fanny has supervised juvenile justice cases involving child pornography, human trafficking, and pimping offenses. Fanny was instrumental in developing Juvenile R.I.S.E. collaborative court and serve as the dedicated DDA. Fanny is an expert on child commercial sexual exploitation and teaches at the local, state, and national level. She is a member of the San Diego County Regional Human Trafficking and CSEC Advisory Council, San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, San Diego Police Foundation's SafetyNet Advisory Council, and Co-Chair of Child Welfare Services CSEC Steering Committee. She is also a Member-At-Large for San Diego County Bar Association's Juvenile Law Section and the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. From 2015 to 2020 she also served as San Diego Chapter President of the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association.
K Thomas has been working with victim/survivors of sexual and relationship violence since 2010. During this time, they have worked in many capacities including case management, staffing crisis and emergency response hotlines, victim advocacy, and psychotherapy services. Providing services to individuals of varied identities, they have worked with victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, stalking, and human trafficking. With a background in training and research, K has facilitated trainings on human trafficking, LGBTQ service provision, vicarious trauma, neurobiology, culturally responsive services, domestic violence, and trauma-informed care. K is also currently an adjunct faculty member of Bastyr University in the Counseling Psychology and Naturopathic Medicine programs.
As Clinical Training Manager for North County Lifeline's Project LIFE, K has provided trauma-reprocessing, victim advocacy, emergency response, and psychotherapy to survivors of trafficking. K provides training and development to staff, collaborative partners, community members, and service providers on human trafficking identification and services, trauma-informed care, cultural responsiveness, and best practice. K is also a co-founder and co-chair of the California Human Trafficking Advocates Network for Collaboration and Empowerment (CHANCE). When they aren't advocating for social justice, K can be found cuddling with their dog, working on house plants, or playing video games with their partner!
Matt, class of '92, has served as the National Director for Habitat for Humanity in Uganda and with World Vision in their US office. He has also served as a Pastor at NorthWood Church in Texas, and later at Bayside Church in Northern California.
He now serves as the Director of Relational Advancement for AIM (Agape International Missions). A Christ-centered ministry focused on fighting sex trafficking in Cambodia, Belize and the US. He oversees a distributed global team that works with individuals, families, churches and companies to advance AIM's mission. He and his wife, Shela, married 25 years, have two children Karene, a recent student at Point Loma, and Samuel. Matt loves surfing in the summer and snowboarding in the winter.
Thank you to our sponsors and auction donors for making this event possible
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"...do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God."
Micah 6:8
At the CJR we leverage research, advocacy, and innovation, dedicated to justice and reconciliation, to transform our community through social change. Learn more.
