Press & News

The work being done at the 3Strands Global Empowerment Center on H Street seems never-ending.

The center provides relief for sex trafficking victims. It also provides hope.

"First, we meet their basic needs such as housing, food and if they need a shower," said 3Strands CEO Ashley Bryant. “One of the things that we did when we built this place is how can it feel safe as well as like home."

The Table opened at the end of January. The number of victims staff has seen has been overwhelming.

"We have had as many as 17 a day and, on average, seven to 10 a day that are dropping in," Bryant said.

Most are still in their teens.

Naresh Kumar, CEO of FreedomSeat, while being cheered on by some local residents and members of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, set off Sunday morning on a 3,500-plus solo ride to Washington, D.C., on his tandem bike, named Kindness.

A cyclist making his way across the U.S. made a pit stop in Portland Sunday as he rides to help end human trafficking, and as he pedals, he invites others along. “I think freedom is the highest form of living and it’s a shame knowing that in this day and age, there’s about 50 million people who are enslaved in one form or another of sex trafficking, the majority of them being women and children,” said Naresh Kumar, founder of Pedaling 4 Freedom.

The center provides basic needs, like a food pantry, kitchen, clothing and hygiene products. But it also provides much more.

The 12,000-square-foot space at 1211 H St. provides basic needs, including a food pantry and hygiene products, laundry, shower facilities and a kitchen.

January is human trafficking awareness month, and there's a new place in Sacramento where survivors can get help.

It's called The Table and it officially opened its doors in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday, offering a seat to any human trafficking victim looking for a way out.

A resource and empowerment center for victims of human trafficking will open in Sacramento on Wednesday. “The Table” will serve as a safe place, staff said, for people who have endured forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.

Ashlie Bryant is the President & CEO 3Strands Global Foundation. Kaitlyn DiCicco is Vice President Survivor Services. And Kristi Merrill is a Survivor Leader Advocate. They join Insight to discuss how The Table will provide services for survivors and at-risk youth - ranging from basic needs, to mental health support, career workshops, and childcare.

As a strong advocate against human trafficking, Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) co-hosted a bipartisan press conference with survivors, advocates, and members of the California State Legislature to mark January as National Human Trafficking Month.

Recognizing National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), an international leader in combating human trafficking, today called for greater action from the international and US communities—at all levels of government—to partner with civil society to eliminate this heinous crime.

Legislation authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to combat human trafficking cleared a major hurdle today, winning strong support from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a vote to send the bill to the House Floor for consideration and passage.

Named in honor of Frederick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist, Smith’s legislation—the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (HR 5856)—would provide approximately $1 billion over five years to strengthen and expand successful programs and laws to combat modern-day slavery.

Late last night, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1394 (Wicks and Flora), making California the first state in the nation to enact a law that expressly both (i) permits survivors of child sex trafficking and abuse to sue platforms for millions of dollars for knowingly contributing to child sex trafficking and (ii) requires platforms to establish a mandated process by which survivors of child sex abuse can demand that platforms remove videos and images of their abuse.