Meagan Morris
Outreach & Development Coordinator
Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking

We know what you’re thinking. Another race, another cause; whether it be for scientific cures, or public awareness... Marathons particularly conjure up images of distance, endurance, and brave solitary athletes. And marathoners may also be questioned about their sanity…who takes up that kind of goal alone? Who could stand up to the rigors of the Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon?

At first glance, several members of our Denver-based Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking jumped up and said, “I can!” As for the rest of us… some thought of those very same images of lone runners and immediately declined. Some of us questioned the last time we exercised.

However, a little-known option for this particular marathon is to run as a team—a relay team comprised of runners who could tackle shorter distances with the energy and excitement of kindergartners. Now THAT was appealing for LCHT, a team whose central drive is to collaborate with people from an array of disciplines, professions and points of view.

Why not apply the same mix of passionate short-distance runners to this worthy event? The marathon symbolically mixes diverse runners from diverse background, running along a mix of terrains (with fantastically creative names like “No Groans at Sloan’s” and the “Screaming Downhill." And while we’re at it, we can draw positive attention to a heavy issue like human trafficking.

We were ON.

Runner by runner, the team grew. 20+ strong, comprised of: fifth and eighth graders, members of the Denver Police Department, health care professionals, staff members, volunteers and community members, all of whom are motivated by our cause. We are an anti-trafficking marathoning community of runners, many of whom understand the importance of stamina and endurance required to work in this movement.

At the core of who we are is the idea that solutions to the problem of human trafficking will come from mixing ideas: yours + ours. We are so proud by the diversity of our team because fighting human trafficking takes all of us! We also believe that the most promising responses to an issue facing a community will come from the community itself. Thus, we take to the streets, and run on the longest commercial avenue in the country. Colfax traverses many Colorado cities, towns, and neighborhoods, the distinctiveness of which represent unique challenges and possibilities for working to fight this growing human rights abuse.

The event takes place over two days, beginning on Saturday May 19, 2012 and ending with the marathon on May 20, 2012. The Colfax Marathon allows participants and supporters to run in support of a charity. If you want to join our team of runners please contact Meagan. If running isn’t your thing, you can make a donation in support of the amazing efforts of our runners by going to our Donate page or by visiting the Colfax Marathon’s List of charity partners, and find LCHT amongst the list of 96+ charities that are partaking in this amazing event.

We will host a tent in the Charity Partner Village throughout the two-day event, so stop by and say hello!

AnnJanette Alejano-Steele, Ph. D.
Research Director, The Colorado Project
LCHT Co-Founder and Board Chairperson
Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking

Notice: National setting. Glaring stage lights. Cue: Talking Heads, Once in a lifetime

There have been many times in my life where I have moments of pure and simple notice. Times where I’ve found myself consciously noticing where I am and wondering, “How did I get here?” As in Wow these are top-of-the-line stage lights. And there are these Attorneys General listening to what I’m saying about the Colorado Project.

How did I get here?

I had the honor of sitting on a panel at the Presidential Summit of the National Association for Attorneys General that took place in Seattle, WA between March 28 and 30. Until this point of personally sitting on stage, I had the opportunity to sit in the audience to hear from many leading folks in the anti-trafficking field. Thanks to the table set by Rob McKenna and his NAAG staff, many anti-trafficking folks and countless representatives from state AGs offices were flown to Seattle to make the collective point of the importance of prioritizing human trafficking as a very difficult crime worthy of prosecuting. And I was included as one of the voices.

Admittedly, when I walked into the learning space (read: ballroom), I was blown away by the sheer size and production of the venue. (That’s not easy to do, having coordinated many conferences in my past.) The minute I stepped in, I gulped. I saw high end professional video and audio equipment, a large bank of stage lights and a huge podium flanked by two tables. And I was grateful for not being on the first panel.

Each year the President of NAAG chooses an issue/ crime to bring to the attention of the 50 Attorney Generals offices, and this year it was human trafficking. It could have easily been money laundering or the challenges of navigating federal and state jurisdictions, but thanks in part to the steadfast efforts of anti-trafficking folks in Washington State, human trafficking stayed present for McKenna.

Organized by Presidential Pillars, the Summit included these categories: 1. Make the Case; 2. Hold Traffickers Accountable; 3. Rescue Victims; and 4. Reduce Demand. These were the nine primary sessions, in addition to lunch speakers and film makers unveiling their efforts to draw wider public attention to the issue:

• Human Trafficking: A North American Perspective 
• Rescuing Victims: Human Trafficking and Major Sporting Events  
• Keynote Address by US Ambassador at Large Luis CdeBaca 
• Making The Case: Research as a Tool to Define the Problem and Measure Progress 
• Public Response: Corporations Taking the Lead in Fighting Human Trafficking 
• The Business of Trafficking: Data Mining and Following the International Money Trail 
• Prosecuting Traffickers: Best Practices 
• Holding Traffickers Accountable: What NGO’s Want Law Enforcement to Know 
• Mobilizing Communities to Care for Victims: Collaboration Amongst anti-trafficking NGO’s

My role on the last panel was to feature our work on the Colorado Project to Comprehensively Combat Human Trafficking, one that has taken intentional time and design to frame the complexity of this crime. Although my nerves were on high gear (cue music), I stayed true to what I was there to represent: the hard work of my colleagues who were trying to think critically and comprehensively about this issue. I was there to represent 30 of us who were creating a tool to think comprehensively about prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership at the statewide level.

As a long-time educator, I could see the general challenge of educating representatives from the 50 AGs offices. Clearly, the goal was to convey the importance of this issue—to localize it, not only for the United States, but for each of the 50 states. The other goal was for panel presenters to provide foundational resources, some that have been carefully built over the last 12 years.

But then…as with every audience, the true challenge comes after the event. Will this crime remain present in their home states, long after they have left Seattle? What politics will muddy these new lenses upon return? Which AGs will sustain this momentum?

To have the opportunity to see power structures that help to create policy juxtaposed to folks in the anti-trafficking field was fascinating. In practice, this was an impressively massive “space in between” prosecutors and practitioners. If there was one random observation made from my time amongst these two groups, it was that people were trying in earnest to communicate. There were efforts to speak and listen…all in the name of making change, making a prosecutorial dent in this crime.

It was good to hear various exchanges and efforts people made to network and bring consistent message of prioritizing attention on this crime was humbling.

No matter how different each speaker came to the issue, no matter how diverse the listener, it was good to see an alignment of a single message: Make human trafficking a prosecution priority for your state.

That remains to be seen in the months ahead. But it gives me some hope.