The latest statewide campaign, “Can You See Me?,” tackles Texas’ human trafficking crisis by seeking to educate the public on how they can intervene and prevent such incidents should they potentially come across one.
Formed as part of a collaboration with worldwide anti-human trafficking organization A21, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Texas and Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbot, the media campaign teaches residents human trafficking indicators or warning signs and how to properly report incidents to hotline numbers such as the Polaris National Human Trafficking Hotline and National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. The campaign was initiated in early October in Houston.
Can You See Me? was first tested in the United Kingdom’s Kent and Essex communities, where the country’s national hotline witnessed a 300 percent increase in reports from citizens and local authorities in just a six-month span.
Global Development Director of A21 Christian Elliot released a statement to Texas Business Coalition hoping similar effective campaigns will be launched throughout the United States.
“This statewide anti-trafficking awareness campaign is one we hope will be replicated by other states across the U.S. and the world,” said Elliot in his statement “We’re grateful to our partners, the City of Houston, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Texas and First Lady Cecilia Abbott, who are taking Can You See Me? to the next level in Houston, one of the strategic hubs in the fight against human trafficking. We know this global campaign translates to real impact on the ground wherever it runs, and we’ve seen spikes in hotline activity and victims identified and assisted as a direct result.”
The campaign spent most of October raising awareness for human trafficking by promoting several public events across the state. The organizers launched their opening event at Houston’s Children’s Assessment Center on Oct. 3, a bilingual anti-human trafficking telethon on Oct. 9 and A21’s sixth annual Walk For Freedom march that spread through cities including Houston, Dallas and Austin on Oct. 19.
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Texas reported 1,000 cases in 2019, the second highest in the nation behind California with 1,656 reported incidents.
The campaign in set to run until October 2020.
