Local Institutions: San Antonio Organizations

26 November 2021

Maria Sierra

Source: Inspirato

With so many vulnerable populations at risk of being susceptible to dangerous situations, especially human trafficking it is crucial for everyone to know local organizations that can assist them and anyone else who needs help. Texas is a state that struggles a lot with increasing trafficking rates, in 2019 alone there were over 2,720 calls and indicators. The following organizations all offer help and resources to the San Antonio and greater area population to assist victims of trafficking and to prevent any future cases.

Alamo Area Coalition Against Trafficking- https://www.aacat.org/

One of the biggest organizations in the San Antonio area is the Alamo Area Coalition Against Trafficking. This coalition exists to prosecute offenders of any crimes in relation to trafficking, prevent further exploitation, and sever current victims in Bexar County and other surrounding counties. The co-chairs of this organization are David Lunan and Erin M. Barry. Lunan has served as the Assistant Criminal District Attorney, Chief of Human Trafficking in the District Attorney’s Office, and is also a member of the Statewide Trafficking Prevention Task Force and the South Texas Officers and Prosecutors Trafficking Task Force. Barry is a former prosecutor in the Juvenile Divison in Bexar County Criminal District Attorney, current director of Child Sex Trafficking Programs & Services at the Centro Suegro, and has a grand collection in child advocacy experience.

The agency works in several ways to assist cases and prevention. The Coalition has over seventy different members ranging from the federal, state, local, and non-governmental levels, in which they work to assist victims and prosecute offenders. The coalition makes several efforts to assist victims by offering resources to assist the mental, physical, educational, and spiritual well-being by working with its members. The Coalitions website has a portion in which anyone can request training or presentations to groups in the community whether it be at an agency, professional organization, or community group. On the website, it also has training that one can view, as well as important documents, and YouTube videos in which one can learn more about human trafficking. The outreach that the Alamo Area Coalition Against Trafficking has is immense and it is extremely dedicated to combating human trafficking in the greater San Antonio region.

Institute to Combat Trafficking- https://justicestartsnow.org/

Another organization that is dedicated to fighting human trafficking is the Institute to Combat Human Trafficking, while it is based in Austin, the organization still does a great deal of work in San Antonio and its surrounding areas. The main goal of this organization is to seek justice for the victims of trafficking, and in addition, they provide local training, investigations and prosecution assistance, anti-trafficking assessment and solutions, and policy recommendations. The organization is led by several members, but the Founder and Chief Executive Officer are Kirsta Melton. Melton has an infinite list of her work in combatting human trafficking in Texas for the past 20 years. She has over ten highlight cases in which she convicted offenders of trafficking and put them away from a life sentence to 99 years.

She has also assisted other organizations like Alamo Area Coalition Against Trafficking, helped establish Bexar’s County District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, and even started another organization called truckers Against Trafficking. The website of organizations offers a lot of tools for the public to learn more about trafficking and emphasizes that their main solutions to solving the issue of trafficking include- consultation, prevention, and policy.

The Institute’s solution of consultation allows for survivors to take their offenders to court by working with law enforcement to make prosecution cases ready, then working with prosecution for trial preparation and prosecutorial consulting, and agencies or other organizations to assist victims while going through a trial. The Institute works on prevention by conducting community assessments to see what efforts are being made and where their issues lie and focusing on spreading awareness by conducting training and connecting other coalitions and communities to statewide resources.

And finally, their solution of policy entails recommending and creating policies that are grounded in reality and drive for systematic change. In addition to describing the Institute to Combat Trafficking, their website includes links to learn about all aspects of trafficking from the red flags to tips on ethical consumption to training films. The Institute to Combat Trafficking does a great deal to prosecute offenders, work on policies, and educate communities on trafficking.

The MaripoSA Difference- https://themariposadifference.org/

The MaripoSA is also of the many organizations that dedicate themselves to combating human trafficking. The MaripoSA Difference is located at 1150 N Loop 1604 West Suite 108-105 in San Antonio and commenced as a charitable act to raise money for Human and Sex trafficking survivors and individuals at-risk. They are charitable grantors in San Antonio focused on sustainability, restoration, and transformation of those at-risk or surviving exploitation of human trafficking.

The President and Co-Founder of The MaripoSA Difference is Liza Cole, is a certified life and Professional Coach, and has been a fundraising executive on several boards including Agora ministries and Live Water International. The Vice-President and Co-Founder is Ashlee Belew is currently a Loan Originator and helps people buy homes.

The organization has two beneficiaries: A21 and Roy Maas’ Youth Alternatives, who both works to assist trafficking survivors in aftercare and shelter. So far the organization has been able to raise around $61,000 for both of its beneficiaries in its first event in 2019. With the additional money, they raise they also focus on a lot more causes in the San Antonio area. The MaripoSA Difference continues to work to partner with other non-profits to help pin the aspects of foster care, homelessness, drug addiction, mental health, domestic violence, poverty, runaways, and gender inequality, to help prevent those vulnerable communities from being trafficked.

Ransomed Life- https://www.ransomedlifetexas.org/

Ransomed Life is a nonprofit organization based in San Antonio but focuses on trafficking that occurs all around Texas as well. Ransomed Life is described to be a healing community for sexually exploited youth by offering counseling, mentoring, and spreading awareness. Their main focus is to combat child sex trafficking and exploitation that also may occur through child pornography. The organization came about when a 14-year-old girl from San Antonio was trafficked and there was a lack of resources for her. Ransomed Life offers a knowledge hub on their website that has resources for youth and parents to learn more about sex trafficking and exploitation.

These resources include video training, tips to start a dialogue, and lists of shelters they can reach out to. In addition to their online information, Ransomed Life holds many events and allows for the request of events. Examples of their events include medical training, hosting volunteer orientations, and partnering with local businesses to have fundraisers.

One of their biggest events is Christmas Trees Against Trafficking, they partner with Holiday Hills Christmas Trees where 10% of the proceeds from tree sales go to Ransomed Life with the use

of a flyer. Ransomed Life also offers many opportunities to volunteer to assist survivors, their families, and vulnerable communities by being a mentor, in which they can train some to be, help spread awareness by assisting with training, and help with events and fundraisers. Overall, Ransomed Life is extremely involved and makes many efforts to assist survivors of child sex trafficking and exploitation as well as spread awareness.

These are just four of countless organizations that have dedicated their time to fighting and preventing human trafficking, in not just Texas, but in the San Antonio region as well. With the continued increased risk of vulnerable populations calling the victim to human trafficking, it is extremely vital that everyone knows of these organizations that can help victims, as well as help spread awareness with the videos and information on all of the websites of these local organizations.