After a bill that would have mandated the posting of the hotline number in Nevada was killed at the eleventh hour (11:30 PM on the last day of the session) due to unrelated political squabbles, leaders of Nevadans for the Common Good pursued a local route. Barbara Bell of Green Valley UMC and Nancy Thompson of Grass Valley UMC organized a meeting with the County Commissioner to discuss posting the National Sex Trafficking Hotline number at important transportation hubs so that trafficking victims could see them. The Commissioner agreed to work with NCG and changes are already in place; the McCarran International Airport has posted the number and signs are now displayed on buses and at bus shelters throughout Las Vegas. Taking the local route was an effective way to accomplish an important goal without waiting for the next legislative session in 2015.

Stories of Human Trafficking Turn Valley Woman into Activist, Las Vegas Review Journal

"When Gov. Brian Sandoval signed AB 67 into law on June 6, the volunteers celebrated ...The anti-trafficking campaign wasn't the first time that area faith communities joined forces to work toward a common social or political goal.

However, ...the number of religious congregations represented by the group, the number of people who participated in it and the interdenominational makeup of the effort made the campaign something Southern Nevadans hadn't seen before...."

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'Nevadans for the Common Good' leaders Andrea Swanson and Camille Naaktgeboren testified before the Assembly and Senate judiciary committees for Assembly Bill 67.

"You take a domestic violence abuser, you take a rapist and you take a child abuser and you put them all in one and you have a pimp," said Andrea Swanson, who told a packed legislative hearing room about how her 18-year-old daugher was swept from her into a life of sex trafficking.

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David and his wife, Barbara Paulsen, are part of a group of about 40 volunteers flying and driving to the state capital, where they will lobby the Legislature to toughen the state's sex-trafficking laws. They want to make it easier to prosecute violent pimps and impose stiffer penalties while helping victims of the Las Vegas sex trade get treatment...

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"Pimps were put on notice Monday that lawmakers want more severe punishment for those who exploit prostitutes and more ways to free women from their control...."

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As Andrea Swanson described how her teenage daughter was preyed upon by her boyfriend turned pimp, it became clear that neither Andrea nor her daughter's teachers or school counselors had spotted any of the warning signs. After NCG Leaders met with Las Vegas police and other authorities, they learned that child sex trafficking is a growing problem. But, NCG's organizing work is bringing about much needed change. The Clark County School District recently instituted mandatory trainings for their staff to spot the warning signs and NCG leaders are now working on statewide legislation that would give law enforcement the tools to protect children and prosecute pimps.

More here.