Every year across the globe, children are bought, sold, and used for sex. At any given moment, an estimated 300,000 children, some as young as 11 years old, are at-risk of being commercially sexually exploited in the United States.

To curb this epidemic, ECPAT-USA developed a Toolkit to educate and empower youth by training them to be the foremost advocates in their communities against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT-USA’s Empowering Youth to Take the Lead Toolkit is designed to have youth educate themselves and their peers on the facts, misconceptions, and risks of trafficking, as well as providing youth with the resources needed to identify the warning signs. Through this Toolkit, youth are able to use their voice and knowledge to educate and empower others about the issue. Five schools in the NYC area have implemented the Toolkit, and several students have directly self identified as victims of trafficking through learning about trafficking.

This Toolkit is in paper form- and as of now, can only be delivered in-person or given as a presentation by ECPAT-USA staff. We want to broaden our efforts in an engaging and interactive way. How can we use technology to launch our Toolkit into the world in such a way that would get youth involved in the fight against trafficking? How can we reach those youth in hard-to-reach areas and get them involved in the fight?

This is where you come in.

For questions or more info, reach out to us>> ecpatyouth@ecpatusa.org; 718-935-9192

NYC High School Students Sign-up>> http://bit.ly/1HwMa03
Mentors/Volunteers Sign-up>> http://bit.ly/1F3OTId
For more info>> hackecpat.splashthat.com

This hackathon is open to NYC high school students with or without tech experience. To register, please click here> http://bit.ly/1HwMa03

To mentor or volunteer, click here> http://bit.ly/1F3OTId

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