Thursday April 25th and Friday April 26th
Shed Light 2024 Agenda & Speakers
Shed Light on Trafficking 2024 is a two-day conference for professionals who want to increase their knowledge regarding the ever-evolving methods in gang sex trafficking and familial sex trafficking. These two types of trafficking require an elevated level of skill in responding to and in serving the victims involved. It will be held at West Acres Baptist Church located at 555 Gibbs Rd., Evans, GA 30809. It is hosted by iCare who serves local victims with a long term, holistic approach to care and recovery.
Professions that should consider attending.
- Law Enforcement
- Social service providers
- Child protection professionals
- Anti-human trafficking NGOs
- Educators
- Counselors
- Healthcare workers
- Pastors and youth pastors
- Youth workers
Bill Woolf - Lead Instructor
Presidential Medal Recipient
Extraordinary Effort to Combat Trafficking in Persons
Mr. Woolf started his professional career as a police officer where he was promoted to the position of detective and was assigned to work on the Gang Investigations Unit. While doing this work, he quickly became aware of an emerging problem in his region, human trafficking. Mr. Woolf learned that gangs were transitioning from other profitable crimes, such as narcotics trafficking, to human trafficking as a source of income for their illicit activities.
He was instrumental in receiving funding to start a human trafficking task force in northern Virginia. Bill was placed in charge of the task force and was assigned to coordinate enforcement and interdiction efforts with other regional, state and federal law enforcement. He was also tasked with forging partnerships with non-governmental agencies that could provide necessary services to those victimized by human trafficking.
After over 15 years of law enforcement service, Mr. Woolf took on the prevention and intervention work full time as the Executive Director of the Just Ask Prevention Project and Director of the National Human Trafficking Intelligence Center.
Mr. Woolf was called upon by the U.S. Department of Justice to accept a position as a member of the Senior Executive Service in the role of Human Trafficking Programs Director where he was responsible for overseeing the nearly $100 million budget to support human trafficking programs all across the United States. He was also responsible for developing departmental policy relating to human trafficking and was eventually asked to serve as Special Advisor to the White House. Because of his demonstrated management abilities, he was asked to step in as the Acting Director of the Office for Victims of Crime and continued to serve as the Principal Deputy Director overseeing more $6.5 billion in grant programs.
Jeanne L. Allert, Ph.D.
Specialist in Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivor Care
Jeanne has an eclectic career history: from high school English teacher, to instructional designer, to technology director, to Internet consultant. For fourteen years she managed a successful consulting practice serving trade and professional societies in their use of Internet technologies. She is an international public speaker, technical trainer, industry author, and has served as adjunct faculty for several universities. Jeanne holds a Ph.D. in Counseling and Psychological Studies, 2021.
Jeanne is a compelling speaker on the topic of domestic human trafficking and has delivered awareness presentations in several states. She is a member of the Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign,
Graduate of the FBI Citizen’s Academy, and a Human Trafficking Contributor for the National Advisory Council for the Conference on Crimes Against Women.
Jeanne founded The Samaritan Women in 2007 and serves as Executive Director. She is the chief architect behind The Samaritan Women’s spiritual healing program and spends a great deal of time educating medical, social work, and mental health professionals about the unique needs of trafficking victims. Her work has been featured in numerous articles and in the 2015 documentary “In Plain Sight.” In 2018 she created the Institute for Shelter Care, a national initiative to address gaps in service and quality for victims of sexual exploitation.
Susan Young
Mother of Teen Trafficking Survivor
After meeting what appeared to be a charming young man at the movies, Susan's daughter fell victim to human traffickers. Susan's daughter and the young man exchanged numbers and began an online relationship. Before she knew it, he had manipulated her and exploited her. He lured her off after school one day, where he and a group of gang members sexually abused her. They videotaped the assault, and then told her that she could never tell anyone what happened, or they would hurt her family if she betrayed them.
Barbara Jean Wilson
Familial Trafficking Survivor
Barbara was trafficked by her mother and her mother's boyfriend. Ms. Wilson recalls, "The first time my mother’s boyfriend touched me in an inappropriate way, he threatened me not to tell anyone or he would hurt my family, I didn’t let his threat bother me. I knew what he was doing to me was wrong and decided to tell my mother what her boyfriend had done to me." Unfortunately, her exact words were “do not tell anyone because that is how the rent is getting paid”.
So, I never told anyone, and my mother and her boyfriend continued to traffick me from the age of 8 to 13. This all took place at home, after school, and during the night. Different men would come over to the house and my mother’s boyfriend would then take me into my mother’s bedroom where she and he slept.