Por LUC\u00cdA VITI | Noticias de la zona alta<\/p>\n
The Junior League of San Diego, Inc. (JLSD) is inviting guests to don a mask for its fourth annual Gala masquerade ball to be held on Nov. 2, at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled to host our fourth annual Gala to support community projects,\u201d said Emily Green Lake, president of the JLSD. \u201cThe Gala is the perfect way to celebrate fall in such a magnificent location, while raising awareness and funds for causes that directly benefit San Diegans in need.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Junior League is an international organization of women committed to empowering women to be leaders. Described as \u201cexclusively educational and charitable,\u201d these voyeurs of volunteerism advocate positive social change through mission-based projects that include facilitating support for youth transitioning out of the foster care system and assisting San Diego County partners fight human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Hailing its 90th birthday, the JLSD will honor Jamie Gates, M.Div., Ph.D., with its Outstanding Member of the Community Award for exposing issues surrounding San Diego\u2019s human and sex trafficking endemic.<\/p>\n
“Dr. Gates has been instrumental in bringing San Diego\u2019s human trafficking epidemic to the forefront,\u201d continued Green Lake. \u201cDr. Gates works tirelessly to educate the community to recognize the signs of human trafficking in order to eradicate this atrocity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates admits to accepting the award with humility in light of the \u201cmany wonderful women involved in the movement that deserve recognition far before I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The JLSD and the faith-based organizer have aligned themselves against the horrific brutality of human and sex trafficking with events such as a countywide prayer vigil \u2014 Churches Against Trafficking \u2014 in conjunction with JLSD\u2019s annual Human Trafficking Awareness Rally.<\/p>\n
Dr. Gates, a professor of Sociology and director of Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), touts an extensive list of educational accomplishments including a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Florida; a master\u2019s of Divinity from the Nazarene Theological Seminary; and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology\/Theology from Eastern Nazarene College.<\/p>\n
Lauded nationwide for his work battling human and sex trafficking, Dr. Gates also serves as the director of the Center for Justice & Reconciliation; co-chairs the Research and Data Committee of the San Diego County Advisory Council on Human Trafficking and CSEC; and directs San Diego County\u2019s Human Trafficking Research and Data Advisory Roundtable \u2014 a group he founded.<\/p>\n
Working with Dr. Amy Carpenter, Dr. Gates co-led a \u201cgroundbreaking research\u201d expose on the scale of human trafficking in San Diego entitled, \u201cMeasuring the Extent and Nature of Gang Involvement in Sex Trafficking in the San Diego\/Tijuana Border Region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Gates also initiated PLNU\u2019s Beauty for Ashes Scholarship Fund, which affords human trafficking survivors the opportunity to pursue a college education.<\/p>\n
Among his many efforts to raise awareness of the issue, Dr. Gates designed and continues to implement drama-based, peer-to-peer human trafficking awareness training throughout San Diego\u2019s middle and high schools.<\/p>\n
San Diego County tallies between 3,000 and 8,000 sex trafficking victims per year. Perpetrators \u2014 oftentimes a boyfriend \u2014 coerce victims as young as 16 into sexual exploitation and prostitution. While homeless and foster youth are disproportionately targeted, the clutches of human and sex trafficking affect every socio-economic group.<\/p>\n
Victims \u2014 many of whom are high school-aged teens described as lonely and insecure \u2014 often rely on social media for relationships. Parents are either absent or non-participatory. Gangs and San Diego\u2019s ever-present transient and military populations give abusers access to these vulnerable minors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are our children,\u201d said Dr. Gates. \u201cNo neighborhood in San Diego is exempt. No school is exempt. And there are no class distinctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other human trafficking victims include household slavery and forced labor in nail salons, massage parlors and agriculture.<\/p>\n
Gates encourages students through education and engagement with organizations like the JLSD as well as the San Diego Traffic Prevention Collective in order to prevent human trafficking.<\/p>\n
Dr. Gates leans on his faith, family and community to deal with the difficulty of this plight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not for my deep faith, I would have imploded by now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Gates humbly acknowledges the efforts of the JLSD along with staff members and students in fighting San Diego\u2019s war on human and sex trafficking.<\/p>\n