Change sometimes begins with someone asking, “What if?” In Tennessee, people are not only being helped but lives are possibly being saved as a result of someone posing this question.
The change began years ago, possibly as far back as the 1980s, when two women serving on the board of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga said, “What if we had a fund devoted to issues that impact women and girls?” They seeded the effort, called the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga, but no one took immediate advantage of the money.
More recently, the president of Community Foundation, Pete Cooper, put together a group of women to determine what the organization should do with the fund.
Virginia Anne Sharber, an attorney currently of counsel at Miller & Martin and board chair of the group, said they first had to figure out what they didn’t want to do.
“We didn’t want to do what another organization was already doing, or to compete for dollars that were allowing another organization to do what it was doing,” Sharber says.
As the Women’s Fund struggled to define its purpose, the group approached a number of organizations serving women and girls in the community and asked about the barriers they faced and the things that would make their work more effective. By reaching out, the Women’s Fund found its niche: helping other organizations by impacting policy.
“Many of the organizations were doing a great job of delivering services but they didn’t have the time to look at the policies that were affecting the work they do,” says Sharber. “We didn’t want to be encumbered by delivering services, so we decided our focus would be advocacy.”
One of the first endeavors of the Women’s Fund involved a partnership with Margie Quin, the special agent in charge of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s work with human trafficking.
In 2011, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released a study on the presence of human trafficking in the state and its effect on the victims. According to the report, conducted in close alliance with the Vanderbilt Center for Community Studies, 85 percent of counties in Tennessee had investigated at least one human trafficking case in the two years preceding the study, with some entities reporting over 100 cases of the human trafficking of minors.
In response, the Tennessee legislature created a 24-hour hotline for victims who need help and for those who have information about people being forced to engage in commercial sex acts. There was just one kink: no dollars were allocated to publicize the hotline.
“Women’s funds encourage women to use their dollars and their voices to impact issues that affect them, so we saw that as a great opportunity,” says Sharber.
To get out the word about the hotline, the Women’s Fund partnered with sister funds in Memphis and Nashville to hire a public relations firm. Since the publication of the materials in March of this year, calls to the hotline have increased 66 percent. Even better, the Women’s Fund can point to a number of cases in which a victim was removed from traffickers as a result of a call to the hotline.
In addition to that success, the Women’s Fund has worked for two years to impact state trafficking legislation. To date, the group has had a hand in encouraging lawmakers to pass 19 pieces of legislation that collectively place Tennessee among the top states for strict trafficking laws.
While the Women’s Fund also concentrates on health, education, and economic sustainability, its work with human trafficking continues. To that end, the group will be hosting its first public fundraiser in October, titled Voices. “We are a voice for the voiceless in our community,” Sharber says.
Scheduled to take place Wednesday, October 2, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Stratton Hall, located at 3146 Broad Street, the fundraiser will feature guest speaker Amber Lyon, the CNN correspondent who spoke with the owner of Craig’s List. As a result of her interviews, attorneys general in 17 states pressured the Web site to close its adult services section.
“A lot of trafficking is facilitated on the Internet. You rarely see the stereotypical young girl on the street corner,” says Sharber. According to the TBI report, the average age of entry into the sex trafficking business is 13.
Sharber would like to see more of her colleagues in the legal profession become involved in tackling the issue of human trafficking. “Not only can trial lawyers represent victims and secure restraining orders, but transactional attorneys can help set up nonprofits to provide services for victims,” she says.
The Women’s Fund is also working with the Chattanooga Bar Association to develop a CLE program that would further educate attorneys about the issue of human trafficking and how they can make a difference.
Sharber says the work of the Women’s Fund in the realm of human trafficking and elsewhere benefits not only women but the entire community. “Women not only care for children but also aging parents, so the extent to which you make a woman’s life better, you also improve the lives of not only her family members but ultimately everyone in the community.”
For more information about the Women’s Fund and the Voices fundraiser, including corporate sponsorships, call Sharber at (423) 785-8215. Tickets to Voices are available at www.chattanoogawomensfund.com.