Breaking the Chains held its sixth annual Pledge to Stop Human Trafficking donation drive on Tuesday in Fresno. (GV Wire/Albert Baker)
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The unified effort to stop human trafficking in Fresno and other Valley communities was on full display Tuesday.
Representatives of a dozen local organizations and elected leaders spoke about the progress made and the services that victims need.
“We have a model that focuses on the victims,” said Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama during a news conference at Blackstone and Shaw avenues in Fresno. “In the past year, we had over 230 rescues in conjunction with Breaking the Chains and all our other Central Valley partners. “We can’t do this by ourselves.
“Here in the Central Valley, we treat these victims in a humane way. The years of treating victims as suspects are long gone.”
National Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Breaking the Chains is a Fresno-based nonprofit that provides a full array of services for human trafficking victims.
In conjunction with the news conference, Breaking the Chains held its sixth annual Pledge to Stop Human Trafficking Event, in which volunteers collected donations from drivers at Blackstone and Shaw, and at intersections in Madera and Parlier. The donation drive is held every January, which is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Brandon Herreman, who is an aide to Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), said that the congressman is working on legislation to help survivors of human trafficking. If passed by Congress, the bill would provide survivors with housing, mental health counseling, and education.
Watch: Police Chief Explains How Fresno’s Approach Is Different
Arien Garcia, program manager for the Central Valley Justice Coalition, said that early intervention with at-risk youth “is extremely important in preventing human trafficking. … The more the community is aware of this issue, the more that we can talk about it openly with our children and our children’s friends (the better).”
Nicole Linder, executive director of the Marjaree Mason Center, said that “many people don’t believe there is an intersection of human trafficking and domestic violence, but we know firsthand that the two do not occur in silos and, in fact, they intersect.”
Last year, MMC served 7,757 adults and children impacted by domestic violence.
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email
