About Us
The Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition (BAATC) rallied volunteers to plan Freedom Summit 2011 on January 21-22 at Harbor Light Church in Fremont, California. With 1700 attendees, 33 anti-human trafficking organizations, and 28 breakout sessions, involving over 50 speakers/experts in the field, Freedom Summit 2011 stands as the largest anti-trafficking gathering in the U.S. to-date. The overwhelming response encouraged the BAATC to emerge as an official non-profit entity that will continue to serve as the respected “backbone” and connective tissue helping individuals, churches and anti-trafficking organizations work effectively together to build a unified San Francisco Bay Area response to human trafficking.
The Cycle of Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking is an invisible growing epidemic, just behind drugs and more profitable. It’s easy to think it happens elsewhere but it’s thriving in every zip code. Sex and labor trafficking follow the money. California is the number one state for this crime according to the FBI. The majority of this crime involves US citizens trafficking other US citizens. Left unchecked, trafficking devastates the vulnerable, empowers gangs and organized crime, hurts businesses and decimates families. In the Bay Area alone, between 1000 and 2000 victims come to the surface for help every year. What we don’t know is what percentage this represents… is this 20% percent or 4%? If it’s the latter, then it could easily be the size of Palo Alto. How many people held in modern slavery is acceptable? We cannot imagine a more cruel and heinous crime.
How do you stop an invisible epidemic that’s both fluid and ubiquitous? The current approach can feel a bit like the game “whack-a-mole,” where you close it down in one neighborhood, but it pops up in another.
We have a formula to break this cycle!
Trafficking is everywhere, but it has a pattern. From our unique vantage point, we have identified this pattern, and we have created a targeted approach for deep disruption. We disrupt and attack three points that traffickers rely on every day. Traffickers need a place to WORK, MOVE and SLEEP. When we boil it down, the cycle of trafficking becomes predictable because it works off of the basic needs of people and their work. There’s a baseline pattern to human trafficking that’s predictable.
WORK - Traffickers need a place to work, and it must be easily accessible to customers. The majority “rent” these places, e.g., hotels, motels, and apartments.
MOVE - Traffickers often keep victims on the move and away from familiar places. This lowers the chances of being reported and the risk of victims escaping. Thus, they use airports, roads, and public transportation.
SLEEP - Trafficking victims must have a place to stay at night. This is usually done in a very economical and supervised way, e.g., one room for many, rather than separate rooms for individuals.
We train, equip, and connect workers who are in these places that traffickers count on, so that no place is safe for them to operate.
How do you stop an invisible epidemic that’s both fluid and ubiquitous? The current approach can feel a bit like the game “whack-a-mole,” where you close it down in one neighborhood, but it pops up in another.
We have a formula to break this cycle!
Trafficking is everywhere, but it has a pattern. From our unique vantage point, we have identified this pattern, and we have created a targeted approach for deep disruption. We disrupt and attack three points that traffickers rely on every day. Traffickers need a place to WORK, MOVE and SLEEP. When we boil it down, the cycle of trafficking becomes predictable because it works off of the basic needs of people and their work. There’s a baseline pattern to human trafficking that’s predictable.
WORK - Traffickers need a place to work, and it must be easily accessible to customers. The majority “rent” these places, e.g., hotels, motels, and apartments.
MOVE - Traffickers often keep victims on the move and away from familiar places. This lowers the chances of being reported and the risk of victims escaping. Thus, they use airports, roads, and public transportation.
SLEEP - Trafficking victims must have a place to stay at night. This is usually done in a very economical and supervised way, e.g., one room for many, rather than separate rooms for individuals.
We train, equip, and connect workers who are in these places that traffickers count on, so that no place is safe for them to operate.
What We DoTRAIN FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES
Airport, hotel, property management, transportation, healthcare and educational employees are uniquely positioned to spot trafficking when at work. BAATC will complete the training of 600 frontline San Francisco International Airport employees in 2019/2020. BAATC is currently training 100 property managers on trafficking identification at their properties. A new 2020 law in California requires all hotel employees to be trained to identify trafficking. PROVIDE ONLINE TRAINING BAATC plans to expand our premiere in-person trainings to be available for massive online distribution. This a gap throughout all of North America. Online training would allow us to reach an estimated 5-10,000 additional frontline employees in the next 36 months with our in-depth and industry-specific training. OPERATE REGIONAL TIPLINE BAATC is testing a regional Tipline for individuals to report information about what they are seeing where they work and live. Law enforcement has expressed this as a major need in order to increase prosecutions. BAATC is committed to staying connected to the people we train to help them develop actionable information. |
Freedom Summit 2015 Video
Freedom Summit 2015 Highlights from BAATC on Vimeo. |
Executive Team
Eric Venable, Executive Director
Eric is passionate about working with those who are underserved, exploited or forgotten. Before working with the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, he was “on the ground” as Director of Cityteam in San Francisco’s Tenderloin/SOMA neighborhood. This shelter and recovery center served San Francisco's most vulnerable population. Eric has twenty-five years of vocational ministry experience, including ten years at Menlo Church. He has his B.A. from Moody in Chicago, Ill. and a M.A. from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Eric is a third generation Silicon Valley native. In his spare time, Eric enjoys coaching basketball, skiing, and bad 80’s music.
Betty Ann Boeving Hagenau, Founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Betty Ann is the founder of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition. She has been leading, teaching, and speaking about community-based strategies to fight human trafficking since 2002. In 2006, Betty Ann climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise $45K to fight child trafficking. She is “the voice” of Stanford women's basketball, and has announced over 300 games for the Cardinal in 20 seasons with the team. Betty Ann holds a B.A. from the University of Oregon and her M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford, specializing in International Conflict Resolution. Betty Ann has led educational tours around the world to all seven continents and has visited over 90 countries.
Brian Wo, Co-Founder, Chief Program Officer
Brian first heard about human trafficking in 2008 through the film Call and Response, and has been involved in the anti-trafficking movement since. Prior to starting the BAATC, he spent over sixteen years in vocational ministry, including twelve years as the Associate Pastor of Grace Community Covenant Church. A native of Phoenix, AZ, Brian studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked in the aerospace industry before answering the call to ministry. Brian holds a B.S. from UC Berkeley, and a M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary. Besides being an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church, he plays jazz, loves running, and tinkers with his '67 Mustang when he has spare time.
Eric is passionate about working with those who are underserved, exploited or forgotten. Before working with the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, he was “on the ground” as Director of Cityteam in San Francisco’s Tenderloin/SOMA neighborhood. This shelter and recovery center served San Francisco's most vulnerable population. Eric has twenty-five years of vocational ministry experience, including ten years at Menlo Church. He has his B.A. from Moody in Chicago, Ill. and a M.A. from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Eric is a third generation Silicon Valley native. In his spare time, Eric enjoys coaching basketball, skiing, and bad 80’s music.
Betty Ann Boeving Hagenau, Founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Betty Ann is the founder of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition. She has been leading, teaching, and speaking about community-based strategies to fight human trafficking since 2002. In 2006, Betty Ann climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise $45K to fight child trafficking. She is “the voice” of Stanford women's basketball, and has announced over 300 games for the Cardinal in 20 seasons with the team. Betty Ann holds a B.A. from the University of Oregon and her M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford, specializing in International Conflict Resolution. Betty Ann has led educational tours around the world to all seven continents and has visited over 90 countries.
Brian Wo, Co-Founder, Chief Program Officer
Brian first heard about human trafficking in 2008 through the film Call and Response, and has been involved in the anti-trafficking movement since. Prior to starting the BAATC, he spent over sixteen years in vocational ministry, including twelve years as the Associate Pastor of Grace Community Covenant Church. A native of Phoenix, AZ, Brian studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked in the aerospace industry before answering the call to ministry. Brian holds a B.S. from UC Berkeley, and a M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary. Besides being an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church, he plays jazz, loves running, and tinkers with his '67 Mustang when he has spare time.
Board of Directors
Betty Ann Boeving Hagenau
Ruby Jacques
Clara Reese
Edwin Tan
Jeremiah Chan
Ruby Jacques
Clara Reese
Edwin Tan
Jeremiah Chan
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