Love146

Love146 is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international human rights organization^[1] that works toward the abolition of child trafficking and exploitation through survivor care, prevention education, professional training, grassroots empowerment, and contributing a growing body of research.

History

Love146 was founded in 2002^[2] when the group's co-founders, Rob Morris, Lamont Hiebert, Desirea Rodgers, and Caroline Hahm, went on an exploratory trip to Southeast Asia to see how they could better serve in the fight against child sex trafficking. As part of an undercover operation, investigators took several co-founders into a brothel where they witnessed young girls being sold for sex. The girls were given numbers of identification pinned to their dresses. One girl in particular stood out. Morris explained that she stared at them with a piercing gaze, saying, “There was still fight left in her eyes.” Her number was 146.^[3]

Prior to the establishing of Love146, co-founder and president, Rob Morris, worked with Mercy Ships International. Morris has lectured and taught in over 30 countries on issues of justice, compassion, and human rights, and has been featured in the Huffington Post,^[4] Fox News,^[5] the CNN Freedom Project,^[6] and more.

Love146 became an official public charity in March 2004, under the name Justice for Children International.^[7] In 2007, with the help of word of mouth marketing firm Brains on Fire, the group changed their name to Love146.^[8]

Love146 was named an “Agent of Change” by GQ Magazine, and earned a Myspace Impact Award for social justice. They have also been spotlighted in Relevant Magazine.^[9] They are supported by bands such as The Wrecking and Paramore. President of Baume & Mercier North America, Rudy Chavez, and Love146 board member, sent Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Carolyn Cole to Southeast Asia to take photos in support of Love146. In 2008, Baume & Mercier hosted an exhibition of her photos in New York City titled “Into the Light”.^[10]

Programs

The organization's survivor care programs are broken up into two global regions: the U.S. and Asia and subscribe to the holistic biopsychosocial model of treatment and care, assessing the biological, psychological, and social aspects of survivors.^[11] Their prevention education programs are present throughout the U.S., with focuses specifically in Connecticut, Maryland, and Texas, and focus on educating youth on how to identify trafficking in their communities and empowering them protect themselves and their friends.^[12] The group's professional training efforts are spread throughout the U.S. and Asia, providing professionals, such as teachers and social workers, with the tools they need to prevent the trafficking of children, as well as identify and support victims.^[13] Love146 also trains aftercare workers from safe homes, equipping them with knowledge and best practices to reach and restore the children in their care. Love146's grassroots empowerment efforts focus on identifying and building the capacity of leaders in the field currently working to protect children.^[14]

The organization provided support to an Indian NGO Samabhavana Society for a vocational training program to help men involved in prostitution due to abject poverty.^[15]

Financial information

In 2012, 71% of Love146's budget went to programs, 15% to fundraising, and 14% to operations, management, and general.^[16] Charity Navigator has awarded Love146 its highest four-star rating in its latest report.^[16]

Other media

American rock band Paramore released their second studio album Riot! in 2007, featuring the song "We Are Broken" as a tribute to Love146. During The Final Riot! the band sold a sweater in which the proceeds went to the charity.

Also, on the tour DVD, bassist Jeremy Davis can be seen with a Love146 patch on his guitar strap.

YouTuber & Beauty Guru Michelle Phan made a small campaign to raise awareness for Love146 in March 2014. She told her 7 million subscribers to write down "146" and outline it with a heart and share it to friends or to post on social media with the hashtag, #RememberTheGirl. Phan has raised about $23,000 as of September 2014.^[17]

In April 2014, a young student from New Jersey uploaded a small documentary to YouTube of him and his class raising $1,400 for Love146 as part of a multi-cultural heritage project.^[18] Rob Morris visited the local middle school and expressed his gratitude towards the class in a follow-up video a few months later.^[19]

References

1. ↑ http://ywamny.org/discipleship-training-school/dts-speakers
2. ↑ http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/20-1168284/love146.aspx
3. ↑ http://www.love146.org/love-story
4. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/love146-child-trafficking_b_1265829.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008/
5. ↑ http://video.foxnews.com/v/1507745383001/chilling-account-of-child-slavery-in-the-us/#sp=show-clips/
6. ↑ http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/12/three-voices-how-to-end-modern-day-slavery/
7. ↑ http://www.love146.org/mission-vision/
8. ↑ http://www.brainsonfire.com/work/love146.html
9. ↑ http://www.relevantmagazine.com/loss-of-innocents/spotlights/21605-love146
10. ↑ http://www.baume-et-mercier.com/news/events/usa-new-york-into-the-light-photography-charity-event-8401
11. ↑ http://www.love146.org/survivor-care
12. ↑ http://www.love146.org/prevention-education
13. ↑ http://www.love146.org/professional-training
14. ↑ http://www.love146.org/empowering-movement
15. ↑ Jylland-Halverson, Carl (October 22, 2014). "Homeless Youth: The World's 100 Million Street Children". Fair Observer. 
16. 1 2 http://issuu.com/love146/docs/annual_report_draft_2012-13?e=2614308/6346557
17. ↑ "Remember the Girl". Love146. Love146. Retrieved 23 January 2016. 
18. ↑ "Watch how @CoolVidsFTW and his 8th grade class educated their school on trafficking and raised support for our work!". Twitter. 11 April 2014. 
19. ↑ Brual, Jeric (11 June 2014). "Love146 Keynote Presentation - Rob Morris". YouTube. 

External links

1. http://love146.org
2. http://vimeo.com/videos/search:love146/240e47ed