SU Hosts Fourth Annual Anti-Human Trafficking Conference

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University’s Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) brought experts, activists and individuals passionate about combating human trafficking together to commemorate National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January.  

The fourth annual Anti-Human Trafficking Conference explored aspects of the global crisis through engaging discussions and informative, impactful presentations. 

Guest speakers included Dr. Danielle Thomas, child sex trafficking regional navigator for the Life Crisis Center, serving Maryland's Lower Shore; Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Kason Washington; and Debra Holbrook, founding board member and president elect of the Academy of Forensic Nursing and director of forensic nursing at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. 

In addition to the SU community, attendees included local law enforcement, public school personnel, licensed mental and behavioral health professionals and community members from across the Lower Eastern Shore.

To conclude the event, participants gathered outside SU’s Guerrieri Student Union, where the conference was held, to conduct a red sand ceremony.

The nationally recognized ritual spreads red sand into sidewalk cracks to represent vulnerabilities that can lead to human trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation, and to create opportunities for reflection to question, connect and take action against these crimes.

For more information on the CHC visit the center’s webpage.

For more information about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours, visit the SU website.