Let's Talk Human Rights

By Erin Grealis

My time as a fellow at FREEST has been nothing but the most valuable and rewarding opportunity. This experience has truly allowed me to really engage in a unique area of anti-human trafficking advocacy with a focus on education within the nonprofit sector. Throughout this summer, I really explored the role educational institutions play in advocacy and I was also privileged to witness the true extent and role of logistics within a start-up organization. alongside this, my experience at FREEST has also allowed me to build extensive relationships within the Anti-Human Trafficking field. My time as an intern at FREEST this summer spanned from June 2023 until August 2023. The organization  ‘FREEST’, is a non-profit organization established by Veronica McDaniel in 2022. Veronica is a high school teacher based in Atlanta, Georgia and through an idea led by two of her students, the idea to set up a student-led advocacy group arose. Behind the adjective FREEST, stands the definition ‘not bound or contained by or as if by force’. This truly sums up the experience I’ve witnessed and been a part of through my time at FREEST. From the onset, I learned about the mission this organization takes in combating human trafficking by its unique approach on youth mobilization. The primary role of FREEST is to essentially provide a ‘toolkit’ to schools and educators in order to give them the necessary equipment to take action against human trafficking. The key strategies for this are through education, action and consultation. Through education, FREEST trains and connects teachers and students to prevention curriculum and red flag indicators and to each other through their network. Furthermore, FREEST presents at educator conferences to spread awareness and build on the network globally. Alongside this a significant role is to exhibit at educational conferences and connect with other organizations. 

From the onset of my time in FREEST, it was clear that creativity through advocacy was paramount. One of the initial tasks this summer was to explore how there is currently a void for Anti- Human Trafficking Education tools, and how FREEST is filling a void by providing such tools. Through this task, I worked alongside Veronica and numerous counterparts to develop an evidence -based research questionnaire. Through this task, the goal was to provide this to educators and students and show just exactly how access to anti-human trafficking advocacy and educational tools are not entirely accessible. Therefore, FREEST provides the space to fill this void within the field. Alongside this, a key element of FREEST’s vision  is to ensure that there is a network in place for students and educators to work alongside one another in advocating and collaborating on their efforts. In order to find an innovative and creative solution to this, I looked towards developing an international blog network of students to submit posts on their advocacy efforts. Through this, not only could students learn and become inspired about the work of their peers, but they could also connect and collaborate with other students. The ultimate goal of this innovation was to build a wider network within FREEST and to allow students to further strengthen their advocacy tactics. Fortunately, we have gained multiple student submissions already and we hope to continue this student network into the future.

During my time at FREEST, we would also conduct daily check-ins to inform on project updates, world events and to liaise with other organizations. One of the table projects FREEST is a part of is #MyFreedomDay, which occurs annually on March 16th to raise awareness about human trafficking and slavery. This is organized by CNN International and on this day young people, schools, individuals, and organizations around the world participate in activities to celebrate freedom and speak up and act out for those who are unable to. This summer, through working remotely with this internship, I had the opportunity to join CNN and FREEST to brainstorm new and innovative ideas for the upcoming #MyFreedomDay in 2024. This truly allowed me to further develop my networking skills and innovativeness by working collectively to ensure we could reach a further and even bigger audience for the upcoming year. 

Throughout my time at FREEST, I had many goals in place, on a personal level and on a professional level. One of the unique aspects of this fellowship was that it operated entirely remotely. This gave me the opportunity to develop the skills of navigating adverse working environments, in a non-traditional format and develop my skills of adaptability and communication.  Alongside this, I have learned to not only work collaboratively but also develop my own self-initiative of working alone on tasks within an independent setting.

Moving forwards, I am looking forward to continuing working with the team at FREEST. Through continuing to foster the extensive student network within FREEST, I hope to continue advocating for Anti-Human Trafficking awareness and action. Through continued efforts such as #MyfreedomDay and FREEST’s goal to mobilize young people into taking action, Human Trafficking education can be evident through collaborative action.

From August 2022 until August 2023, I had the opportunity to complete my study abroad year at the University of Dayton. I am an undergraduate student at Maynooth University in Ireland about to undertake the final year of my Bachelors of Law. I began working at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center in October 2022, as a student engagement intern. Since then I have worked on projects with Abolition Ohio, Prevents-OH and multiple student advocacy projects. I will return to Ireland in August 2023 to complete my final year of college and I hope to continue my work in the non-profit sector once I graduate.