On Monday, November 28th, people were getting geared up for holiday events that would start taking place after the first of December but we were invited to what looked like a neat Business After Hours at the “Lakehouse Inn and Winery-Crosswinds Grille” in Geneva-on-the-Lake where we had gone in the middle of November to attend an Eastern Lake County Chamber of Commerce coffee contacts at the “Lakehouse Spa” which was right next door.
We were immediately recognized by Ms. Karen Fagnilli who owns both facilities. She told us that the membership of the Geneva, Ashtabula and Eastern Lake County chambers were invited to attend this event that ran from 4:30pm to 7:30pm.
We stayed for an hour and enjoyed networking with such people as Mr. Joseph R. Ferrari, Jr. with “Cristal” who was recently given “Global Traveler” status by ICE which is a big help to him because he travels often to such places as Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and countries in Europe quite often to conduct business.
We also talked to Mr. Chad C. Vavpetic, Regional Vice President of “AXA Advisors” who majored in political science in college and was quite knowledgeable, about current political trends. To be sure, there were several people there associated with education like Ms. Amanda McNamara Lowe, with iSTEM Geauga ECHS, and Ms. Rachael Merlene, with Junior Achievement of Ashtabula County, who told us of the exciting programs that they are involved with.
We also got to meet Ms. Angela Thomas, the ESL specialist at Grand River Academy in Austinburg, which has quite a few international students from such places as China, Romania, Turkey, South Korea, Rwanda, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Ms. Thomas was accompanied by her son, Mr. David Thomas, the school’s Relations and Admissions Associate, who we have met at other chamber events. They both invited us out for a tour and, we soon plan to take them up on it before the end of the year.
On Tuesday, November 29th, we attended a Youth Forum regarding human trafficking at the City Club in which Miss. Grace Gaddis, Youth Forum Council member, interviewed Mr. Andrew Burke, Special Agent, Cleveland Division of the FBI; Ms. Karen Walsh, Director of the “Collaborative to End Human Trafficking”; and Ms. Holly Welsh, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Special Investigations Division of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office.
On this day, the focus was on sex trafficking and the three panelists agreed that the workers, many of them under 18 years of age, should be regarded as “victims” of shrewd “predators” who took advantage of them. In short, it would be a woefully tragic mistake to think or to say that they “chose” this line of work. Agent Burke said that these young people share in common a “willingness to survive at any cost” which the predators sense and exploit.
It was also said that the reason that Ohio is ranked so high in terms of being a human trafficking location (especially in Cleveland and Toledo) is because, unlike other regions and states, Ohioans are aware of the problem and have chosen to take steps to combat it. Therefore, more attention is given to Ohio than to other areas where the problem is just as bad. Along these lines, Ms. Welsh praised Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty for his efforts.
In order to fight human trafficking, Ms. Walsh indicated that an agency must work from its own realm of expertise. In the case of the Collaborative, she feels that the best contribution that it can make is to educate people about this problem. She cited the billboards that we often see around Cleveland which state that “Human Trafficking Happens Here Too” as well as some concise information sheets that she had brought to this forum. Agent Burke and Ms. Welsh backed Ms. Walsh 100% as they testified that a collaborative effort by law enforcement and the community is the only way that human trafficking can be successfully fought. As a law enforcement official, Agent Burke can arrest the perpetrators and “recover” the victims; as a representative of the courts, Ms. Welsh can prosecute the predators and put them in prison for what will hopefully be a very long time; and people like Ms. Walsh can direct the victims to the resources that will them in their psychologically and physical recovery as well as encouraging the public to be supportive of such efforts.
All of these aspects are of equal importance, otherwise this problem cannot be successfully fought. Agent Burke added the troubling note that he deliberately used the term “recover” instead of “rescue” when it comes to separately the victims from the perpetrators because a disturbing number of victims do not feel that are being taken advantage of; they often believe that the person “pimping” them out is the only one in the world who really cares for them and thus deeply resents the efforts of those trying to help them. Agent Burke recalled an instance of a youngster that he had to “recover” three times before he/she was finally willing to accept help and is now, thankfully, doing very well.
During the Q and A, we asked Ms. Walsh about a remark she had made pertaining to people who have immigrated to the United States who have had their paperwork stolen by human trafficking perpetrators and therefore submit to exploitation rather than be deported. Ms. Walsh talked about how immigrants are sometimes lured into coming the U.S. by offers of alleged jobs and paths to citizenship. She recalled a case where a young woman traveled to the United States from the Ukraine to accept a job working in a restaurant in Virginia Beach. Once she arrived in the United States she was told that she would be working in Detroit instead and told to give the perpetrators (who she considered new friends) her immigration paperwork and all be properly handled. After she arrived in Detroit, she was forced to committ illicit acts which she was too afraid to protest out of fear of being deported.
Ms. Walsh went on to talk about skilled workers (welders, pipefitters) who came to the U.S. to assist in rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina only to be told that their skills were not needed after all. Rather than having to return home in shame for not being able to make it here in the United States, they soon became enslaved and their skills exploited.
On this day, the City Club was filled with young people from such educational institutions as Saint Ignatius High School, Solon High School, and Facing History New Tech. There were also several adults there like Ms. Char Fowler of “Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation” and Mr. George Hillow, Executive Director of the “Cleveland Convention Center” who were very concerned about human trafficking and wanted to learn more.
We visited for a moment with Miss Autumn Lily Faithwalker from the Youth Forum Council who said that she was very glad that this program was being done because, according to her research, human trafficking touches 65% of all families, and Mr. Milan Jain, a junior from Solon High School who introduced the proceedings.
We then conversed with Ms. Dalia Maciuslis-Hupcey, an English Teacher from, James Ford Rhodes High School who was escorting a tableful of concerned students. She was very grateful that her principal works quite closely with City Club officials thus enabling her students to attend presentations such as this one. Ms. Maciuslis-Hupcey also took a group of students to hear the annual State of the Schools address and believes it is important for them to be exposed to such information because it gives them a different perspective from what they see in the classroom. Plus, as was the case with this day’s program on human trafficking, it might give the students some hope to hear that this serious problem (that they may have only read about) is being addressed and there are steps being taken to overcome it.
By:
Michael Patterson
Community Liaison,
Margaret W. Wong & Assoc. Co., LLC
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