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The Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Policy Initiative (Sunita Jain Initiative) at LMU Loyola Law School (LLS) is a collaboration of the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic (LSJLC) and the LLS Anti-Racism Center (LARC). The Sunita Jain Initiative builds upon LSJLC’s legacy of system transformation through on-the-ground best practices representation of trafficking survivors, and connects this clinical work to LARC’s research and policy innovation, focused on anti-racism, equity and inclusion in the law. The Sunita Jain Initiative will guide the next generation of survivor advocates, to enact anti-trafficking law and policy at the local, state, and national levels that grapple with the root causes of human trafficking such as the systemic subordination of poor communities of color, further marginalized by the intersections of gender, gender identity, sexuality, disability, national origin, religion, and/or immigration status. This first of its kind initiative, housed within LLS whose mission is dedicated to the delivery of educational excellence with a deep concern for social justice, aims to overcome the myriad injustices that subvert trafficking survivors’ access to self-determination and empowerment.
Mission
Vision
Values
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Focus on all forms of human trafficking to ensure the most marginalized are visible
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Working in partnership with survivors and their communities
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Centered, informed and driven by impacted communities
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Adopt an intersectional approach to understanding the experience of human trafficking survivors
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Advance policy innovations and systems change utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach
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We seek a non-carceral approach to preventing human trafficking
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Apply a critical evidence and community informed lens to anticipate and prevent unintended consequences
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We strive daily for tangible impact
Who We Are
Survivor Consultants (2023 to Present)
Aja Houle
Aja Houle is a human trafficking survivor, mother of four, and advocate. She graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College and is currently a Public Affairs candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley. On her journey, she came to realize the importance of spreading awareness about combating trafficking. She also came to acknowledge how valuable survivor empowerment is. Because trafficking policies do not currently reflect fair & just policy that survivors deserve, Aja has made Public Affairs an area of focus in her life. She is dedicating her life to preventative & reparative efforts for all forms of trafficking.
Amy Smith
Ms. Smith is the founder of amy_consulting, a watchdog barrier buster advocacy firm in Anchorage Alaska. She believes when vulnerable people are maltreated or exploited a sense of profound isolation from their community occurs. Ms. Smith’s passion is inspiring through Survivor Led leadership; current victims, survivors, and disenfranchised community members a safe, judgement free space to tap into their power individually and as likeminded groups to courageously develop their lived narrative to foster felt change in their lives and communities.
Mercy Grey
Ms. Mercy Gray of the Bulaceño and Kapampangan peoples from the Philippine Islands is a second generation sex worker. Groomed with narcotic restraints and trafficked for sex at the age of 14, she survived in the commercial sex trade for ten years. She is a survivor of much violence: Colonization, Domestic Violence, Assault, Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Gang Based Violence, Human Trafficking, and as an indigenous transgender woman living in America.
Currently she serves as Chief Matriarch and founder of 501(c)3 SWATCH - Trans Palace. Diligently working to build representation and healing for transgender survivors and sex workers. Proud Bachelors of Arts in Indigenous Studies graduate from the Native Pathways Program of the Evergreen State College. Consultant with the Department of Homeland Security, National Human Trafficking Technical Assistance Center, and on the Shared Hope International JuST Council. Previously, with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as an Advocate for Vulnerable Populations (Human Trafficking, Elder Abuse, and Hate Crimes), Programs Manager for New Avenues for Youth Q Center, Programs Director of Innovations Human Trafficking Collaborative. She has built & led direct services from the ground up, fundraising 550K in one year, responding to MMIP at the intersections of trafficking, and built identification and response protocols for tribal nations across Turtle Island. She has also served on the City of Seattle Human Rights Commission and in an advisory role to the Washington Supreme Courts Gender and Justice Commission. Her commitment to public service is only surpassed by the arches of her smile.
Rebeka Layton
Rebekah holds a Master of Art in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law and Graduate School where she focused on alternative forms of healing and justice for survivors of violence and decriminalizing trauma. Rebekah is a subject matter expert with lived experience in human trafficking, interpersonal, domestic and gender-based violence with over a decade of experience in the field. Rebekah has worked in direct services, victim advocacy, areas of research in the field, training and technical assistance and public policy. She holds a governor appointed seat on a statewide human trafficking council where she has advised on criminal justice reform, record relief, legislation, and public policy, as well as survivor engagement policies and best practices. She is an adjunct faculty in the field of social justice and a longtime consultant, advocate, educator, and activist in anti-violence movements.
Survivor Consultants (2021-2022)
Adrianna Griffith
Adrianna is a native of San Jose, CA and a longtime resident of Stockton. She is currently the Restorative Justice Program Specialist for the Women’s Center Youth & Family Services where she has worked for the past 5 years providing direct services to individuals and families experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. As a Lived Experience Expert, she assists others experiencing various forms of trauma by helping them to navigate the systems intersecting in their lives. Her passion and focus have been to empower those most impacted by mass incarceration and sexual exploitation, helping them to unlock their full potential and understand how their own experiences have led to their decision making and behavior as well as bringing awareness to her community about how interpersonal violence and systemic harm intersect in our daily lives. In 2019, she became an Outside Organizer with Initiate Justice, furthering the mission of activating the political power of those most impacted by mass incarceration and in 2020, a fellow, with the Solis Policy Institute through the Women’s Foundation of California. Adrianna also currently Chairs the Legal Advocacy workgroup of the San Joaquin County Human Trafficking Taskforce. Her favorite activities include spending time with her family, playing PS4 and spending time in community with her extended I.J (Initiate Justice) family growing, learning, healing and discussing all things prison abolition!
Polina Ostrenkova
Press:
https://www.covenanthouse.org/charity-blog/i-want-fight-justice-and-equality
Staff
Anabel Martinez
Anabel Martinez (she/her) is the Policy Associate for the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative (“SJI”) where she provides support in the development of local, state, and national anti-trafficking policy strategies, which promote survivor informed and evidence-based public health and community-based alternatives to the dominant approach of using incarceration as a solution to human trafficking which often re-traumatizes survivors, especially survivors with their own criminality. Before joining SJI, Anabel was an attorney with the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic (“LIJC”) where she provided immigration legal services to low-income immigrant community members of the Los Angeles County area. Previously, Anabel worked as a Victims’ Rights Staff Attorney for the Legal Advocacy Project for Survivors at the Los Angeles LGBT Center where she provided trauma informed, client-centered, and affirming holistic legal services to LGBTQI+ survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, hate violence, stalking, and other crimes. Anabel also worked as an attorney at the Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc, where she represented parents in juvenile dependency proceedings. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles where she graduated with a concentration in Public Interest Law and received her undergraduate degree, with a major in psychology and a minor in education, from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.
Aradhana Tiwari
Through this undertaking, Aradhana helped to refine the screening process and increase identification of survivors at local public defender offices, the San Francisco Immigration Court, within faith-based groups and worker centers, at other non-legal and legal aid organizations as well as at detention and prison facilities in Northern California. These anti-trafficking efforts have been complemented and supported by abolitionist and immigrant rights’ groups throughout California.
Informed by survivor leaders and her own work in direct services, Aradhana will work at the regional and California state level to advance policies which prevent trafficking, advocate for systemic change that de-criminalizes and supports survivors, and promote legal action which holds institutions accountable when they profit from the exploitation and abuse of marginalized communities.
Stephanie Richard
Professor Stephanie Richard is a faculty advisor for Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative (“SJI”). Additionally, Richard is the Director of the law school's Rights in Systems Enforced (RISE) clinic. RISE trains and engages students in trauma-informed direct representation of survivors of violent crime who seek to assert their rights in state or federal criminal or immigration enforcement systems or who require related legal assistance in the civil justice system. Prior to joining Loyola, Richard served as Policy & Legal Services Director at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking. Her publications include, e.g., State Legislation and Human Trafficking: Helpful or Harmful? in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform and Expanding Protections for Guest Workers Benefits Businesses in the peer-reviewed Business & Human Rights Journal. Richard regularly provides testimony and guidance to, e.g.: the U.S. Departments of Labor, Justice, and Homeland Security; state legislatures and attorneys general offices; the Judicial Council of California; and the Uniform Law Commission.
In Memoriam
Sunita Jain
John Jain, M.D., described his late sister Sunita as “a young woman who was well ahead of her time in her awareness of social justice.” During her life, she joined the ACLU, was an activist, graduated with a degree in women’s studies, and marched for people’s rights. Jain is certain she would have become an attorney working for human rights, specifically women and children. When he thought about the best way to honor her, he chose anti-trafficking, something he feels his sister would believe is an important and urgent issue today.
For Jain, the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Policy Initiative is a tribute to his sister and the legacy of the person she would have been. He’s also quick to point out his gift is about the critical work being done to support victims and survivors who often have no voice, no way to contact their family, and typically find themselves desolate and isolated.
“This is a call for others to learn about trafficking, to educate people about its presence. Nine out of 10 people don’t realize this is happening under their nose,” he said. “And importantly, it’s a call for people to give time, money, and resources to help.”