Kids Are NOT For Sale in Chicago

In alliance with Shared Hope International, we invite you to join us in combating the sexual exploitation of children right here in Chicago by raising awareness about this increasingly prevalent problem through social media. The immediate action item of the organization's Social Media Action Kit can help us spread the word about deterring the purchase of sexual acts from minors by leveraging our social networks to communicate this important message. Concurrently, Shared Hope International--with its local partners--will host rallies, trainings, and events throughout the week of June 19th through the 26th for the community to participate in. Help us spread the word and use social media for REAL change!

Kids Are NOT For Sale in Chicago
Social Media Action Kit

This June, Shared Hope International needs your help to spread an important message in Chicago – Kids are NOT for Sale! By using our Social Media Action Kit, you can make a difference without ever leaving your desk.

Take Action in Chicago!

Throughout the month of June, we need freedom fighters on the internet spreading the word that kids are not for sale in Chicago! By effectively using social media networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, we can encourage all Chicagoans to take a stand against domestic minor sex trafficking!

We have devised three options for awareness via status updates and tweets that you can use to ring the bell in your community:
a.) Statistics on child sex trafficking in Chicago – It’s happening here!
b.) Links to awareness videos, blogs and news that inform Chicagoans on recent and developing news stories.
c.) Promoting Kids Are NOT For Sale Events in Chicago during the last weeks of June.

Additionally, we have a selection of profile badges to use during your campaigning to help inform friends and fans of your cause. Simply upload these in place of your normal Facebook, Myspace, Twitter or blog profile photo for the duration of our campaign.

Feel free to update your status as many times as you like – your voice is SO IMPORTANT to ending the sale of children on Chicago’s streets.


[Copy and paste the following statements as your daily status update.]


SATURDAY- Chicago’s children are being sold on the streets of Chicago EVERY day for commercial sex. Who will be there to stop buyers and traffickers from stealing their innocence? Rescue kids in your area by raising the alarm that KIDS ARE NOT FOR SALE!

SUNDAY- FACT: Most prostituted women and children in Chicago service an average of 10 men per night.

MONDAY- In a study of women involved in Chicago’s sex trade, 62% percent reported that they started before the age of 18. KIDS are NOT for Sale in Chicago!!
TUESDAY - FACT: As many as 25,000 women and children are prostituted in metropolitan Chicago EVERY YEAR. Wake up Chicago – Kids are NOT for Sale!

WEDNESDAY - 21 is the average age of men purchasing sex in Chicago – we need to say NO and END DEMAND!

THURSDAY - 90% of prostituted women and children in Chicago report being physically and sexually abused at the hands of traffickers and customers. Kids are NOT for Sale!

FRIDAY – In a recent study, Chicago men named Craigslist as the website most frequently used to solicit sexual services. REAL MEN DON’T BUY SEX.

SATURDAY - 70% of women involved in the sex industry in Chicago said they had been recruited by a pimp. The other 30% ended up with a pimp by the time they were interviewed. Learn more @ www.sharedhope.org

ADDITIONAL TWEETS/STATUSES:
• In a study of federal, state and local law enforcement officials based in the Chicago metropolitan area, none of the officers personally encountered any international trafficking cases, only domestic cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
• Men are soliciting sex with women and minors EVERY DAY in Chicago! Visit http://www.chicagopolice.org/ps/ to see the faces of some who were caught.
• 90: the percentage of Chicago’s sex trade that occurs through “legal” establishments such as escort services, strip clubs and massage parlors. This includes commercial sex with minors and foreign victims. Help END DEMAND!!
• A survey of men who purchased commercial sex revealed that 87% believed women freely choose to enter prostitution; 62% believed the majority of women in prostitution are fully informed about the nature of the sex trade before entry.
• Research shows that 100% of prostitutes in Chicago have experienced some type of violence while in the sex trade. This includes being raped, kicked, threatened with a weapon, punched and slapped.

Links to Information on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
1. The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking is PROOF that at least 100,000 American children are being prostituted every year in cities and towns across the U.S. Read more @ www.sharedhope.org
2. If there was no buyer to feed the demand for commercial sex with minors, there would be no market, and there would be no victim. We need to END DEMAND!
3. Spread the word about child sex trafficking in America through this short four minute video. Kids are NOT for Sale in America!
4. American children are being sold into commercial sex – watch this short video and post this onto as many statuses as possible – Kids are NOT For Sale! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31723758&id=14502300#!/video/video.php?v=398378178888


For more information, please visit: http://www.sharedhope.org/what/chicago.asp