iEmpathize

Hundreds of students were able to explore and engage the Empathy Experience at a recent conference. The Empathy Experience is a mixed media, multi-sensory art exhibit that educates and engages the public on the child trafficking issue in SE Asia.

Earlier this fall we were at the University of Missouri and the University of Colorado where students were deeply impacted by our exhibit, publicity events, film, and academic forums.

If you are interested in hosting us at your university email us at info@iempathize.org.

In addition to supporting efforts in Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, we now have field partnerships and projects in the US and Eastern Europe. We are exploring relationships in India and Mexico as well. Our methods for securing partnerships and advocating in the US for our partners looks like this:

• Research – We investigate the causes and effects, get to know the victims, and then we identify those organizations having demonstrable success in combating the problem.
• Partner – We create working relationships with frontline organizations that are making significant strides in eliminating the issue.
• Communicate – Using a mix of film, photography, sound, and artifacts we create immersive exhibits and events.  These Empathy Experiences help individuals to engage the reality of the issue.
• Guide – We provide pathways for individuals and businesses to invest their resources where they will be most effective.
• Resource – We direct funds to field partners, addressing their needs and aiding in the expansion of successful programs benefitting children.

Here are a couple of the new partnerships for this year:

Russia and Moldova Expedition

Problem: Russian girls “graduate” from orphanages at age 17 and are highly vulnerable to traffickers. 70% of them enter the sex trade, 40% become drug users, 40% commit crimes, and 15% commit suicide.

Solution: Tom Davis, a New York Times best-selling author who will be featuring iEmpathize with his new novel about orphans and human trafficking in Eastern Europe, leads Children’s Hope Chest. He is a global leader and innovator in orphan care with 100+ orphanages in Eastern Europe and Africa. An iE media team will be gathering stories and media that communicates the sex trafficking issue in Europe. On our return, we will integrate the new content into our mixed-media experiential exhibit. The iE exhibit will travel with the nationwide book tour raising awareness and funds for our new European field partnerships. This includes developing trafficking curriculum for Russian orphan caregivers and the teenage girls transitioning out of the orphanages.

US Field Partnership: Trucking Industry Awareness and Training Film

Problem: The average age for a young girl to enter the sex for sale industry in the United States is 12. There are an estimated 200-400,000 prostituted minors in the US. 50,000 persons are trafficked into the US each year. Due to the transient nature of truck stops much of domestic sex trafficking takes place along our nations highways and at its truck stops.

Solution: Truckers Against Trafficking is a strategic initiative designed to educate and enlist trucking companies, safety directors, and the truckers themselves who will join together to end this heinous crime.  iEmpathize is partnering with TAT to produce an industry training film on US trafficking awareness; how to recognize it and stop it. On this domestic iEmpathize Expedition, iE will go undercover to gather story-telling artifacts, photography, and film footage that will be incorporated into trucking industry events and be integrated into our mixed-media experiential exhibit on human trafficking.

We welcome your partnership in helping fund these projects and in hosting them after they are developed.

People are always asking us how they can partner with iE. Now you can make a huge impact by connecting your business or the company you work for to iE’s new initiative called weEMPATHIZE. This is our donor development program engaging the marketplace. It is a movement of mutual opportunity and responsibility between iEmpathize and the business community. This partnership of charity and influence provides iE with the means to creatively engage the public on issues of injustice.  It also gives your business added value.

By choosing to be a business partner your investment will go to sustaining our organization as we research, present, and support successful child protection efforts globally. Additionally, the “we” program will fund our US advocacy events and the development of the weEMPATHIZE Scholarship Fund providing a hopeful future for many survivors each year. Ultimately, the “we” partnership allows us the ability to commit 100% of iE event donations directly to our field partners worldwide.

This is a nationwide program but if you are local to Colorado we offer monthly showcases that feature our mixed-media art exhibit, the iE short film, and the weEmpathize program. To get yourself or your employer on the list to attend, contact us at info@iempathize.org.