#YouCanDoAnythingInADress
Do you believe that a dress can change the world? In 2013, our partners at Dressember and founder Blythe Hill began with this simple question. Last year, over 4,600 women participated by wearing a dress the entire month of December and telling the story of those in slavery today. Inspiring their friends, family, and communities to join them, Dressember is partnering with organizations like IJM, together making rescue possible and restoring freedom to women, children, and men in slavery around the globe.
Read MoreRecap: 2017 Advocacy Summit
Each year we host the Advocacy Summit, it is an absolute highlight for our team. Truly, nothing brings us greater joy than gathering with you, our faithful friends and advocates, to use our voices on Capitol Hill on behalf of those who suffer. This October, we entered the halls of power again with more than 270 advocates from all over the country.
Read MoreTweet to Congress on October 24
#IJMSummit17 Tweet-in Day
This Tuesday, IJM advocates from across the country are gathering together in Washington as modern-day abolitionists to advocate against modern-day slavery. You can amplify their voices by storming the digital halls of power on Twitter with us.
Research has shown that it takes as little as 10 tweets to bring an issue on the radar of Congressional staff. Let’s ensure Congress takes notice, and hears that now is the time to end slavery for good.
Join us @FreedomCommons on Twitter and add your voice by tweeting your senators and representative.
Send a tweet to Congress
Read More5 Reasons To Come to the Advocacy Summit
Today, we’re sharing a few thoughts on why you should be with us at the 2017 Advocacy Summit, from the perspective of our friend and IJM advocate Jordie Beuch.
Before we jump in, you should know that our annual Advocacy Summit is where the good stuff happens. And by good stuff, I mean hundreds of friends and fellow advocates, traveling from across the nation to gather together in Washington DC, raising their voices to bring an end to slavery. We’ve seen tremendous momentum result from past years and this year will be no different.
Read MoreThe New Faces of IJM Advocacy
We have a small confession to make: we owe you a few introductions. Over the past few months, we’ve welcomed three new colleagues to the Advocacy & Mobilization team. You may find them in your city, on your campus, or in your inbox and we think it’s time you’re introduced.
Today, we’re doing a Q&A with Joash Thomas, Lauranne Boyd, and Dan Mackett. Amongst other topics, you’ll hear a glimpse of what uniquely brought them to this work and what’s exciting them about the season ahead.
Read MoreTweet to Congress on June 27
#TIPReport Tweet-In Day
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Each year, the State Department releases their Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, a critical tool to shed a light on the crime of human trafficking.
On Tuesday, June 27, the 2017 TIP Report will be released by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The release of the Report is a great opportunity to raise the profile of this issue with our elected leaders.
Research by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) has shown that it takes as little as 10 tweets to bring an issue on the radar of Congressional staff. We will make sure Congressional offices know the importance of the TIP Report in the fight against slavery.
Read MoreThe 2017 TIP Report is Here! Time to Write the Editor.
Today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released the 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, a critical tool to shed a light on the crime of human trafficking. This is a unique opportunity to educate your community about this crime by writing a Letter to the Editor. (It's easy—everything you need is below.)
Read MoreNews from Washington
By Tim Gehring, Policy Director at IJM
Before I moved to Washington, DC or worked for IJM, I remember sitting in the office of my economic professor telling him that although I didn’t know what exactly I hoped to do as a career, I knew I wanted to work on U.S. foreign assistance. For as long as I have been interested in foreign policy, I’ve wanted to learn more about what makes foreign aid effective and how the U.S. decides how to spend this money. Now that I work at IJM, the work that I get to do on U.S. foreign assistance is hands-down my favorite part of my job.
Read MoreFighting Issues on a Global Level: An Interview with a Leader
Eileen Campbell is the Senior Director of Advocacy and Mobilization at IJM.
In my first job, I had the opportunity to work as an activist on global AIDS treatment access. I worked with a lot of AIDS doctors who were brave, inspiring and figuring out how to provide access to quality healthcare to those who would die without it. Few did this with the quiet humility of Dr. Eric Goosby.
Read MoreWhat I Learned from Wonder Woman
Have you seen the new Wonder Woman movie?
If not, (finish reading this blog first) I’d recommend looking into that ASAP.* I add my two thumbs up to those of thousands of other movie-goers and critics alike—it gets a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In addition to a good storyline, fantastic production quality, and a strong female lead, I think what audiences across America really resonate with is the call to do something—even if you can’t do everything. In the movie, Wonder Woman’s first exposure to our world is by dropping right into the front lines of World War I. It’s a vast, devastated—and devastating—scene of a world fraught with violence.
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