Recently, my husband and I encountered a group of teenage boys and a few adults at the corner of Monroe and Tennessee streets. The boys were holding handmade signs about the sports team with which they played and asking for donations.
The young man who approached our car gladly took my offering, and when I asked if he could tell me about his team said proudly, “We are some boys who play football here in Tallahassee, and in Tampa, and in Orlando, and . . . around the whole world.” I admired his bravado.
My remarkable friend, Robin Hassler Thompson, is the Executive Director of a local nonprofit agency she co-founded in 2015 whose claims parallel the swagger of the young man I encountered downtown.
Claims that are thankfully true about the scope of the “Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center (STAC), who helps human trafficking survivors in the second judicial circuit of Florida (Leon, Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty, Franklin, and Wakulla) as well as works with organizations statewide, across the nation, and throughout the world.”
Local group works to prevent human trafficking
January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Every year since 2010, when then-President Barack Obama dedicated the month to raise awareness about human trafficking and to educate the public about how to identify and prevent this crime, the President has made a proclamation supporting this important work.
Our community is blessed to have a strong advocate for persons whose lives have been tragically impacted by human trafficking.
In 2025 STAC is celebrating 10 years of focused attention on the problem at all three levels in the internationally recognized 3P paradigm of preventing the crime, protecting victims, and prosecuting traffickers. STAC will have a birthday celebration and honor supporters on Jan. 28.
Not every community has the extra layer of services that STAC so skillfully provides to us. Our community can continue to partner with this amazing organization as they enter their second decade of making a difference in the lives of persons living with the sorts of vulnerabilities that traffickers sadly exploit and help end this horrific criminal activity.
Robin Hassler Thompson, MA, JD, worked with Governor Chiles for eight years on a Task Force related to domestic violence as a foundation to her current work with human trafficking.
It was while on a U.S. State Department mission in Bangladesh in 2001 that Thompson witnessed the sad practice of young children, some under the age of 5, who had been bought or kidnapped to serve as camel jockeys for sport. Robin’s heart was broken for these children, seeing the fear and pain in their eyes, and she felt both incensed and moved to action by their plight.
Two months after her return to the US, she was approached by Terry Coonan, Director of the FSU Center for Human Rights, to work on a Human Trafficking Project which has evolved into STAC.
Spreading the word on resources
The excellent webinars and training that STAC offers are extremely beneficial to our community, but also to people across the US and around the world. You will find helpful resources on their website, surviveandthriveadvocacy.org and be encouraged by the breadth and scope of their work. They offer free certified training for businesses online or in-person.
They make general presentations online or in person regarding how to recognize, report, and prevent human trafficking, including specialized instruction for parents or caregivers. They teach teens about the ways in which online predators take advantage of youth on social media and gaming apps.
They understand the importance of youth teaching youth and design the curriculum in a way that allows for this interaction.
STAC introducing survivor-driven website
On Jan. 17, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., STAC is introducing “The Thrive Space,” a new online website for survivors by survivors, respecting that survivor-driven solutions are the best informed and helpful.
Their featured podcasts by persons who have survived trafficking is another important tool for survivors found on their website. STAC offers assistance for survivors of human trafficking such as housing, counseling, and employment, and does all in their power to promote resilience and courage in those who are healing from their trauma.
STAC educates, on their website and in seminars, the link between social justice and human trafficking. They believe strongly that “human trafficking cannot be understood as an individual harm perpetrated by criminals; but instead must be understood within the structural conditions of society that facilitate exploitation.”
They seek out partners in the community who are paying attention to meeting the unmet needs of people who might otherwise be exploited.
Thompson was invited by Leon County Sheriff McNeil to attend and present at the “International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference” in Boston this past October. The partnership that STAC has formed with McNeil in curbing human trafficking was the impetus for this opportunity.
Ways to help
Thompson had a ready answer when asked if there was any particular way our community could support STAC during their 10th birthday year and this January month of awareness of human trafficking. She said it would be very helpful to have gift cards for Uber or Lyft that they could provide to the survivors they serve.
She noted that in emergency situations transportation was a key issue. She also indicated that a willingness of people to not just be aware of human trafficking, which is certainly important, but to be trained in how to recognize it and what to do that is helpful once it is identified, was also key.
She hopes individual people will utilize the excellent website curriculum or will plan a training for your club, your faith community, your neighborhood, your workplace, or your friends, either online or by coordinating with STAC staff (850-597-2080).
She says that human trafficking is far more common than people know and the more of us who are equipped to respond to it, the less common it will become.
While the scope of the work of STAC is great, it begins at home. I pray we will all do what we can to increase our personal knowledge of the issue and to support this powerful agency that is changing the world, one life at a time, beginning right here in our community. Happy Birthday, STAC!
Birthday celebration
What: The 10th Birthday Celebration of STAC and reception to honor community supporters
When: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 28
Where: Tallahassee Nights Live Performing Arts Center, 1533 South Monroe Street, Unit C
Tickets: $25, available at surviveandthriveadvocacy.org. Birthday cake prepared by Food Glorious Food and other snacks and beverages will be served.
The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.