English History - Human Trafficking

The Pitch

Human trafficking is an organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited1. Every day children and adults are captured and forced into involuntary servitude. Vicki Zito, mother of a survivor, said "The fact is human trafficking is happening right here, right now, in the United States, probably in any city where anybody lives. Just because you don’t know anything about it doesn’t mean it’s not happening"3. Human Trafficking is the third largest illegal crime industry and in just the US, 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked each year2. This horrific act goes unnoticed by most people because of the unawareness throughout the population. Through this informational application, the rest of the world will be educated on the issue of human trafficking and realize that human trafficking is more prevalent today than ever before.

We are going to create a mobile application that educates Americans about the horrific sex slave industry occurring in the United States and that informs Americans about what specifically they can do to fight human trafficking. The app will have five separate pages each titled: Our Mission, Statistics, Stories, How to Identify Victims, and Map of Human Trafficking Hot Spots. When the app opens for the first time, Our Mission page, there will be information on how we hope to spread awareness of this cause. On the next page, there will be a list of statistics. The app will also have pages on personal stories told by victims, and how to identify people who are currently subjects to human trafficking. Lastly, there will an interactive map of hot spots in the United States, and when each city is clicked on, a list of organizations to contact for help or to learn more will come up.

        One of the best things for a cause is publicity, and the app we are making will allow the issue of human trafficking to be both easily accessible and readily available to a large segment of the population. The application format is the main reason this is the case. Any iPhone app is immediately available to 91.5 million Americans and 1.5 billion people internationally. This rapid and broad exposure has the potential to bring the issue of human trafficking into the mainstream. Exposure and interest creates change. One of the most important factors that make the application idea so attractive is ease of use. If anyone has difficulty finding the information, the whole project has failed.         Understanding this, ease is of paramount importance when organizing and presenting the information. That is why all the organizations and their contact information are accessible within two taps and are organized according to location. People need to be able to find exactly what they need exactly when they need it with as little searching as possible, and the app is designed to make this possible.