youthSpark, Inc.

The overall objectives for the Youth Services Center include: (1) screening for current and unresolved prior exposure to abuse and exploitation; (2) providing case-managing advocates who mentor and oversee services for the Center’s youth; (3) creating service referrals to trained, credentialed partners who are positioned to address individual and family vulnerabilities; and (4) providing funding to cover gaps and shortfalls in connecting youth with needed services. Some of the Center's youth receive VOICES early intervention services, which helps protect high-risk youth from sex trafficking perpetrators.

In order to reduce and eliminate youth sex trafficking, consequences for buyers must be increased. Deterring buyers and would-be buyers through both social and legal strategies combine to reduce demand at the macro-level. youthSpark works with and trains law enforcement and prosecutors to shift efforts towards increasing the legal costs of trafficking and exploiting. This means enhancing legal penalties, increasing buyer arrest rates, and recognizing that transactional sex is not victimless, and that exploitation harms youth, families, and local communities. To encourage social accountability at the micro-level, youthSpark has launched DemandTracker.org to deter individuals from engaging in harmful and illegal sex purchasing behaviors.

As an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization housed inside the Fulton County Juvenile Courthouse, we are uniquely positioned to support and advocate on behalf of court-involved youth. We partner with the Court to develop innovative programs, provide critical services to youth and their families, and more.

We have a strong track record of helping to shape and advocate for passage of strategic legislation that reduces the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Georgia. We believe that advocacy coalitions and partnerships are not only effective, but critically important for protecting our youth. We participate in and help lead Georgia's Anti-Trafficking Council.