On June 3rd, 2026, survivors, advocates, and members of the PACT community gathered together for a sold-out Freedom Awards at the Prince George Ballroom in New York City. 

On the International Day of the Boy Child, we are honored to share original creative work from a member of our Survivors’ Council: two poems written during a deeply personal period of healing, alongside a painting created in response by a fellow survivor.

Something very special grew out of PACT CEO Lori Cohen’s participation in a yoga retreat over Valentine’s Day weekend. During the retreat, she connected with teachers from Eka Jyothi Yoga Collective, a community offering hatha yoga and somatic movement.

On Thursday, April 23rd, 2026, advocates, survivors, and lawmakers gathered for a press conference on Capitol Hill to call for the passage of HR 1144, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act. The bipartisan bill would reauthorize and strengthen the government’s anti-trafficking architecture, and provide needed support services for trafficking survivors. 

Survivor engagement is critical to creating effective responses to sex trafficking. Without survivor input, policies often miss the mark on what survivors actually face and need. Centering survivor voices leads to more trauma-informed, responsive, and impactful solutions. Here are a few examples of the progress and ongoing advocacy that happen when survivors get involved…

These women were creating trafficking prevention and survivor-recovery programs, partnerships and solutions long before trafficking was even recognized in public discourse…

Today’s youth are actively engaging with artificial intelligence (AI) in their everyday lives. From classrooms, creative spaces to social media feeds, children are thinking critically about what that means and asking meaningful questions about ethics, privacy, creativity, and power. Hear directly from youth as they share their honest perspectives, capturing not only the skepticism and excitement of emerging technologies…

Human trafficking affects people of every gender, background, and nationality, and it can occur in communities of all sizes across the country. Hospitality professionals—whether at the front desk, in housekeeping, or serving guests—are uniquely positioned to notice unusual activity through their everyday interactions. With the right training, resources, and support, staff become partners in recognizing potential warning signs and taking appropriate, responsible action.

After years of advocacy and tireless work by survivors, advocates, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, the U.S. Senate has unanimously passed the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, just weeks after the bill cleared the House of Representatives on a voice vote.  The bill (H.R. 4323) now awaits President Trump's signature to become law. 

When you think about where you’ve learned the most reliable information about safety, what comes to mind? The answer to that question is often not a formal institution, but from conversations, passing remarks and other shared experiences within your family or community. PACT often refers to using your “community as a resource.” But what does that look like?

In late November, the United Nations General Assembly, representing 193 countries, adopted a consensus declaration reaffirming its resolve to end human trafficking, which “constitutes a serious crime and a grave offense to human dignity…” The United States refused to sign the document, citing concerns that some references suggested a “one-world globalist approach.”

President Trump’s recent Executive Order, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” is a gift to Big Tech and an insult to parents, families, and states, which have been clamoring for the government to enact common-sense legislation, as tech companies continue to release largely untested, and sometimes dangerous, technologies into homes and schools nationwide.

Congress has overwhelmingly passed the bill to release the Epstein files. For far too long, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have spoken out, only to be met by institutional silence and inaction.

On September 29, the U.S. State Department released the 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The annual report is the government’s principal tool for assessing sex trafficking and forced labor worldwide, and includes progress, challenges, and recommendations for more than 180 countries.

The first calls for action came from ECPAT International, who sounded the alarm about the horrific stories of children being sexually exploited overseas. What began as a call for awareness quickly evolved into a global movement consisting of advocates working together to strengthen systems that protect children around the world.

Last month, I was privileged to represent PACT at the White House bill signing ceremony for the Take It Down ACT. This groundbreaking law seeks to prevent online exploitation and abuse by imposing criminal penalties for those who distribute or threaten to distribute sexually explicit images without consent.

On Tuesday, June 10th, 2025, we gathered together for a sold-out 2025 Freedom Awards! We are grateful for the generosity of our sponsors and this community for making the event possible.

We were excited to sit down with 2025 Freedom Awards honoree, Artists Athletes Activists (AAA) to learn more about their grassroots organization and their commitment to serve vulnerable groups across New York City.

We have the great honor of partnering with Hard Rock and Seminole Gaming, the Presenting Sponsor of the 2025 Freedom Awards. In this interview, we speak with Paul Pellizzari, Vice President, Global Social Responsibility, at Hard Rock and Vice Chair of PACT’s Board of Directors.

We have the great honor of partnering with Hard Rock and Seminole Gaming, the Presenting Sponsor of the 2025 Freedom Awards. In this interview, we speak with Durante Blais-Billie, Social Responsibility Specialist, to learn of their advocacy for human trafficking prevention and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).