Human trafficking happens here! In Kansas, in Shawnee County, in Topeka. According to the federal government, 1.5 million US citizens are trafficked in the United States. Approximately half are children under the age of 16. American children’s lives are being consumed by men who buy them for sexual gratification, abuse them and throw them away. In this presentation, Dr. Sharon Sullivan discussed how human trafficking happens and what we can do to find it and stop it in our own communities. Dr. Sharon L. Sullivan has degrees from Smith College, Washington University and the University of Kansas. She is a Professor at Washburn University. Her research and activism focus on violence against women, including sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, and rape as a weapon of war. Sharon is cofounder and director of STARS (Stop Trafficking and Reject Slavery), immediate past president of the Advisory Board for the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice, and Kansas Bureau Chief for the International Public Policy Institute. She is also an active volunteer for the Topeka YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment. Sharon co-facilitates a creative writing group for incarcerated women at Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF), the only women’s prison in Kansas. In 2014, 2015, and 2016 Sharon gave presentations about Human Trafficking at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She currently co-chairs the Topeka Shawnee County Human Trafficking Coalition. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx