Last week’s announcement that Allies was awarded a grant from The Jensen Project allows us to expand our data and technology partnerships, and we are thrilled to share that Dr. Vanessa Bouché has joined the Allies team as a Scholar-in-Residence!

Dr. Bouché brings decades of knowledge and experience to help scale Lighthouse nationally. Through this partnership, Dr. Bouché brings two extensive and unique national data sources to integrate into our Lighthouse data platform. The first is a database housing over 3,000 federally prosecuted human trafficking cases over the last 22 years. The second is a database of all state legislative provisions for human trafficking spanning the last 20 years.

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The Jensen Project grant allows us to expand and enhance our longstanding partnership with AnnieCannons, an organization that trains and empowers survivors of trafficking with software engineering skills and careers. AnnieCannons (a 2022 Jensen GrantTank recipient) will continue to support these critical Lighthouse data integrations and visualizations.

Together, our vision is bold: to create a national human trafficking data platform that unites a myriad of data sources, providing a comprehensive perspective on the scope and impact of the issue. Through the power of advanced computing and data science, this platform builds on our foundational work with Lighthouse to visualize human trafficking data across Texas and Louisiana, and will empower us to predict risks, drive data-informed decisions, and catalyze change. Achieving this vision demands the convergence of minds from various disciplines — from funders and social scientists to survivor leaders, software engineers, and legal experts.

We are deeply grateful to The Jensen Project. With a proven history of unifying nonprofits in the fight against sexual violence and fostering innovative solutions, The Jensen Project’s support is catalytic for our mission. By joining forces we are poised to expand our efforts and effect transformation in the ways we understand and combat domestic human trafficking.

Stay tuned for updates as we embark on this exciting journey. Together, we will make an even greater difference in the anti-trafficking movement as we work collectively toward a brighter future.

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