Our Origin
My name is Yanira (yah-near-uh) Kaplan. I am 17 years old, and currently am a senior in high school. I live in Chicago with my mom, dad, dog, and cat.
Initial Interest
I have been passionate about social justice and gender-based issues for as long as I can remember. In school, I have always tried to look at things through a feminist lens and found any opportunity possible to turn an essay prompt into a feminist rant (just ask any teacher I’ve ever had). Sex trafficking, however, was only an issue that I learned about recently. I mean, I knew what it was, but I never heard people talk about it, so I didn’t really look into it. Then, in my sophomore year, I learned that human trafficking is a $150 billion industry, of which $99 billion comes from sexual exploitation, and on average, teen girls in the U.S. are forced into the sex trade at 12-14 years old. After that, I was shocked that I hadn’t been hearing about this earlier. After some research, I learned that there are activists and organizations talking about it, but I still felt like I had to go out of my way to get that information when I don’t have to do that for other, better-known issues. There definitely was a lack of discussion of the issues with teens and young adults in mind. That didn’t feel right to me.
Developing an Idea
At this time, I was part of Jewish United Fund’s Diller Teen Fellows. Diller is a leadership program for Jewish teens that focuses on social justice, leadership, community building, and identity. In one session, our coordinator asked for volunteers to do a “fellow spotlight” which basically meant talking about a hobby or topic of interest to the rest of the cohort. I thought that this would be a good chance to talk about sex trafficking and possibly teach the cohort something new. I made and presented a PowerPoint with some foundational information about what sex trafficking is, how it happens, and statistics in the U.S and in Chicago specifically (all of which can be found throughout my site *hint hint wink wink*). As I prepared for the presentation, I realized I was sincerely interested in this topic. Now the question was: what do I do with this interest?
Fortunately, the answer came quickly. Diller was coming to an end, which meant that we would be starting our “impact projects” which is exactly what it sounds like - a project that impacts your community. I knew that this would be a perfect opportunity to do a project related to sex trafficking. I also knew that existing organizations did not target the high school to college demographic, so I wanted my project to spread awareness about the issue to teens and young adults. I decided that I would begin a long-term project to create an organization dedicated to doing just that – and could go even further by supporting programs in their outreach to survivors.
Challenges
That summer, I began my research and planning for my website. Things were going well until the school year started. I was heading into my junior year, doing full IB (which, for those who don’t know, is a very demanding program) and there was a global pandemic. This project was put on the back burner. It wasn’t that I lost interest in it, but I was just too busy.
Revisiting the Idea
However, that year, I was participating in another JUF program, their Research Training Internship (RTI). In RTI, I learned how to analyze information through a Jewish and feminist lens and got to interact with research first-hand while conducting a research project with the other interns. I realized the skills I developed in RTI could help me improve my approach to SSTN.
Site Launch!
So, that’s exactly what I did – I scrapped some of my previous ideas and revamped others. In the summer of 2021, I resumed my research, learned the basics of web design, and began planning blog and social media posts. Now, I have just begun my senior year, and SSTN has just launched. Woah.
Thank Yous
This is a great time to thank the folks and organizations who have helped me on this journey. Without them, SSTN would not exist.
Shiran Posner
Beckee Birger
Jewish United Fund’s Diller Teen Fellows
Jewish United Fund & DePaul University’s Research Training Internship (RTI)
So there you have it. If you read this whole thing, thank you so much, you’re amazing.