collaborative networks through outreach organizations, service providers, and government agencies, and both of them have been very instrumental -- the district attorney mentioned the training at the airport, and mayor breed mentioned that, as well. they have been instrumental in a lot of the training at all of our local airports here in the area as well as restaurants and hotels and motels. it gives me great pleasure to introduce and to award betty ann kavanaugh and brian wo the modern day abolitionists award for outstanding community innovation.

>> wow. i'm taking all of this in. i want to thank noble, carly, and sable. i think i've taken all of this in today and seen so many faces over so many years, is brian and i thought we should come today with the thought of what gets us up in the morning and what keeps us going in the fight? everyone who has spoken before me, this idea of that it's going to take all elements of our community in order to fight such a heinous crime, and one of the things about the collaborative piece that has always been key to our d.n.a. from the very first day was literally opening the doors to

our first freedom summit back in 2011 and seeing 2,000 people show up, seeing every speaker on the podium tell us what was happening in our neighborhoods, and even then as i was holding the microphone, having come from an international perspective of talking about this issue, and then trying to have a forum for talking about it in the bay area was a sense of being a learner along the journey, just being open to say we're going to stand here with you so that everyone saying whether they are with a government agency, a local agency, or someone showing up saying i care, was just to honor everyone's voice in this and the collaborative piece of being willing to come together, willing to work together, i think has benefited the region in three ways. one, i think it's given us an

amplified victims at the center of this issue, being at the center of all, and bringing knowledge to this issue. as nola talked about how far we've come, even how we identify victims of trafficking in the midst of their exploitations and talk about those terms, our angles of approach have not only influenced things here in california but around the country and around the world. i think it's also given us amplified voice. i am honored every day by how much the work in this region really is a voice that is carried around the world, and i hear that reflected especially by individuals that have moved to different parts of the country or the world and how their work here is touching the very work, the very people, the very organizations that we have heard from today, how it has inspired them to go do something else when they've moved out of area, and lastly, i would say that our collaborative spirit has led to amplified impact.

i remember the first time that sfcaht held this press conference, and how honored i was to sit in that room with so many people who are sacrificing not just when the spotlight is on, but even in the midst of much, much darkness. so as we've kind of been walking this journey together, i think i would love to just reiterate how thankful i am for such a strong and steady cofounder in brian wo, the many volunteers that helped us carry out the large trainings of the treedom summit from 2011, 2013, and 2015, the huge super bowl effort that was put together and so many agencies that have partnered with us over the years. obviously, our tireless board that has helped strategically lead our efforts. but i think one of the things is we've tried to remain as nimble in the ongoing efforts that needs to shift and adjust in how the crime is taking

place, how traffickers are actually learning ways in which we are trying to combat this, and then adjust accordingly to be effective, and that is where we find ourselves now, having taken the advice of the former traffickers who said you know what? general trainings and whatnot, yes, that raises the watermark, but the thing is show up in the place where i conduct my business, you disrupt my incredible profits because you're changing the places where i need to move, work, and sleep my victims every day. so we're showing up in hotels, motels, and all sorts of property trainings where people are definitely identifying that this is where trafficking is definitely taking place. so by that inspiration, we are seeing more and more just actually coming to light, again, bringing the light to the darkness so that we can all see this eradicated from our

community. we are strengthened by everyone who is on this call. i'd also like to thank my family. there are many days that they endure long hours. even my young daughter says go out and keep tackling against the bad guys. so thank you, everyone. it's such a gift. >> thank you, betty ann. brian? >> thank you. i'm going to segue off of betty ann's comments. one of the founding values of the coalition has always been to equip the individual. we believe you don't have to be a full time human trafficking organization to make a difference. you can be a teacher, an

artist, an engineer, and have an impact and make a difference in people's lives. we've been blessed to walk alongside people to identify their gifts, identify their passions, help them see their skill sets and their particular spheres of influence and help them step up. we've been blessed by people stepping7into those roles, and as betty ann mentioned, we focused a little bit more on the general public, and we've been blessed to work with employees who work in industry that are more likely to see human traffics every day when they go to work, and helping them not only recognize suspicious signs of trafficking but making sure that the workplaces they're at has protocols in place so they can report those suspicious identifications and that they can receive a timely response so that the people that need

help will get help when they need it. as i look at all the people in this press conference, we've been privileged sips we started this almost ten years to continue collaborations like this to be a part of people creating new coalitions and task forces. we're encouraged to see not only growth in each county in the response to human trafficking, but as we look at the bigger picture, the whole region of the bay area has developed a more strategic response, and we're sharing information and working together and developing best practices. it really has been a privilege. we appreciate all the work that has happened through sfcaht who has really been a cornerstone in the response against human trafficking, and thank you for all the work you do and thank you for the modern day

abolitionists award. >> as antonia is showcasing your awards and certificates, i would just like to piggyback on what brian said. the baatc has been no toreous for bringing the every day person -- notorious on bringing the every day person together to help them find out what it is they can do to engage in the fight against trafficking. i remember before they formed, they were just having groups come together to talk about, what is it that we can do to shed light on this issue, and i was very privileged to be a part of that group way from the beginning, before it even started, so thank you all for your work and partnering in the classroom and around the bay area with educating the area.

i was so pleased to see that you were nominated for this award. well deserved to you and all of our awardees today. thank you so much, and i thank you all for being here. i am going to turn this back over to judge brielle. >> i echo you, bonita. i am so blown away by our awards recipients. i know we have at least one questions from one of the members of the press contingent who's here from kqed. did you want to ask your question now, and now if it's to a specific award recipient or to us, but go ahead and ask your question. >> thank you, judge brielle -- >> can i just tell you, i listen to you all the time on kqed. >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you.

thank you so much for this event, and congratulations to the awardees. i feel like i've learned a lot about the -- this very important today just from listening to you. i do have a couple of questions. miss patricia lee, i believe she was with the public defender's office. she mentioned she's seen a growing number of minors who are victims of human trafficking, and i wonder if she could give me a sense of the latest demographics of victims, like, who the victims are and how -- what is the share of unaccompanied minors or undocumented boys that she mentioned who are victims, either the number of cases they have or how do they know that, basically? and then, i have another question, which is completely unrelated, i'm sorry, for u.s. attorney anderson.

i believe he's still on the call. can you comment on the attack on the u.s. capitol and president trump's involvement in inciting the violence, and the charges against any rioters in the bay area? >> so let's start with patty lee. are you still on the platform? >> yes, i am, judge brielle. >> great. and you might want to talk about the minors that are trafficked into drug sales and whatever else you want to talk about in your answer. >> all right. since covid shelter in place, we have seen a drastic reduction in the number of youth being arrested. no surprise because they're staying at home, or unfortunately, however, with the traffic the youth, as i mentioned, these are the youth that are falling through the cracks, and so we have had fewer girls come in and, for a period of time, we actually had

no girls in juvenile hall. i would say in the past -- since march, we've had approximately ten to -- ten to 15 girls coming in, and we do not represent all of the girls, but i address only the girls we represent. i cannot talk about specific facts because the information is confidential, but i would say specifically about ten. and i would mention, we have to have a wider lens on these girls because they are at great risk and virtually all of them have experienced incidents of trafficking either to themselves, their friends or being solicited by actual strangers or boyfriends. and in terms of the undocumented youth, i know there's been a concerted effort to cleanup the tenderloin, and rightfully so.

however, that has a large umbrella and has brought in a high number of young boys into the system for drug transactions. and in terms of the numbers, it actually was creating a problem for our attorneys because of the bilingual nature of the youth, monolingual for the families, and recently, we had -- in the past month or so, i would say we had anywhere from -- or two months, from five to six new youth. this is a high number because we -- and judge brielle knows this. we have not had many new children coming in, and they pose a great problem because we have nowhere to placement -- place them. they do not qualify for federal

title e funding for out-of-home placements or foster care, and so we're put in a position of having to find placements that are not federally funded and hopefully also secure immigration relief for these youth, and we also have worked actually in the past with law enforcement to ascertain the trafficking nature of these youth in order to secure trafficking relief in immigration court, and we're also securing immigration status for these youth so that they can be placed into foster care and hopefully in the child welfare system, so i hope i've answered that question.

>> is it accurate that it's, like, a growing number of victims. i believe the f.b.i. agent on the call said it's a growing number of cases? >> it is a growing number, and i'm only addressing the young people, and those would be youth 17 and younger. and for us, we've noticed -- for us, it's a huge increase, and they present many, many challenges in providing the defense for them, but more importantly, the outcomes for them, and they do have -- they're going to stay in longer. the average length of stay for any youth that is detained is approximately two to three weeks, but for these youth, they can be in custody for months or longer. >> so just to i'm clear, it's -- so i'm clear, it's a growing number of people younger than 17 who are victimed and also a growing number of undocumented -- >> yes. my office in the yufl unit, we

only represent youth -- juvenile unit, we only represent youth 17 and younger charged with criminal offense does. i do believe we have the same situation in our adult courts. >> so patty, you're actively seeking immigrant juvenile status for these youth, correct? >> we [inaudible] that involved a lot of work in terms of outreach to family members in their native countries. primarily, we know it's in guatemala, some from el salvador, nicaragua. >> any further questions?

>> and maybe just your number, miss lee, if we want to follow up? we can even put it in the chat? . >> i'll put it in the chat. >> thank you so much. >> and pass it off to the u.s. attorney. >> exactly. >> to marissa, maybe if there's any comments on what happened in the capitol? i don't know if you're able to comment on that. any comments? is marissa still on the call? >> i believe it's mr. anderson, the u.s. attorney. >> oh, mr. anderson, are you still on the call? >> yes, i don't think he -- i think he left. >> how about miss harris? is miss harris on the call? >> miss harris is there? >> i am on the call. unfortunately, i cannot give any comment as to the ongoing

nature of the federal investigations into the events that happened at the capitol. thank you. >> okay. are there any follow-up press questions? and i'm not hearing -- >> yeah, i have one question. greg >> and you're from what press? >> san francisco community news bay area radio coalition. >> okay. great. >> my question is to the mayor's office, hearing about how the tenderloin's really being looked at closely by all agencies and departments in san francisco. is there any plans that the mayor's office, for instance, will set a curfew in that area

to help keep people off of the streets? and number two, will the federal agencies collaborate more with sfpd and agencies to clean it up? number one reason is because funding from the city, a lot of times, are not able to prosecute, so will there be more federal charges instead of state? >> unfortunately, i don't think we have the representative any longer from the mayor's office, and i don't know if, miss harris, you can address collaborations with local law enforcement or not regarding cleanup of the tenderloin or prosecutions in the tenderloin? >> i would direct the gentleman to the office's public statements regarding the fit initiative for the tenderloin. you can find those statements on the d.o.j.s website for the northern district of california. i know it's a -- a very