Dream Youth Clinic in Oakland launched a mobile clinic offering free reproductive health services to teens and young women who’ve experienced sex trafficking, and it also recently hosted a first-ever town hall providing a forum for girls to speak directly to local leaders.<\/p>\n
As the Oaklandside reports<\/a>, the nonprofit Dream Youth Clinic<\/a>, which formed in 2017, provides medical and reproductive health services for vulnerable girls, young women, and gender-expansive youth in Oakland, primarily those who\u2019ve experienced sex-trafficking. <\/p>\n The clinic recently hosted a town hall inviting local leaders, including Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Department of Violence Prevention Chief Holly Joshi, Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, and Councilmember Charlene Wang, to hear directly from girls and young women about their experiences surrounding sex-trafficking in Oakland. Per the Oaklandside, the young speakers pushed Mayor Lee and her colleagues to invest in services that focus on prevention, education, and support for survivors of sex trafficking.\t<\/p>\n \u201cHuman trafficking prevention is an important reproductive justice<\/a> issue and a shared community responsibility,\u201d said LJ, a 17-year-old high school senior, referring to the Black women-led movement from the \u201890s that advocates for bodily autonomy, per the Oaklandside.<\/p>\n Dr. Aisha Mays founder and CEO of the nonprofit, said the town hall was Oakland\u2019s first-ever such event.<\/p>\n \u201cOur young people are advocating for policy and systems change to put an end to sex trafficking in Oakland and to make our community safer for all of us,\u201d said Mays, per the Oaklandside.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Black youth are making history right here in Oakland by advocating for themselves, telling their truth, and demanding a safer, more informed community,\u201d the nonprofit wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cWe are beyond proud of the young people who showed up to Oakland\u2019s first-ever Youth Town Hall on Human Trafficking that Dream Youth Clinic had the honor of hosting, where youth courageously shared their real-life experiences and spoke on the impact this crisis has on our community.\u201d <\/p>\n The Oaklandside reports that the youth speakers were primarily Black girls and women, which reflects the demographics of those most likely to be targeted. Statistically, 61 percent of human trafficking victims in Alameda County are Black, which includes labor and sex trafficking, whereas 15 percent are Latino and 12 percent are white. Per the Oaklandside, more than half are foster youth.<\/p>\n \u201cSex trafficking is a public health issue, and in Oakland, it\u2019s a Black girl health issue,\u201d Mays said.<\/p>\n Mayor Lee spoke of her experience being a teen mom, which forced her to marry young. \u201cI ended up getting married at 16 because I was pregnant,\u201d Lee said at the town hall, per the Oaklandside. \u201cFortunately, I didn\u2019t end up in circumstances that many of our young girls end up in, but believe me, I had a very difficult teenage and early 20s years.\u201d<\/p>\n