Street Grace is a charitable organization dedicated solely to fighting and stopping child sex trafficking in Georgia and beyond. Our pro bono project was not about driving profit; it was about driving awareness and inciting conversation around this rarely talked-about subject. We needed to let Georgians know the full extent of the problem and inspire them to take action in their own communities to help fight child sex trafficking.

Stop Traffick brought an FBI statistic to life in a way too big to ignore: “3,600 kids sold for sex each year in Georgia." This statistic is due in part to Atlanta’s visibility as a global business hub, the large convention and tourism industry, and its proximity to the world’s busiest airport. The crisis was set to worsen in January 2019 as the city hosted Super Bowl LIII. While the game brings large crowds and excitement, the excitement is tempered by an increase in sex trafficking. Our goal was to shine a light on the sex trafficking of minors through awareness, education, and action. And Atlanta was the right place at the right time to demonstrate just how big the crisis is and spark a movement to Stop Traffick.

With a diverse population of six million people unaware of the city’s sex slavery crisis, a newly elected governor motivated to make change, and the eyes of the world watching as we prepared to host Super Bowl LIII, we knew Atlanta was the right city at the right time to Stop Traffick.

Our approach was based on two insights that created a powerful tension. The first was the fact that sex trafficking of young people is a horrific problem in Atlanta that no one wants to talk about. The second was the fact that highway traffic is also a problem in Atlanta – except everyone loves to talk about that. In fact, the city can’t shut up about it! So, we used the conversation around highway traffic to get people talking about child sex trafficking to change the conversation. In other words, we used “traffic” to talk about “traffick.” It’s easy to ignore a statistic. But it’s nearly impossible to ignore a caravan of 72 school buses – generally associated with innocence and safety – stopping traffic in Atlanta to highlight the massiveness of Georgia’s child sex trafficking problem.

Local politicians and news organizations were recruited to participate to bring even more notoriety to our event, with Georgia Governor-Elect Brian Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr taking part in the caravan launch and rally.