Following Megan’s exit in 2012, and as her healing progressed, Megan felt compelled to begin sharing her experience of being lured and trapped in the commercial sex industry. As she began speaking, Megan quickly realized that she was not the only young woman that was at-risk for or had previously experienced commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. What she found as she began to share her story in her home town was that very few agencies were aware that these crimes were occurring in their community, and even fewer felt equipped to serve the complex needs of survivors like her.
In 2014, Free Our Girls was founded and the organization began delivering their Human Trafficking Awareness, Prevention & Response Training, the curriculum that was used to train most northern Colorado agencies, organizations, and community groups prior to the Colorado Human Trafficking Council’s statewide standardized curriculum was released in 2017. After hosting the first and second annual Human Trafficking Awareness Weeks at the University of Northern Colorado, and extensively training the region, service provider referrals began to come in with requests for mentorship, referrals, legal services, mental and physical health care, housing, and employment for victims and survivors now being identified in the area.
Beginning in 2017, Free Our Girls began offering direct services to at-risk and exploited women and girls in northern Colorado, and the organization accomplished a wide variety of achievements, including serving over 40 exploited women and girls locally and sending care packages out to 45 actively exploited women across the US.
