Unbound
Unbound: Health Solid Gold Neighbor
Holly Webb, Office and Project Manager
"I love being able to educate our community on how they can join the fight against human trafficking and be advocates for the people who need us," shared Bronda Hayes, volunteer with Unbound.
Unbound, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of human trafficking, activates communities to fight human trafficking through prevention & awareness, professional training, and survivor advocacy.
Human trafficking can happen anywhere – even in our own backyard. It's easy to think of this as a problem that doesn't happen locally, and that couldn't take place in such a vibrant, family friendly city. The reality is with over 40 million victims worldwide; human trafficking is the world's most rapidly growing criminal enterprise. Since 2012, Unbound has worked in Waco to engage volunteers for education and survivor support with an ultimate goal of ending human trafficking and igniting hope. Over the past eight years, Unbound has expanded exponentially and has received local, statewide, and national recognition for their work in prevention in schools, professional trainings, and community activation. Unbound primarily focuses on giving a voice to vulnerable populations and encouraging Wacoans throughout our community to rise up.
When asked about her time with Unbound, Program Director Allison Denman shared one memory that stuck with her. "In 2019, Unbound Waco was able to take community partners to one of our offices in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to train prosecutors and law enforcement on how to better investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases. To see the similarities in cases, challenges, and work from Waco, Texas, to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was sobering! We could all connect on the struggles of this work and encourage each other to continue the fight for these vulnerable people."
Today, Unbound is doing more than just combatting trafficking issues in our city. Unbound Waco has joined hands with other Unbound organizations across the globe to form Unbound Global, working together to bring an end to this issue worldwide. Unbound Global includes offices throughout the state of Texas, across the nation, and international locations. For more information about Unbound location or how to get involved, visit unboundnow.org.