| Allen Trew, JANA Partners |
New York City is a hub for sex trafficking, something Allen Trew learned in 2007, when he attended the first fundraiser for a new nonprofit, Restore NYC. “The presentation that night opened my eyes to what was happening to women who were being led to the U.S. under false pretenses,” he recalls. “The fact that they were being subjected to this kind of work in my own backyard really struck a chord.”
That experience prompted Trew, a managing director and senior analyst on the investment team at New York–based, $11.6 billion activist hedge fund firm JANA Partners, to become involved with the organization. He’s now a board member and treasurer of Restore NYC, a group that helps foreign nationals who have been trafficked into New York’s sex trade.
Trafficking is a huge global issue, says Trew, 34. According to the International Labor Organization, a Geneva-based United Nations agency, about 80 percent of the estimated 18,000 people trafficked into the U.S. each year wind up in the illegal sex trade. Many Restore clients are mothers supporting children and families in their home countries, lured to the U.S. with fabricated promises of legitimate work, then forced into sex slavery. “Here in New York, unfortunately, we don’t have good numbers, but we believe there are four times the amount of illicit massage parlors as there are Starbucks,” Trew says.
Restore works with law enforcement and the court system. The Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, a state program established in 2013 to help, rather than jail, victims of trafficking, are the primary way Restore’s outreach program connects with women. But in 2014 only 26 percent of Restore’s clients identified themselves as trafficked.
“It’s one of the problems we run into,” Trew says. “Because of the shame and stigma, as well as the distrust of people in positions of authority, it’s quite difficult to get many of the women to self-identify.”
Restore helps these women access resources that include counseling, health care, housing, legal advice and employment. (People who have been trafficked are eligible for T visa status, which includes employment authorization.)
The organization owns and runs a safe house in Queens that opened in 2010 and provides a secure environment for a subset of trafficked women to recover from their ordeal. “At first, they’ve often just escaped their trafficker, so their needs are pretty acute,” says Trew. “They’re dealing oftentimes with severe trauma and lack of trust, there can be medical-related issues, and all need to be addressed near-term.”
Restore helps its clients begin the process of building a sustainable life. The group recently launched its Economic Empowerment Program to help clients find legitimate work. The program has a cooperative staffing agency and also provides support services.
Trew became treasurer in 2014. This year’s budget is $1.6 million, mostly from private individuals; Restore is looking for ways to increase both its budget and its services. “Sadly, there’s a lot of unmet demand out there for the services we provide,” notes Trew.
Jimmy Lee, Restore’s executive director, says Trew brings more than financial expertise to the board. “As he’s gotten to know us a bit better, we’ve seen his heart — heart for our mission and heart for these exploited women who we have the privilege of serving.”
Trew’s goal is to help Restore expand so more vulnerable women are able to escape slavery. “These people aren’t nameless faces; they’re mothers who love somebody back home,” says Trew. “This isn’t happening in a really far-off place. This is literally happening all around us.”
