Janet, 17, United States

Basic need(s):

Safety, Health, Education

Project:

"S.A.S.S.", “Ahava Kids Youth Advisory Board”

As Founder and President of CoAST, Janet has been a dedicated abolitionist for the past eight years. She is currently a senior at Connecticut College with a major in Gender and Women's Studies and minor in Political Activism and Public Policy. Introduced to the reality of slavery at the age of 14 years old in her ninth grade U.S. History class, Janet established an anti-slavery club called Student Abolitionists Stopping Slavery (S.A.S.S.). As Founder and President of S.A.S.S., her mission was to inspire students to engage in activism, political action, and raise awareness on modern slavery. She is now a PICA Scholar of the Connecticut College Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy and has received two research grants: one to study the oral history of sex trafficking in New London and the other concerning the trafficking of Fujian children into the U.S. She is also a recipient of the A.L.L.Y Young Philanthropist Award and the Ella Grasso Leadership in Action Grant for her Slave Free City Campaign proposal to make New London, CT the first slave free city in the United States. Janet is an abolitionist whose work involves activism, academic research, and collaboration with non-profits to make the world a more peaceful place. To learn more about Janet and her extraordinary work, please visit http://www.facebook.com/conncollcoast.

Photo: Benjamin Quinto