Rethink Resources

This month I’m featuring manuals and reports on youth in the sex trade from Canada. I’m really drawn to the way that Canada has deeply involved youth in developing research and effective programs by and for youth in the sex trade. Canada is far beyond the U.S. in this respect.

Effective Youth Collaboration and Engagement: Key Issues (2004) Download the report here

…(I)t was more effective to ask them about a time they had felt respected, valued, and that they had input into decisions affecting their lives. Once they had recalled that experience they were able to speak to elements that would be important to ensuring truly collaborative projects. Of the youth consulted, four key areas impacting collaboration (with youth in the sex trade) emerged.

Being There, Being Real: A Guide to Building Peer Based Support and Training for Experiential Youth and Those Who Would Work With Them (2006) Download the report here

We intentionally built this manual to be as honest about the challenges we encountered in doing this work as the young women were sharing their experiences with us. That is, we will cover all of the triumphs and tragedies that unfolded and share our learnings. We learned quite clearly that there is a danger to this work not only for experiential youth, but as professionals as well. Learning to care about and for the young women we worked with meant struggling with grief and loss, feeling as though we were often without a compass, and challenging what it meant to say that you were there to support each other and what that actually meant. We have learned that the insistence that this work be done with the utmost of care and mindfulness is not only well founded but critical. Most importantly, we have learned that it means .being there; and being real. through it all.

Sacred Lives: Canadian aboriginal children & youth speak out about sexual exploitation (2000) Download the report here

Over a period of five months, consultations with more than 150 commercially sexually exploited Aboriginal children and youth took place in 22 communities across Canada, consisting of major cities, smaller communities, and more rural areas…Two young Aboriginal women, Cherry Kingsley and Melanie Mark, co-facilitated the focus groups…In recognition of the centrality of youth to this project, their recommendations open this document…The report then outlines various individual and systemic factors which commercially sexually exploited Aboriginal children and youth face. Historicizing social factors incumbent on Aboriginal children and youth explains their over-representation within the larger population of commercially sexually exploited people in Canada. The third part of the report outlines the youth perspective of abuse and exploitation, prevention, crisis intervention, harm reduction, exiting and healing, public attitudes, and youth participation.

Full Circle (2002) a manual for communities working with Aboriginal/Native youth in the sex trade Download the report here

The Urban Native Youth Association has been working with street involved sexually exploited youth for many years through our Two-spirited Youth Program, our Prevention/Outreach Team, our Aboriginal Safehouse, as well as periodically through our other programs….Current estimates in Vancouver indicate that approximately sixty percent of both female and male sexually exploited youth are Aboriginal…. With this in mind, UNYA decided to create a manual that would help the urban Aboriginal community and others move forward by identifying a continuum of care for sexually exploited and at-risk Aboriginal youth.

Moment for Boyz (2004) Download the report here

In February 2004, the McCreary Youth Foundation embarked on a literature review relating to the health issues of male youth. The purpose of this report is to report on that review; to provide specific information on boys involved in the sex trade; to outline an evidence base that would assist in identifying funding priorities for the Foundation’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation Project (CSEP), and to make a conscious effort to keep the issues of boys’ health on the broader youth agenda.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth: An epidemic of homelessness (2007) Download the report here

Of the estimated 1.6 million homeless American youth, between 20 and 40 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT)…Through a comprehensive review of the available academic research and professional literature, we answer some basic questions, including why so many LGBT youth are becoming and remaining homeless. We report on the harassment and violence that many of these youth experience in the shelter system and we summarize research on critical problems affecting them, including mental health issues, substance abuse and risky sexual behavior. We also analyze the federal government’s response to youth homelessness, including the specific impact on LGBT homeless youth of increased federal funding for faith-based service providers.

See where Rethink Resources will be presenting as well here. Registration is open at the Pathways to Adulthood National Independent Living/Transitional Living 2007 conference in Minneapolis on May 9-11 here. You can sign up for the Harm Reduction and Street Law workshop in Chicago on May 19th at the Chicago Recovery Alliance website. Lots of space open for anyone in the local tri-state area.

And check out the new Young Women’s Empowerment Project website. With news, analysis, and information right from youth in the sex trade, YWEP will be the spot for people to learn and exchange ideas with youth. You can register with the site and soon, you’ll hear about even more ways to participate as a registered member supporter of YWEP. Take a look now. It’s super easy to donate money too - supporting youth leadership and social justice by and for youth in the sex trade.