WHY ADVOCATE? A DOCUMENT ON BUILDING INTERDEPENDENT SOCIAL ADVOCATES

 Why Advocate?

Getting Involved: How you can be part of a growing group of nation-wide advocates

1. Host a Trunk show using iSanctuary jewelry (and receive 1 survivor-made gift as Host)

2. Subscribe to our blog, http://thecollectiveA.blogspot.com (It’s Free!)

3. Retweet and share our messages on Twitter,  www.Twitter.com/@thecollectiveA;  and Facebook; www.Facebook.com/TcaSCd

4. Share our educational materials to raise awareness with your professional and social networks

5. Assist at special events with the Board and high school student interns in raising social awareness 

6. Become part of our Community Outreach Team

7. Refer new advocates to 1 of our Committees

8. Refer people to support our Curriculum Development by referring them to our online campaign, www.GoFundMe.com/CurriculumDevelopment

9. Provide a special skill towards building our programs such as writing or media e.g. photography, video or blogging

Give & Take: What we offer you by joining us

1. Support in training and educating you on human trafficking

2. Support in hosting a Trunk show by supplying the jewelry, receipts, educational information at the event(s)

3. Assistance in the community outreach by going out in the community with you to distribute information

4. Support at community events to provide experiential training in speaking to people in the community

5. Opportunities to develop new skills such as sitting on a Committee

6. Opportunities to network with people from various industries

7. Free marketing/advertising of your participation in community awareness activities and events

Our Accomplishments: Here is a brief summary of some of our accomplishments to date:

1. Human Trafficking awareness campaign & special events in NY and beyond (photos are available via the website and Facebook)

2. Development Weekend 2013, an annual all- day training for Board Members and Social Advocates on community & team building

3. Traveled with advocates to Washington, D.C. to march to raise awareness about human trafficking

3. Conducted classroom screenings of a human trafficking film & discussion at City College, Bronx Community College, Columbia University, Black & Missing Foundation's 5 K Run

4. Co-hosted a monthly segment on Blog Talk Radio

5. Created Health Awareness Campaigns for prostate and triple negative breast cancer and collaborated with community organizations on social issues e.g. Social Therapy and mental health in minority communities

6. Held our 1st annual fundraiser Monologue Slam

7. Created our 1^st Crowdfunding campaign (available now; www.GoFundMe.com/CurriculumDevel

www.TheCollectiveAdvocates.com

What Is Social Advocacy?

Founder Asha Tarry w/ TCA volunteers at the SMS Walk (2012)

Since TCA’s inception we have been getting asked, what is social advocacy? Now that we are a nonprofit social advocacy organization not much has changed. Social advocacy is acting on behalf of issues that relate to people and how people relate within society.
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Community Service Becomes Nonprofit Business

A year ago I started a blog, thecollectiveA.blogspot.com, with a couple of friends. It was a platform to create dialogue about complex social issues in our society. My vision was to get people talking online, outside and in the office about the insane things happening all around us that frankly we weren’t taking seriously--- everything from assaultive conflicts with city bus drivers to seniors who talked about and celebrities who actually did, commit suicide. But beyond that, I wanted to create a community; a nationwide community of thinkers and believers who feel strongly about changing the dialogue among ordinary people and create empowering strategies to bring everyone into conversation about things that impact society. 

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Domestic Human Trafficking

The Collective Advocates has been afforded the opportunity to work alongside some amazing social advocates and organizations this past year, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF being one of them.
In support of the work the End Trafficking Project is doing, to raise awareness about domestic human trafficking, The Collective Advocates is sharing the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's new PSA featuring UNICEF Ambassador/actress, Angie Harmon.

Social Media: The Spoken & Unspoken Side Of Things

Photo by: Stuart.Bassil

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and so many other social media vehicles have become the way we advertise our personal interests and our social platforms. And they've also become the mediums by which some relationships have ended. The question is, should people be more responsible with how they use social media?
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Social Media: What’s So Social About It?

As we enter the middle of Social Wellness Month I’ve been questioning what social wellness means to me. We’re living in the days where socializing boils down to quarterly get-togethers and ubiquitous texting between friends, in a culture where being connected means I find Friends on Facebook and request Followers on Twitter.

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THERE IS POWER IN (RE)TWEETING BUT SOMETIMES FOR A COST

Last week controversial filmmaker Spike Lee retweeted to over 240,000 followers the address of a middle aged couple thought to belong to gunman George Zimmerman, the neighborhood volunteer watchman who shot and killed 17 y.o. Trayvon Martin, in what he has recently been calling self defense.

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Trayvon Martin: An Open Dialogue

Tonight, The Collective Advocates sounded off on Facebook about their thoughts, reactions and ideas for change surrounding the injustice of free-man, George Zimmerman and the deceased, 17 y.o. Trayvon Martin. We talked about economic boycotts, POTUS's 26 day delay to responding, and much more.

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Trayvon Martin

It's been about 1 month since the murder of 17 y.o. Florida youth Trayvon Martin by volunteer neighborhood patrolman, George Zimmerman. The Guardian, CNN, Anderson Cooper and surprisingly Donald Trump have been giving this story national attention. One name, one face and the nation brings light to historical black annihilation, racial profiling, youth profiling and inter-racial prejudice.
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