Thousands of human trafficking victims and survivors stand to benefit from the ABA’s endorsement of a tech-based model established by ALIGHT to rapidly connect them with free legal help in Colorado and beyond.
ALIGHT (Alliance to Lead Impact in Global Human Trafficking), a Colorado-based nonprofit that matches human trafficking survivors to attorneys with the ability to help applauds the American Bar Association (ABA) for the adoption of the tech-based model established by ALIGHT to combat human trafficking.
At its 2020 Midyear meeting, the ABA adopted Resolution 113, encouraging legal professionals to use technology-based platforms that “facilitate the efficient, timely, and targeted matching of survivors of human trafficking who have legal needs with lawyers who have the requisite specialization and availability to meet those needs pro bono.”
“Our pioneering approach to fighting human trafficking is the only known tech-based model of its kind,” said Marianna Kosharovsky, Founder and Executive Director of ALIGHT. “Technology is a powerful weapon for combating the trafficking of the innocent for sex and labor exploitation.”
While the ABA cannot specifically endorse ALIGHT, in its final report the ABA notes regarding human trafficking: “[A] replicable, technology-based model has emerged to resolve this challenge, matching human trafficking survivors’ specific and urgent requests for assistance on nuts-and bolts issues spanning family, criminal, civil litigation and commercial/contract areas of law with legal expertise that incorporates a survivor-centric, trauma-informed process...The model was developed by the Alliance to Lead Impact in Global Human Trafficking (ALIGHT), based in Denver, Colorado. To date, the model is the only known one of its kind; this report therefore highlights ALIGHT for illustrative purposes only...”
ALIGHT provides a unique solution that blends law, technology, and human trafficking-specific considerations, to create a marketplace where survivors with limited opportunities can seek help and connect with specialized, high-quality attorneys.
In a few short years, ALIGHT has designed and implemented an innovative model to create a needed marketplace of solutions. To date, ALIGHT has helped over 75 individual survivors, many of whom are single mothers with one child or more. Working with over 30 attorneys across diverse areas of law and on legal issues that span different jurisdictions, ALIGHT has seen impact beyond Colorado, assisting survivors with issues in California, Florida, North Dakota, and other states.
ALIGHT looks forward to working with the policy’s sponsor, the ABA Center for Human Rights, to help advance the model further.
About ALIGHT
Founded in 2014, ALIGHT is a Colorado-based, female-founded 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to unlock a fresh start for human trafficking survivors. ALIGHT connects survivors’ diverse legal needs to untapped expertise in the legal community with a tech-based model. Survivors’ requests for legal services are posted on a real-time needs matching app by the community-based organizations that partner with ALIGHT, or by the ALIGHT Intake Advocate, whom any survivor can reach by calling the ALIGHT number 720-608-6039. In 2017, ALIGHT was invited to present its innovative work at the 61st United Nations Commission on the Status of Women human trafficking event and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy workshop on technology design, ethics, and gender-based violence.
Learn more about ALIGHT on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
