I have already mentioned this organization in posts and tweets before, but I want to take a minute to really emphasize and promote a group here in the Austin area, Allies Against Slavery.
(Note: Their website is currently being updated and should be unveiled this month. For now, I suggest just going to their site and subscribing to their monthly newsletter. That is the "baby step": just subscribe to the newsletter!)
The mission of Allies is to "develop community-based networks that build slave-free cities." I have been to four different events related to Allies, including the Free Austin Summit in October 2013 and a couple of their monthly meetings. Each event has been highly informative and inspiring. It is awesome to see the diversity of people that come together simply united by the common passion to end slavery in the world around us.
As someone fairly new to this abolition journey, I am finding that Allies is so beneficial to me, which is why I am so strongly recommending it to others in and around Austin.
I see it as a practical way to be engaged with this movement.
Allies are connecting resources to real needs.
They have relationships with local law enforcement.
They are collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders in the community, including faith-based groups.
They assist with after-care for survivors of human trafficking as they partner with Refugee Services of Texas (RST).
They are educating people to proactively stop harm to humans.
Allies is working on growing and organizing their network. Upcoming opportunities soon to be available are "justice parties" (ways to engage small groups in human trafficking awareness) and book clubs. I will share more as I find out about these avenues.
The next meeting is Tuesday, March 18 at Space12.
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