This October, Marinus was invited to present at the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership (GPNP) Summit . The GPNP drives more powerful social impact by a unified coalition of non-profits, and public and private sector organizations.
Why do we need this? Organizations have historically been far too siloed, far too disconnected to reap the benefits of unity. When the organizations in our region meet and connect, then we have the opportunity to accelerate the social change we work so hard for. I've once heard it said that people can work together more effectively when they see each other face to face and know the other as someone with goals and passions, not just as another business card or email. The GPNP Summit provides this important opportunity to meet and strengthen our cross sector relationships.
On behalf of Marinus, I was happy to share our work across sectors to empower the fight against sex trafficking. When we began as Carnegie Mellon research in 2011, we connected with the Pittsburgh Coalition to End Human Trafficking, a local non-profit. As our research progressed to a software product, the Coalition connected us to Pittsburgh FBI, one of our first users, and some of our most dedicated super-users to this day. Both of these relationships have sparked and fueled an integral part of Marinus's mission: to provide rescue capabilities not only to law enforcement, but to non-profits who work with victims.
This connection fosters an important collaboration between detectives and victim services organizations, bringing a much more powerful rescue framework for the victims we encounter. When an advocate comes across a tip in our software, Traffic Jam, about a potential victim, they can pass it to a detective, who uses Traffic Jam to investigate, locate, and rescue her. And because of the tip referral, the detective can recommend the boy or girl to the victim services organization after the rescue, insuring a more holistic rescue process that discourages recidivism.
Only from this cross-sector collaboration, may we have an effective, comprehensive approach to fighting sex trafficking in our cities and regions.