In the fall of 1998, while still a member of the U.S. Congress, Linda Smith traveled to Falkland
Road in Bombay, India- one of the worst brothel districts in the world. The hopeless faces of
desperate women and children forced into prostitution compelled Linda to found Shared Hope
International (SHI).
Linda's model for restoration has been revolutionary. SHI builds partnerships with local groups
to provide homes and shelters where women and children can live with no time limit. These
Villages of Hope have a holistic approach to recovery, including educational and job skills
training.
To build momentum in the international movement of anti-trafficking, Linda founded the War
Against Trafficking Alliance (WATA) in January of 2001. WATA coordinates both regional and
international efforts necessary to combat sex trafficking. In February 2003, WATA co-sponsored
a World Summit with the U.S. Department of State which brought together non-government and
government leaders from 114 nations, all demonstrating a sustained commitment to prosecuting
trafficking, providing assistance to victims and building regional strategies to protect the
vulnerable from the sex trade.
In 2006 SHI spearheaded the U.S. Mid-Term Review on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children (CSEC) bringing together leaders from across the USA to assess progress made
combating the sexual slavery of children in America. The CSEC conference resulted in a
broader approach to combating trafficking that looked at the victimizer in addition to the victim.
This concentration on a “buyer” became the focus of the DEMAND. report and documentary in
2007. In the creation of DEMAND. Linda was in the field conducting research in Jamaica, the
Netherlands, Japan, and the United States to reveal the sophisticated business model behind
sex trafficking, exposing the buyers who increase demand and the traffickers who supply the
victims.
The DEMAND. findings revealed that startling numbers of American children are being sex
trafficked within U.S. borders. In response, from 2006-2008 Linda and Shared Hope
International (SHI) have been working in partnership with Anti-Trafficking Task Forces in ten
U.S. cities. SHI’s goal is to identify and provide services to the American victims of Domestic
Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST).
Linda's political career began in 1983 as a Washington State Legislator. She won a write-in
campaign for Congress in 1994. Critical to Linda's success is her ability to galvanize the
grassroots community to action. Her compassionate and uncompromising belief that every
individual has dignity has carried her from advocating for permanent safe homes for children as
the State Senate chair of the Committee on Children and Family Services, to the halls of
Congress, and ultimately to searching out victims in the red light districts around the world.
Linda and her husband, Vern, reside in Vancouver, Washington and are the proud parents of
two and grandparents of six.
To schedule an interview with Congresswoman Smith please contact Shared Hope International Director of Communications Karrie Delaney at 703.351.8062 or karrie@sharedhope.org
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