The Houston 20

It was April 2017 when I sent out an email encouraging the Houston area anti-sex trafficking nonprofits to gather together in the home of my new friend Jennifer Hohman. We’d met at an oil and gas industry meeting and there was immediate synergy. We both sought increased collaboration amongst those who serve victims and survivors; Rescue Houston needed more strategic partnerships, and Jennifer was seeking information from the frontline so that she could apply her business savvy and network to fund the largest gaps in the landscape.

Little did I know that our meeting and the fruit of that email was the genesis of what would become The Houston 20 less than a year later, and this year, the #fightforus movement. Today, The Houston 20 is a powerful force made up of community leaders who fund the greatest needs on the anti-sex trafficking landscape through a timely, strategic, solutions-driven approach. I’m blown away by all that this incredible group has accomplished in the past couple years, and so humbled that this August, The Houston 20 chose to grant $67,000 for the continued development of Rescue Houston’s Emergency Assessment Program.

It amazes me what we can do when we link arms in this fight—across industries and the political, racial, religious, and denominational lines that so often divide. Sex trafficking impacts us all, and it will take all of us to end it. Thank you to The Houston 20 for taking the lead in our city and helping to bring us together. I believe that with you and because of you, we will end sex trafficking in our city.