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Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

My name is Dan Moulthrop Today is Friday, August 15th.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Today.

We'll be hearing from two local organizations that are doubling down in the fight against sexual violence and human trafficking.

The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and the Kanopy Child Advocacy Center.

Both organizations work tirelessly to support survivors, to help them heal and to make our communities safer.

I want to be clear about something.

These are not issues that happened somewhere far away.

They're here.

This is happening in our neighborhoods.

It's happening to our friends, in many cases to our families in Cuyahoga County.

1 in 10 children will experience sexual abuse before they turn 18.

And across the country, nearly 700,000 children are abused every year.

Before these organizations existed to serve Greater Cleveland, many survivors suffered in silence.

Feelings of guilt, shame and fear kept women, children and men from speaking out.

And assaults were rarely reported.

In recent years, that silence has begun to break.

And that's thanks to the bravery of survivors.

The outrage of communities, and the knowledge that help and support are out there.

So today we'll be talking about the state of the fight against sexual violence and human trafficking in Cuyahoga County.

More importantly, what all of us can do to help make sure every survivor has the safety, dignity, and resources that they need to heal.

We acknowledge this already in the room here at the City Club, but for the benefit of our radio audience, I want to acknowledge that we're talking about something that may be deeply personal and for some truly painful.

If you're just tuning in on the radio, you should know that this conversation is going to go on for about an hour.

And if it's not for you today, we certainly understand.

But if you or someone you know is impacted by what we're talking about today, you should also know that help is available 24 over seven.

You can call or text the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center's confidential hotline at (216)619-6192.

I'm going to say that number again for our radio audience.

216619619 to.

You can also go to Cleveland Rape crisis.org and be able to chat with somebody online.

Let me introduce you to the folks on our stage.

Jennifer Johnson is the executive director at Canopy Child Advocacy Center.

Jessica Martin is chief program officer and client rights officer at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

And Nicole McKinney-Johnson is president and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

Our moderator is a city Club board member, Jeff Johnson.

If you are listening to the radio or you're on our live stream and you have a question during the Q&A portion of the forum, you can text it to (330)541-5794.

And my colleagues will help us work that question into the program.

Members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please join me in welcoming our panel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Dan, thank you so much.

And thank you to the City Club and all of you who are here.

I think the way that Dan framed this discussion was incredibly important here.

1 in 10 children in Cuyahoga County.

But those are stats.

I mean, these are real babies of ours.

They attend the schools that we in, the neighborhoods that we live in.

They are part of our families.

We see them walk up and down the street.

We talk to them sometimes not knowing what they're going through.

And so as much as we dive into statistics, and dive into the unbelievably pragmatic work that you all are doing in various levels, I want to make sure that we elevate the humanity, in this issue and the comprehensive humanity that's in this issue, because we're talking about families, men, women, children, communities, organizations.

And so can you all provide some context for me when we say 1 in 10 children under the age of 18 in Cuyahoga County, will deal with sexual assault?

What does that look like in real life?

Well, I think you have to believe that it actually happens in order to accept it.

So when I look out in this room, you know, if I look at table 13 and 14, that's ten people.

One person in those ten people, if you were all children, is going to experience sexual abuse.

I could do the same with table 20 and table 16.

And I think we have to accept that that's really happening, and then begin to think about what that looks like for kids and families and acknowledge that it happens.

Acknowledge that it's real.

Believe people and begin to pay attention to what's going on.

And, Nicole, can you follow up with that when when Jennifer talked about believe people?

1 in 10 is are the numbers we know?

Sure.

And 1 in 10 aren't all talking.

And so when we talk about believe people, how are we?

What what is the state of affairs?

I mean, we live in a country that feels really comfortable talking about some things and incredibly uncomfortable talking about others.

Especially with people we know in our families.

So when we deal with this and again, there's 1 in 10.

Do you have frame for how many of those 1 in 10 are talking versus it's discovered?

How many of them feel comfortable versus feel isolated, ashamed and otherwise?

So the 1 in 10, it's really contingent on the household and the family dynamic.

So in some families, they're very open and honest about talking about their bodies and their space and their, authority and using their bodies.

And some families don't even talk about things like that.

So it really starts with, I tell all people all the time, have until comfortable conversations and comfortable rooms, because once you start having a dialog and you feel free to be able to talk about something that's uncomfortable, it opens up the avenues to build on those conversations.

And so I start with me.

I'm a survivor.

Not once, but twice.

And the difference between my story and someone that may need our services is I had a tribe.

I had someone that I could talk to, and they believed me the first time.

And I chose not to go through, you know, the system for, for various reasons.

But I had a safe space, and that's the difference.

If you have the opportunity to be your authentic self until whoever.

It wasn't my fault.

And do you believe me?

And they say, yes, they're on the road to healing.

It's just I would I would also add to that, I think when we're talking about statistics, it's easy to forget that that 1 in 10 is actually more like 50% or higher.

If this room were filled with individuals who identified as trans or that, it would be three times as high if this room were filled with black boys.

And so I think that when we talk about general statistics we're leaving out really glaring pictures and, and in some cases even in conversations in this room where we have people who are well versed or sometimes more well versed on the issue.

I'm finding that when you say sexual violence, there's such a scope of what that even means.

And even with sex trafficking, there's there's an incredible scope of of what that means.

Can you all frame for me when we're talking about sexual violence, what are we talking about?

Because I think that sometimes we're looking for long term abuse.

We're looking for physical bruises.

We're looking for these things that are pervasive in in our face.

But it's not that pervasive and much more nuanced.

And so can you all provide some form of frame for us to understand?

What are we talking about when we're talking about sexual violence?

And then we can talk a little bit more about sex trafficking?

So if you're in a predicament or a circumstance and you say no and it continues, that's violence.

That's taking away someone's right to choose to not have sex or anything to that matter.

Right.

And so I think a lot of us also, when it comes to social media, when things happen, it brings up things that they didn't even realize, oh, I was put in a situation that I was unfamiliar with, or I was taken advantage of in a sexual way that I didn't even realize it until I saw it through someone else's eyes.

So the understanding that no means no.

That's it.

Once you get past that and you go beyond that, then it becomes where you're manipulating and violating someone's space.

And that's the difference.

I think.

We think it's this to your point, it's this long, drawn out, abusive type of relationship.

And these could just be marital couples.

It could be people that are together and they choose not to want to have sex.

And then they're put in a situation where they make they're made to feel bad.

That's violating their space.

Yeah.

I would add that our movement does a disservice when, you know, even in our name, Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, we're thinking of rebranding it now because, a lot of folks don't use the word rape.

You know, what happened to them doesn't feel like rape or trafficking.

It feels like a violation.

And it feels like hurt.

It feels like trauma instead.

So I would add that anything that happens that, causes you to feel violated or distrustful or scared, that's a violation.

That's a trauma for you.

And you can talk to someone about that.

I think we also have to remember that people often don't know that they're being abused.

If that's the upbringing and the environment that they were in.

That's a normal behavior.

And until they're exposed to someone who's different or someone who flags that as something that isn't normal for them, they recognize as that that to be something that is normal.

Oftentimes when people are abused, but especially when they're sexually abused or trafficked, this is a behavior that they're taught early on and that begins to feel like it's something normal to them.

It's not we there are things such as stranger danger, and there are things where people are attacked, but often people who are abused or abused or traffic by someone that is known to them.

And so that how does that happen?

That happens through a relationship that's built through various points in their life, and then vulnerabilities that happen that make them, be caught up in these circumstances.

And unfortunately, it's a lot with family members because you're building that trust.

And so then you, the person that's been in that situation, how can they tell someone else that someone in their family is doing these things to them?

The majority of individuals that experience sexual violence, do so at the hands of someone they know and trust.

Well, and even as we talk about, I want to center down into Cuyahoga County and northeast Ohio.

And I saw I saw and heard almost a level of, oh, when you talked about the number of black boys.

And so let's talk about like, what's that changing?

Has a nature of sexual violence and, and sex trafficking shifted, recently in, in northeast Ohio as it relates to victims, perpetrators, ecosystem for support.

And in some cases still a lack thereof.

It's shifting in many ways.

And I think we're also learning a lot that we didn't know before.

So for instance, with technology, we know that grooming behaviors are are going from in person to online.

And the apps are very difficult to keep up with.

Law enforcement, everyone has a difficult time keeping children safe, so we all have to take personal responsibility for that.

Can you can you do me a favor?

Just because I want to make sure we're all having the same discussion?

And I know there's at least two people in here that don't know what grooming means.

Yes, sure.

So, thank you for stopping me there.

Like they took them to the barbershop.

No, no, no.

Grooming means, in a way, courting a victim.

So getting to know them, getting to know their vulnerabilities, getting to know you're in for manipulation and for, exploitation.

And you'll hear me talk a lot about vulnerabilities today, because I think it's an area of sexual violence that we've overlooked historically is that our survivors are not, existing in a vacuum.

They have many layers and a coin, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Intersectionality is, they make up who they are.

And those intersectionality lead to a various amount of traumas.

And so when someone comes into our office, if a black boy comes into our office, that sexual violence is probably not the only trauma that they're experiencing at that time, and the more trauma and the more barriers are experiencing, the more difficult it is to overcome that.

And when we talk about children, I also want to recognize that they grow up and they're sitting in this room too, right?

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

And I can tell you today it cannot be opened our doors in 2018.

And we've seen over 4000 children.

And we serve not only sexually abused kids, but we also serve victims of human trafficking and physically abused kids.

But 4000 and we're not.

There's more out there.

And our average child, when you run those numbers that we we if we could average it is a ten year old African-American female that has been sexually abused.

And so this is a problem that exists, that is real.

And that's why there's a need to be able to respond to it.

And that's Cuyahoga County.

That's current numbers right now.

So one of the things that I'm most proud of at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center is that we have an awesome education and outreach department, because we want to get to you before it happens.

The prevention is really what we need to focus on so that we can't negate, things from happening, but we can give them the tools, right?

So one of my responsibilities, of course, is to go out into the community and educate people on the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

So I was sitting with a superintendent of a school system, and they were encouraging me to talk with some of the coaches for the young man, for football and basketball, to see if, you know, if there's some things that come up, or we can have some type of dialog and build a curriculum.

And I paused the conversation and he said, am I saying something wrong?

I said, absolutely not.

I want to start with the coaches.

Let's start with them, because we need to dissect what's going on with them as grown men and grown women to see if they've been hurt.

So then they could recognize at first, and then we can work collaboratively to ensure that our kids are good.

And there's a lot of myths, about who victims are, about who perpetrators are, and and even more, I mean, if you are just what is one myth that scares you?

That if there's anything you think people need to be aware of, this is one of those things.

Jennifer.

That people choose this, that it's not actually happening.

It's something that they engaged in that children can't get pregnant from rape because they can.

I've seen them little children.

I would say, that if you reach out and you call the justice system for help, that you'll receive justice.

So, we see it every day in the media.

We see it every day in the cases that we work on.

I have given testimonials and court judges begged them, to not, you know, grant someone house arrest when they've committed a rape, when people are just trying to walk down the street in their neighborhood.

And I still see them get house arrest, and I, you know, I just we we also still see, you know, everyone victim blaming, you know, they had it come in.

What were they wearing?

You know, all of those things are still happening.

People are still not believed on a regular basis.

And I know many years ago, we talked about the untested rape kits in Cleveland.

We're still going through those.

That's not over.

It's like 40% over now.

We're still processing through that.

And so every day we're knocking on doors of victims that came out years and years and years ago and asked for help, did not get justice.

And now we're saying, hey, we found your rapist.

What is that like?

And even then, you still don't have a guarantee of justice.

And I want to talk a little bit more about that, Nicole, before you respond.

Because even even as I think about most recently, this case.

Yes.

And I don't want to relitigate a case.

I was horrified by the things I heard people say around the case, about what was possible.

How could someone continue to do this if they didn't really enjoy it?

Where are the spaces that you all are seeing?

Real narrative attack where folks that do the work that you are doing are doing an amazing job of challenging some of these antiquated, uneducated narratives and providing whether it's, real survivor testing money, and in some cases, just data and facts to, to let people know, you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

And the human nuance under this is beyond what you even have the capability to see.

Well, the misconception is that it's not happening in your family.

It's not happening in your church.

Yeah.

It's not happening in all the rooms that you're in.

It's happening right now.

Someone in this room right now is going through something that is frightening.

And they do not feel that if they called the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, that they would be believed and that they wouldn't be helped.

And that's the myth that we want to dismantle.

We believe you the first time, and we're going to get you on that road to healing.

A lot of people start, they start out great, but then they go back to their life, and sometimes they don't get the full treatment that they deserve, the full therapy that they deserve.

And it's hard for us to encourage people when the world tells them that they're lying.

I was going to say, to answer your question without getting, you know, into a crazy politics battle.

There's there's a lot of government level, politicians or organizations that don't believe they push narratives that are incorrect in Ohio.

Yes.

In our current politicians that we have right now, and that doesn't do us any favors because people then follow those individuals and they follow that narrative, and the media runs that narrative, and that narrative is completely against what is reality.

But it seems like, at least today, in 2025, no one's accepting what is reality.

And so while we've always known that it makes our fight even harder because they disassociate themselves from the reality, yeah, and they pull funds and availabilities for us to be able to help people because they don't believe that it exists or they do, and they don't have people held accountable.

They don't to hold anyone accountable.

Yeah.

So so let's talk about the work.

And I really appreciate the fact that, there's so much collaborative work taking place.

And so can you all talk about that?

Just can you, can you start talking a little bit about not only the work that you all are doing, but how the collaborative effort is ensuring greater efficacy and impact of that work?

Absolutely.

So I don't think we would be where we are today without our partners, being able to serve survivors.

You all heard from Kirstie Muncy from the collaborative Down to Human Trafficking.

We also have the CAC up here, but we're a network of providers.

You know, we have hope and healing in Akron.

We collaborate with them on a regular basis.

And so we're also collaborating with law enforcement, when they do sting operations and recovery for human trafficking, our advocates from the CAC and from CRC are going with the law enforcement that way.

The first person someone sees when they're recovered is an advocate and not an officer, if possible.

You know, being able to work together to change policy, whether it's at the state and local level or internal in your organization, you know, do we have to change the processes of our work and challenging one another to do that and to grow as the needs of our survivors change?

I think that the collaboration that happens in Cuyahoga County surpasses that of the other counties that we're working in, and we're trying to get to that level everywhere.

You know, we have systems that welcome us and open their doors.

And when we have that happen, regardless of the outcome of the case, the survivor still is better off feeling supported and knowing they have a tribe.

Right.

But you look at other communities and you have closed systems where community advocates are not welcome.

You have survivors crying for their advocates, and they're not allowed to come into the police interview because they have rules about that.

And so, you know, it here in in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, I think we're light years ahead of some other community communities and our ability to collaborate to serve something greater than ourselves.

It's not about us.

Can can you?

I know it's so hard sometimes talking about politics.

But they're real and they impact the work that you all do.

And so where are things as it relates to federal focus, let alone, state and county focus around resources?

And how are those realities without commentary on the poverty?

How is the reality of the politic impacting your support, and resources that are our focus on the work that you're doing?

Well, there's less access to the funding, the funding, you know, the the funding opportunities are decreased compared to where they were.

You have limitations with what you can apply for and how you can apply for it based upon new rules and regulations that have been put in place, which hurts the people that we serve because we don't want to put limitations on people.

We should be able to serve anyone and everyone.

And this funding requires that you say that you don't.

For example, you have to say that an individual's heterosexual.

What if they're not?

What if they were raped?

What if they need help?

So we we then are stuck with trying to figure out how to still serve those individuals, because that's our mission.

Nicole and I stand firm in that.

But without funding, without access to funding.

And so there's less funding.

But then there's also hardships with our current funding, funding and things being up in the air because of not knowing what's going to happen next.

And when you're a nonprofit 503, you rely on government funding as well as private donations and, foundations.

And when it's I have not seen it be this volatile and rocky as it is in terms of not knowing what's going to happen next.

And the work to Jennifer's point, it has to continue.

So our lights, our doors, they have to remain open and the lights on.

Right.

So we have conversations with our teams.

We have to think there is no box at this point.

We're really going to have to let people know that we need money.

The funding is changing.

We had, you know, scares, you know, everything is just all over the place.

We have to change verbiage.

You know, we do have some, you know, great partnerships in both sides of the aisle.

Even from, you know, our state, we have great representation that fights on our behalf.

But as the further it goes up, the quieter it gets.

But the work doesn't stop.

And that also means that at some point there has to be a modification in, in your funding approach.

Absolutely.

So there needs to be larger community donations, small dollar donations in bulk.

Yes.

And engagement to the broader community, kind of like the people that are sitting in this room.

Yes.

That all have wallets.

Yes.

You're this is not a fundraising at all.

This is not a fundraising piece.

I'm just saying it.

Absolutely.

You can see my people, though.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, they're over there.

Yes.

Yeah.

I would also add, make no mistake, that the, the words that were not allowed to use that list grows every day.

And it's an effort to silence us.

Yeah.

Yes.

We're not allowed to talk about fighting injustice in the system, so only apply for grants anymore.

But there's still injustice in the systems.

And so, we're going to continue to use our voice.

We.

That's why I'm so happy we're here today to to raise the voice of the survivors, because we might not be able to write about it in our grant applications, but we're still doing the work every day.

Well, and let's talk about survivors a bit.

If, if, if there is someone in this room that's a survivor or someone listening that a survivor, someone who loves a survivor, what are the 2 to 3 things that that every survivor needs to know?

On what's clearly a journey towards hopefully healing and recovery, transformation and even thriving, they need to be believed.

I would say we believe you.

There's nothing wrong with you.

And healing can be defined as many things, but you absolutely have an opportunity to feel that.

I would say, you know, that healing is not linear.

And just because something happened to you 20 or 30 years ago doesn't mean that you don't deserve the help and the tribe and the caring today.

You know, there's a community out there that will receive you with open arms.

And there are resources that we fight to keep every day for you.

And so I would just let folks know that no matter when they're ready, and it doesn't have to be today, it doesn't have to be the day something happens.

There are many reasons why you might not want to come forward, but know that that will stick with you.

And whenever you're ready, we're here.

What?

What about the community?

Because clearly, the work that you all do isn't effective if there's not a tribe or an ecosystem of regular old folks that are believing, those that are providing spaces and frankly, have a level of understanding to help stop this from happening to the degree that it is or in the way that it does.

And so what's the message to community members, regardless of where they sit, about how they can join this fight and be involved in the work?

Well, being a woman of color, being in this position just shy of one year, people are continuing to ask me, what can I do?

What do you need?

And I say, say, Cleveland Rape Crisis Center in every room that you're in, that I'm not speak my name in rooms where I'm not so that they can get the help that they need.

Because once we get in the room.

We're able to we're we're able to move mountains.

At that point, it's really allowing us the space and availing themselves to want to learn, to want to have, again, uncomfortable conversations.

But the prevention is the key.

Get us in the room.

Let them be authentic.

What says in a room stays in a room, right?

Build that trust and then let's build this out together.

I would say to educate yourself, there's all kinds of resources.

We've got several resources at our tables.

Educate yourself about what you can do, that there's information on all of our websites.

And then I would also say to just recognize and there's this is a far longer conversation, but there's a whole lot of things that also, like she's saying, contribute to these situations and that there's a whole lot of prevention that can be done.

41% of children that are tried as adults in court, 41% have been sexually abused, but they're tried as adults.

What have we got in front of that?

And we help them with their trauma in the first place.

They wouldn't even be trying as adults, I would say, recognize that you're all advocates.

Yeah.

You all have the personal responsibility to stop harm in your communities.

And, so recognizing that and as my colleague said, educate yourself and put our resources out there, we have bracelets and things, out there that you can wear.

I wear them to so I can give them to someone who might be in need, you know, always carry cards or resources with you.

That way you can help someone out and take care of our kids.

Yeah.

Watch them.

Watch where they're going.

Pay attention to the adults that are around them and what their interest in them might be, and pay attention to their electronics and educate yourself on that, too.

That's a never ending battle.

So so I have a question that's going to lean into my own personal bias as well as my own personal mission, and that is, I'm having a conversation with three women.

By and large, the people that I run into that are activist and engaged in this work are women, and I want to know where to help them in it.

And I want to know what must know.

And that's and and that's not to discount the men that are.

Yes.

But but as, as a heterosexual black man, what it what am I saying to my boys?

What are the things that I need to be talking to them about?

What are the things that we as men need to not be silent about?

Because I'm constantly in conversations where I'm like, did you hear what the hell?

You just say it like, this is not acceptable, right?

And I can't allow him to walk out of the room without me saying she's too young.

Yeah, without saying I'm uncomfortable with what you just told me.

And I think often in, in a in a in a day and age where especially Mark, quote unquote, marginalized people feel attacked.

Yeah.

They often allow things to go on said because they don't want to attack when we need to address.

And so what are the things that that that you would advise me as a heterosexual black man to say in the circles of men, especially heteros other heterosexual men?

Because that's predominantly the circle that I'm in.

What what am I saying?

What should I be saying?

Where should I be directing them for information?

I would say publicly hold yourself to a higher standard.

You know, walk the walk, so to speak.

Also, you know, Nicole mentioned earlier having uncomfortable conversations in comfortable rooms.

Men need to talk to each other, you know, talk about the experiences you've had.

Make it okay to have had trauma in your past, to be dealing with stuff, you know, be there for one another.

It remove those barriers and talk about that fear that you're feeling in that moment when you don't know if you should say something, because that fear is coming from a lot of different places, especially for black men.

Right?

If I speak up, what happens?

Am I going to be in danger if I speak up here?

You know, not wanting to tear down someone else, you know, but holding that personal responsibility and saying, well, when we feel that fear, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to have a plan for myself in that moment when I feel that fear.

Because usually when I'm feeling that it's because something's wrong and my body knows I need to take action, my mind just needs to catch up.

But when you're in those rooms, Jeff, just say you good.

I just had a great conversation with three women who are in this work and this is what I learned.

Tell me what you know.

Did you know that, you know, has anything happened to you like this?

I do you feel like you're in a safe space to talk about it?

Because a lot of men don't, and a lot of men have been victimized, but who are they going to tell that's going to believe them because they think, you know, they're not a man.

If they talk about somebody's violated me.

So start with the conversation that we're having today and watch the windows of opportunity and transparency take place.

Talk about it because people don't.

And and so let's lift that a bit because I want to make sure obviously that we open this to a broader conversation.

But without betraying confidence.

What is the human side of this?

What what is an example of someone that you all have served that often as you think about it, is, the antithesis of what most people believe by way of a survivor or by way of a victim.

And in some cases, even by way of a perpetrator.

Can you share a human story that that really elevates for you so much of what you've already shared?

Jennifer.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Jennifer.

What about you?

So we have a we had a family, where there was five children involved.

Abuse had been happening in the family for 40 years.

4040, 40 years.

Because like she said, it happens in the family, and we don't say anything, right?

Or we look the other way, or we don't want to get that person in trouble.

And there's lots of reasons why there's fear, but have been abusing multiple family members for five years and there was five kids involved.

We had one of our advocates go with them to the arraignment and the.

Father in the situation wasn't comfortable talking.

He said they're not going to believe anyway.

What's the point?

And the advocate said, well, sometimes it helps if you talk about how it impacted your family.

That's in our work.

That's what we call a victim impact statement.

And when, so he decided to go in with this advocate, and when he got in, he couldn't do it.

So our advocates are trying to read those impact statements on their behalf.

And when the advocate went and read the impact statement previously at the arraignment, the perpetrator was facing a 10% surety bond at $10,000.

After that victim impact statement, they raise it to $100,000.

So that's the work that we do every day is I don't even think I'm going to believe when I go to court, no one's going to believe me.

They're.

And that's why our work is so important, because our advocates are able to help see that to the finish line.

I want to continue this, but we're about to begin the audience Q&A.

For those is joining via our live stream and radio audience.

I'm Jeff Johnson, founding member of the society for Extraordinary Clevelanders.

Yes, that's a real thing.

And moderator for today's discussion, today I'm in conversation with Jennifer Johnson, executive director at Canopy Child Advocacy Center.

Jessica Martin, chief programing officer and client rights officer at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

And Nicole McKinney Johnson, president CEO of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

We're talking about the state of sexual violence and human trafficking in Cuyahoga County, and what each of us can do to ensure a safe, healing environment for all survivors.

We welcome questions from everyone, City Club members, guests, and those joining VR live stream at City club.org or live radio broadcast at 89.7 KSU Idea Stream Public Media.

If you'd like to text a question to our panel, please text it to (330)541-5794.

That's (330)541-5794, and city club staff will try to work it into the program.

As we get our first question, I would love to give, Nicole or Jessica an opportunity to share another, real human story, that reflects the work that you're doing.

And then we'll take our first question.

Whenever I'm asked this, I always remember, a little girl that I worked with from Cleveland when I first started doing this work, I used to be a child therapist, a long time ago.

And she came into our shelter after, you know, her father had, really severely for years beat her mother and and raped her in front of them.

And when she came in, she was four, and she had forgotten how to smile and laugh.

And what I mean by that is when she was playing with the other kids, she would see that they were laughing and smiling, and she would do kind of a mechanical, ha ha ha ha.

You know, like she wasn't feeling joy.

She wasn't, you know, her spirit was broken.

And she stayed with us for about seven months in the shelter.

We had therapy every day.

Play therapy every day.

It's not what it sounds like.

It is a little fun.

It can be fun as well.

But at the end of that six months, she learned to smile and laugh again.

And it sounded like a little girl smiling and laughing.

And her spirit started to come back together.

And that's what we get to do.

That's why.

That's my why.

Yeah.

That's my why is is that we we can help kids learn to smile again.

And if I could, we had a woman from another country that came to the United States.

And unfortunately, she was put in human trafficking, but she got out of it and she came to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

She worked with our phenomenal staff, and now she's an advocate.

She does interviews.

She talks about what we do and why we do it and how we were able to help her.

And so, you know, she's our champion.

And anytime we do anything, she is always there because she wants people to recognize her and them and them in her.

So so as we take this first question, I just would be remiss if I didn't ask for those of us in the room to give you a round of applause for the work that you do.

I don't know what.

We know.

We know that that is not the reason you do it.

No, but you do it every day in silence.

And so we want you to know that we see you as you do everything you can to see people who have felt so unseen for so long.

Our first question.

I know she said ended with a question.

But I wanted to respond to your question about what can you teach our heterosexual black boys?

And one of the things that I just think that we should teach is consent.

And what happens when you aren't taught consent?

So I guess if I wanted to throw the question back, it would be, how would you teach consent to our younger black boys?

Thank you so much for that.

That was a brilliant way to ask a question.

Yes, and get you get your point off without taking too long.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

So, so, one of the things I teach, with our family and friends, when you have little people, so, you know, you go to the family cookout and they say, go hug Uncle Johnny or go hug Aunt Jan, you know, because they have to own their bodies, right?

They're little people and they have to own their space.

So encourage them to do fist bumps, high fives, because you're not being disrespectful.

You're allowing them to respect their space.

And so once you change the language and you make them feel that they're still empowered, and there's still that touch with love and respect, it's a win win for everybody.

So just just try those things with your young people at the next family function and just normalize it.

Just normalize talking about it.

Yes.

And if you're feeling uncertain about how to start the conversation, you've never talked about this or your parents never talk to you about this.

There are so many wonderful videos now on social media.

Like there's one consent.

It's like drinking tea, you know, and it talks about how you don't, you know, offer someone tea and they say yes.

And then if they fall asleep, you don't pour the tea down their throat because they said yes earlier, right?

No.

So there's, you know, some really good analogies that help break it down to us in a simple way so that you can have that conversation.

I've recently come back to Cleveland, probably about a year.

So at this point I'm partner with the Urban League for their girls program, and I'm also partner with currently about ten, school partnerships, including some district partnerships as well.

So with me working with these girls, because that is my life work at this point, I want to know how I can also get additional support from your services.

And as well continually be, on a larger impact form, because I am one who has transformed and rewired my brain and all the things.

And I think that's one of the things that people don't talk about is that aftercare part, because it is a long journey.

In addition to like policy changes like TSA, it has never happened, is only happened at Cleveland Airport where I've had to get searched and literally hit a TSA agent because of how they searched me.

And so I cannot fly on that plane.

It had to come back and buy another ticket for the next day.

So these are issues and policy issues that do need to be raised.

Awareness of and that we need to, I'm willing to like, partner and come together with larger organizations because it's important and I mean, this is the only reason why I'm living at this point.

Absolutely.

And thank you.

So so there are a couple layers and a couple layers.

So first, how can she get support from from you all and create level of partnership company.

Yeah.

There's we're we're we're jumping at the board here.

So the first thing I would say is that one of the misnomers for our hotline is that it's for survivors only.

Our hotline is actually for professionals to teachers call all the time.

We also offer support sessions, we counseling for folks that are supporting survivors.

And if you're a survivor yourself, supporting other survivors can sometimes be taxing.

And what that looks like is just for sessions.

You don't have to do a whole assessment or anything like that.

So there can be ongoing support.

You say you're working with young girls.

There's going to be times where you're faced with this, right?

We offer trainings on how to respond.

So how to be a, you know, a first responder, how to listen to, disclosures of sexual abuse and how to be there for someone.

But also we can offer emotional support as you are supporting others walking through that journey.

And may I just say, very inspired to hear your story.

So thank you for sharing.

Yeah.

Thank you for sharing.

And we're here.

So staff, please raise your hands so that you can go to anyone, including myself.

So let's make sure that we connect before you leave today.

And you can also you should come see canopy, so that you familiarize yourself with what we do.

And we can, connect you with the resources that we can help with the girls that you're serving.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Yes.

My staff are at table 17, and then I have board members at 16 and 20.

So make sure you connect with us, too, and we'll get you out there to come see it and see what else we can do.

I want to get to our next question, but I do want I don't want to fly by, what she mentioned about policy.

Yes.

And where are the opportunities?

I mean, I don't want to dive into specific policy issues at this point, but but where are the spaces for those who are in this room who care about policy that impact, and surround this work, where the places they can go to dive in and support that work?

You can start here.

We can have a conversation.

We work with our local, obviously our local politicians, and we do a deep dive through our policies.

Everything right now, is it?

There are some things that that are locked in, but there are some things that we can build out together.

I think some of the misconception is that we can't start from what we don't know.

We have to start having these conversations and start to build these policies on the work that we're doing so that we can understand, so that people can understand the importance of it.

And if, advocating at a federal level feels too big or too confusing for some of us who are not in politics or government work, start at the local level.

School boards, you know, city councils, go to those meetings, advocate for change when you see the policies that they're setting up, are not fitting for survivors or for the community in general.

And your your local people also know sometimes they've been impacted by this or they are connected to the federal level.

So I see Councilwoman House from City of Cleveland, Councilwoman Turner from County Council.

They show up to all of these things.

They know about this.

They choose to educate themselves about this.

And so you never know the connections they may have to help elevate your concern as well.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Columbus was a great segue.

Way to my question.

Yes, ma'am.

Hello.

I just want to give a shout out to Jennifer, Jess, and, Nicole.

I had the distinct pleasure of working alongside, Jennifer and Jess and just knowing, Nicole.

So I just want to hit on a question, a statement that you said.

Jess, you said just because the you call the police doesn't mean you get justice.

That kind of sat with the crowd a little bit, right?

The criminal justice system wasn't meant to protect victims, right?

The laws were written so, and so the laws lend itself to the, to the patriarchy, where even little children are not protected.

Justice, I need you to come to your question for me.

Okay?

So the question is, what are you what are your agencies doing to address laws and policies that failed to protect and address the harm to victims?

And have you all considered becoming a 501 C for awesome?

Talking with our board for that, that particular item, we're having talks about that because it's needed.

We we're not running from the situation.

We understand that our young people need to be protected, but it's really getting governments to understand the severity of it and hearing us and advocating on our behalf as well.

And Jessica and Jennifer, even as you answer, even if your organization isn't there, are there existing ciphers or even packs C sixes that are either specifically focused on or have as a part of their overall policy engagement work?

The work that aligns with what you're doing?

Yeah, I would say at the Rape Crisis center, we're very fortunate and that we have a government affairs director who, really keeps us in the loop on, you know, what's going on out there because we're busy doing the work in the streets, you know, it can be hard to keep, a tab on everything that's going on in the government.

So we're we're constantly doing research.

We're driving down to Columbus.

We're going to Washington, and we're advocating in person, to those lawmakers where participating in and joining with our state coalitions like the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, to make sure that we're heard, to make sure that we're raising our voice as loud as we can with as many people as we can.

So we are doing a lot of, activist work as well.

On top of it, we have not explored becoming a 584, but I appreciate the the thought and consideration.

There are definitely organizations out there doing that though, and I highly support them.

Given the nature of what we do, we're a little bit different.

But what I will say is that we're a child advocacy Center model, works with a multi-disciplinary team, and that multi-disciplinary team includes law enforcement, prosecution, mental health, victim advocates, medical therapists.

And I'm going I could go on and on about who all it includes, but part of what we do is bring those people together to talk about the challenges in each case and what's working well and what isn't, and respectfully but legitimately calling that out.

And so we call it out, Zoe, every day, when we see it and we try to understand and know that since the systems exist, and while we need to support organizations that are advocating to change those systems, we're right there within them in that moment.

And what can we do 1 to 1, face to face, every day through collaboration to make change?

But but it's such an important question because because the work that you all do is the on the ground.

So three service engagement work.

But if any of this is going to change, there has to be a shift in policy.

And that C4 work is is critical one to raise dollars.

So that there are folks that are doing it on a daily basis.

But two it mushrooms the work that you all are doing by engaging folks who who aren't going to do C3 work.

But it also because I think we've talked about this a little bit.

With C4, you can talk differently.

Yes.

And you can with C3 work.

There are words you can say when you do C4 work.

You cannot say when you do C3 work.

And so it's just such a critical component of the of the ecosystem of engagement.

Thank you so much for that.

Yes, ma'am.

Hi.

My name is Lisa Ratigan.

I have the privilege of serving as the board chair for CRC.

And my question is really around human trafficking.

We we've touched on it at a high level, but can you talk a little bit about the work that goes on in the human trafficking space and the importance of collaboration and how that impacts the broader community?

Thank you.

Absolutely.

So we actually have, one of the leaders of that collaboration in the room with us today, Christy Muncie, at the Cleveland Collaborative.

Done human trafficking.

Yeah.

You know, we have a group of professionals that are insisting on our collaboration for a good reason.

We're seeing growth in that area in in Cleveland.

Lots of survivors are coming forward.

We opened a human trafficking drop in center.

Actually, Teresa Stafford, who used to work for us, helped found that center is her baby.

And now we've grown it into something much bigger than we ever dreamed it could be.

We're we're, you know, serving survivors, probably over 200 a year now, are coming in and we're we're doing screening, and we're seeing that 40% of our clients are at risk for our human trafficking.

And so we're also seeing that 40% of survivors are thinking of suicide, and we can't do this work alone.

Survivors have substance use issues.

They need peer support.

We collaborate with Thrive Peer Recovery to provide that.

They need medical care.

We collaborate with the centers, and we've opened a free clinic for human trafficking survivors to get primary medical care.

And so this work in human trafficking depends on collaboration because it's, we're we're attacking it from so many different angles.

And you heard me earlier mentioned vulnerability is part of the reason we're collaborating is to remove as many community vulnerabilities as we can for survivors.

So that they're not at risk.

Can you talk more about what are community vulnerabilities?

Sure.

So, the housing crisis in Cleveland, you know, since the pandemic, has only seemed to get worse.

Shelters are full.

How do we keep folks that are exposed to trafficking safe if we can't even find them a safe space to sleep at night?

How are we expecting folks to get out there and get jobs and safe housing if they can't work because they're sick?

How are we expecting parents to keep kids safe if there's not safe childcare, how are you supposed to get good medical treatment if you don't have a driver's license, you don't have identification.

That's where the centers comes in that we treat them every single day.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Jennifer Johnson, Jessica Martin, Nicole McKinney Johnson, and also Jeff Johnson for moderating.

There's really there's no relation as far as far as I know.

As we close, we want to honor again the, the courage it takes to engage in these conversations about sexual violence and, and human trafficking.

And again, for any of you who need to hear this here in the room or, on our radio, in our radio audience, if you or someone you know needs help, it's available.

You can call or text the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center's confidential hotline at (216)619-6192.

That's (216)619-6192.

Or you can visit Cleveland Rape crisis.org.

And you can chat with somebody online there if you need immediate support before leaving this room today or before leaving the City club today, there's a counselor in our green room.

It's just outside the doors and to the left.

Please take care of yourselves and one another.

And thank you for being a part of this conversation today.

You guys are really amazing.

Really, truly.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I also I also want to thank again our partners at Idea Stream, the fact that this conversation was happening here and was also broadcast live across the entire listening area.

It it gave me a lot of hope thinking about who might be listening today.

So thanks to them as well.

If you're interested in what's coming up next to the City Club, please check it out.

City club.org.

Thank you once again to our panelists and our moderator.

Thank you, all of you, for being a part of this really important conversation today.

Our forum is adjourned.

Have a great day.

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