Veterans of Crisis, Shyne’s Survivors Swing into Action
Shyne San Diego enters day 22 of self quarantine for all team members as the day breaks with news of another rescue placed safely in a hotel, a young woman experiencing mental distress safely in a hospital, and letters clipped to the mailbox filled with emergency supplies ready to be shipped.
Here on the frontlines of human trafficking, Shyne San Diego was well positioned for the COVID-19 emergency regulation orders from the start. With central operations already running remotely, we held a community vision summit via Zoom on St. Patrick's Day. Shyne is operated by a network of survivor advisors and leaders, all of whom have experienced economic disparity, freedom restrictions, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and a lack of resources. COVID-19 exacerbates these issues outwards into our communities, but gratefully, this team knew how to respond.
Cynthia Austin, the founder of Shyne San Diego, is an inaugural GATHER Fellow, who has spent the last two years nurturing asset-based community development measures locally. Shyne had in place emergency response protocols, needs assessments, coordination platforms, and the community connections necessary to mobilize their team within hours of the mandatory quarantine. The teams use Zoom regularly to train, meet and support each other, Voxer to coordinate on the ground efforts, and shared Google Drive to track impact. Monitoring community impact is a critical step in their operations. In three weeks, trends have emerged. They are seeing very quickly an increase in needs for mental health support, work options from home, rent, cell phones, internet and basic home supplies.
In response, Shyne San Diego partnered with survivor-owned nonprofit Victory Garden Sanctuary to launch the first Survivor Advised COVID-19 Fund. Shyne's innovative, bold and candid reputation has gotten them the attention of the California District Attorney's Association, Civilization Research Initiative, and community volunteer organizations. Cynthia and her team of survivor advisors are assisting with research, funding solutions, survivor-led outreach, social media awareness campaigns, equipment for hospitals, and economic strategies to weather the months ahead.
COVID-19 impact on our global community is profound and swift. Each of us have a role in minimizing the impact of COVID-19 in our communities. Resiliency is an attribute survivors of exploitation possess that's extremely valuable in overcoming difficult times. Their ability to balance tragedy with action is crucial for making quick decisions within organizations, families, communities and personal lives. Cynthia asked her team, "What is your personal responsibility with responding to this crisis?" She then told them that one’s "respond-ability" is now measured by four areas: (1) able (2) necessary (3) practical (4) meaningful. You can do the same. Let's unite the fight against COVID-19 as a community of care.
Shyne San Diego
Women's Grassroots Leadership & Professional Development
"Ending exploitation by building a network of survivor owned & operated businesses."
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SHYNE On You Crazy Diamond
For two weeks starting on January 17, Shyne San Diego—founded and led by Global Gather alumnus Cynthia Austin—partnered with area organizations in the San Diego and Orange County area to mount a first-of-its-kind exhibition on sexual and human trafficking entitled, “Behold Her: Portraits of Survivors of Human Trafficking” at You Belong Here, a co-working and community events space in San Diego.
An exhibit of photographic portraits of trafficking survivors by Amari DixonPhotography, “Behold Her” is the first photo exhibition undertaken by SHYNE. More than 100 people attended the premiere evening, and Cynthia said the highly successful endeavor was the culmination of a long-held dream.
Cynthia supporting Women in Business at the #linkedinlocalsd kick off 2020 event in San Diego hosted on January 31, 2020.
“I knew from the beginning that the survivors’ voices were the key to reshaping the public’s view of then,” she explained.
“The message I believe people took away from the show is hope. Each image represents 1000 victims of trafficking in San Diego every year. These women give hope to those victims as examples of what is possible with community support and a desire for change. Each image also represents a woman giving back to other victims by providing services, work opportunities and resources to assist with healing.
One of the survivors, Jessica, said it best:
"Nothing that has happened to me in the past will hold me back. I am here. I am empowered. I am a new person. I am breaking all stereotypes...Something that somebody else did to me is going to put a label on me? I don't think so! That’s not going to happen. That's not who I am.’”
The city of San Diego, California, ranks eighth-highest in the United States for intensity of Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) and drives an estimated $810 million in the underground sex economy.
“My vision for SHYNE in 2020 [is to] continue building the Survivors Business Network, where survivors and businesses with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) work collaboratively to support the women, girls and children who survive trafficking.”
Two days after the exhibit opening, a Survivor Business Pop-Up Boutique was held at You Are Here. The timing of the show was not coincidental, as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month is observed annually each January in the United States.
Cynthia participates in the January 24th Media Symposium: Changing the Narrative/Media Impact on the Human Trafficking Movement hosted by the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking with Amy McClelland Bril and Ana Mony.
Cynthia and SHYNE’s journey began a little over a year ago, and she remains steadfast in her desire to not only provide holistic support to survivors, but also to let “people know that [survivors] get caught in a life of exploitation due to their upbringing, where some form of abuse occurred making them vulnerable to predators.
"When a victim can feel their inherent value and understand it wasn't their fault, that there's nothing wrong with them, there is a turning point in their lives. I hope this work will perhaps help society to stop blaming victims for the suffering they've endured. I hope it gives people empathy, compassion and understanding about exploitation, it's nature and what we are up against with sex trafficking.”
After the show, “Keelin,” a pseudonym for one of the women whose portraits was hung as part of the exhibition, wrote to Cynthia. Eerily, the exhibition was on the same street where she’d been first sold for sex by the individual who trafficked her. "You have helped me share my voice and my story and it means the world to me,” Keelin wrote to Cynthia. “I will always cherish our friendship and will support you in any way I can."
One Year Anniversary of Shyne!
Hello to the global network from San Diego!
I am pleased to share an update on the work of Shyne on our one year anniversary!
The Social Garden, a new space designed to include holistic alternative therapies to assist with healing complex trauma, officially launched with their Sprang Thang on May 25, 2019. It's a space where Shyne held its first Leadership Retreat Day back in April. We are pleased to share that the Social Garden will be home for Project SEEN on a bi-weekly basis moving forward, providing artistic expression and creative writing classes led by survivors as well.
The Social Garden is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization based in Oceanside, California. It is the sister program to the Victory Garden Sanctuary that will include a tiny home village of safe homes for survivors of sex trafficking and cults. Also, they’ll be partnering with more organizations that help survivors of sex trafficking by focusing on business development, professional development, leadership, and other survivor services.
[quote]At this time, Shyne already has 11 survivor-owned businesses in the network we are calling "The Velvet Tent."[/quote]
In the photo below is Naseem Murakami from Healing Sound Alchemy in Los Angeles. Her business partner, Andrea Saenz, is a friend of mine and they've been running events where they also support Shyne with donations.
We are working on some summer sound healing events for survivors, yoga classes free of charge, and an end-of-summer music event fundraiser. In addition to all this, Shyne has 10 new volunteers to train as soon as possible, so we’re creating those screening systems now and will launch Biz Dev LV2 on June 19 with 3 new survivor-owned businesses joining the class. Really what is being created is commUNITY - a place where survivors of sexual exploitation come to learn, share, connect, heal, find resources, network and listen.
Thank you for helping us celebrate our one-year anniversary of Shyne on June 9. I'm working to put out a newsletter soon with more updates about clients’ successes! Be inspired ❤