July 19, 2023 • 37 mins
We explore an issue deeply connected to the missing persons cases we've disccused this season: domestic trafficking. Tina Frundt of Courtney's House in D.C. takes us through her story as a survivor, and how her nonprofit works to combat the effects of human trafficking.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio,
Tenderfoot TV, and Black bar Mitzvah. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast
author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not
represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black bar Mitzvah, or
their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may
(00:24):
not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Here's the reality of missing youth in a sad reality,
the reason why you all don't see it. So if
you're listening to this right now, I want you to
go on DC's website, police website and look for missing kids.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And I'm missing children that come up.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm going to tell you right now, ninety percent of
the boys and girls I'm in my program. The hard
thing is we can't tell you who because these are
still open cases.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So it's hard when it's trafficking.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl cases.
This child was laying on the side of the road.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I wouldn't go no way, I would call up my house.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Those first five murders should have been a huge warning
bell for the police.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We just want to know what happened.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
This person must have saw that. They were thinking that
maybe it's just one person, and he says, uh, they
need to know.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
This is me.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I thought that they would catch him.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I thought it was just a matter of time.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I'm Celeste Headley, and this is Freeway Phantom. Over the
course of this season, we've covered the murders of eight
young black girls that occurred in Washington, DC between nineteen
seventy one and nineteen seventy two. Six were confirmed victims
of the Freeway Phantom and two were unconfirmed. In talking
(02:06):
about each of these cases, we've uncovered bigger systemic issues
at play, like racial bias in the media and police response.
But while talking to Henderson Long of DC's Missing Voice,
we became aware of another issue that's sadly too prevalent today,
human trafficking. Today, many of the reports of missing children
(02:26):
can be attributed to child sex trafficking.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Whenever you talk about missing people, you better address trafficking
because it's always going to come up.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
In twenty twenty two, twenty five thousand children were reported
to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as runaways.
The Center reports that one in six of those kids
were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Anytime a young person is missing, they can fall victim
of sex trafficking, they can fall victim to physical abuse.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
This is important, whether.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
They ran away on their own or whether they were abducted.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's so important.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
And I don't want to minimize structures in the family.
And voluntary when the person leave voluntarily, don't mean he
left voluntary. It's coercion going on from the pimp. And
Tina's going to get.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Into all of this.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Henderson told us about Courtney's House, a DC based organization
that works with survivors of childhood sexual exploitation. The organization
receives dozens of referrals every year. For this bonus episode,
we sat down with its founder, a domestic sex trafficking survivor,
to discuss the issues currently facing other survivors and the
(03:40):
work that her nonprofit does to advocate for and support them.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
My name is Tina Front, executive director and founder of
Courtney's House, is based in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
The mission isn't.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
To rescue right, is to get survivors a place of
community and encouragement to help them get it out the
life and that they learned the tools so they.
Speaker 7 (04:05):
Won't re enter the life.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's not about saving people. What the hell that's got job.
I can't save you, but I can help you and
lead you.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
To the water and encourage you to drink it.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
That's what I can do without judging.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
As a trafficking survivor herself, Tina decided to devote her
life to helping others escape exploitation. She joined advocacy groups
fighting to support other survivors, but it wasn't easy, and
her own journey out of trafficking wasn't quite over. After
years working in anti trafficking nonprofits, she considered going back
(04:45):
into what she calls the life.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I actually was in a very bad place, couldn't make
no money, correctly lost jobs.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
It was crazy doing all this stuff. Want to see
in the Heroes of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Water that still I'm doing good because I wasn't supposed
to be there. So I went out on the track.
This is like two thousand and seven, So I went
out on the track of track. It's like where you go,
right if you want to sell yourself. I'll never call
it the sex one because I never thought it was.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
So.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
With that being said, it's Chicago. It's one of real winner.
It is literally five degrees outside, you know, it's people out.
But what I was paying attention to was I'm just
gonna walk around and see if any pimps out here.
Speaker 7 (05:34):
It's a pemp track, and it was the car start
following me.
Speaker 8 (05:37):
It was a pimp.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I'm like, shit, I can't go home because he
following me. So I'm like, I'm about to cut through
the alley. I hear this sound and I'm about to
run because I think that it's a wreck. It's I'm
about the hall. But then I'm like, that's not a wreck.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So it was this girl, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Like fifteen, hiding behind the dumpster. And then I realized
like that Pip was also looking for her. So I
was like, hey, I'm about to help you.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So I did.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And at that time, like I really couldn't find anything
in Chicago, you know that really worked in trafficking or
really did what they said for.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A place for her to go to.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But I was able to talk to Foster Care and
like find this placement and then I realized I'm supposed
to go back to DC.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Teni's calling was clear helping survivors like herself get back
on their feet, but she still struggled to find her
place within the system. Her previous experience is working for
domestic trafficking advocacy groups left her feeling burned out and exploited.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
I didn't want to start my own organization.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And when I say that, that's because I was at
another organization and being a survivor is actually pretty hard
in this movement. Being at this organization, it was difficult.
I worked ninety hours a week, took care of my mother,
and also had two small children at that time. And
when I left that place, I was drained. I was
(07:13):
mentally drained. So I was feeling pretty down. And as
a survivor, I felt you sing that, I felt like
I had another pimphany. It was an organization as a
black woman, I felt like this movement wasn't created for
me as a survivor.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I felt that, and that's crazy because it was off.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Of my teas of what happened to me that it
was created off of.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But I was feeling pretty down. So my mom at the.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Time was like, look, you gotta start your organization, Like
I want you to start my your organization.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
She's very religious and I.
Speaker 7 (07:43):
Said, uh uh no, that's not no girl, that's not
the science.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Two weeks after that, I get a call from the
foundation that used to find the organization I was with
from the housing so they funded this. So they do
iran it and it came to me and said we
have a grant coming out you should apply for it.
Got the grant was one hundred and twenty thousand ain hand,
no staff. So I said, well, why don't you do
(08:09):
with team to know how to do street over reach.
So we started with street over reaches like I started
for other people. Said I'll start that getting people. I'll
get volunteers and I'll train them correctly and we're gonna
do real ass street outreach, right like on the pimp
control tracks on the ground with were pemps at so
I did. So we did things different. I switched up
(08:32):
the items we gave out every six months. So first
it was like chapsticks.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Mirrors getting into the neighborhoods themselves, showing up in these communities.
Her willingness to meet people where they were helped establish
Tina and her volunteers as friendly and supportive faces in
the communities.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
What made me feel good at night. Like what really
made me feel good was that you would see people,
they would pull them out and move on past and
smile and they would say things because you have to
bring a message that's you for them. This is not
you get in one situation and then you out. We
had a youth I first met her at thirteen when
(09:13):
they started doing raids. She didn't come to me until
she was fifteen, but I used to see her at
the raids. And what happened was most of Barby firls
come word of mouth. And I'm so honored by that
because it's other youth in the program to tell their friends.
And so that's what actually happened with her. She knewed
so many people that were receiving our services, she decided
(09:35):
to trust us.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
After months of hard work securing funding, five oh one
C three status and establishing community relationships, it was time
to find a home base. Tina settled on a house
in the Congress Heights neighborhood of DC. This would become
Courtney's House, which opened in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
My youngest daughter's name is Courtney and my oldest daughter's
name is Shaney. For the housing was going to be
Shay and Courtney's House, but I didn't name it. My
mom left that in her will the name, and she
left me a small amount of money to star Courtney's House.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Courtney's House works with youth survivors of trafficking. They come
to the program through referrals and many of them have
been on the Missing Children registry. Tina and everyone who
staffs Courtney's House had built a robust community in the
DC area, connecting with many of these missing kids who
might otherwise be forgotten by the system.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So if youth are missing, there's two parts of that story.
If they're currently missing right now, foster care, others parents,
they still refer them to me.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I still look for you from mine. There are sites.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
But more importantly, most of our kids, Norman and people
who are in the life you all, we all know
that it's the same people. So that's my first start.
And because I have a relationship with them, we can
work with the police and help in that sort. Is
because I usually have more information than the police do,
So that's one. And I know a lot of different
(11:10):
places where people put people, so.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
That's one too. Henderson Long and I've been thinking a
ways where we can say things.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So behind the scenes I do email Henderson long and
say who's in our program or not and if we
need their help, but publicly he cannot give that information.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Henderson and Tina agree that when legal terms like trafficking
are turned into buzzwords through media firestorms, the risk of
misinformation that comes with the heightened detention is high.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
The way I kind of break down a few words
so that we can understand modern day trafficking, trafficking. These
are buzzwords we've all heard. So the reason why they
came up with trafficking that confuses everybody. Think of the
other things that are connected to trafficking, right, drug, trafficking,
oregan trafficking, Guys, it's a government word.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Government doesn't make.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Up new words for things.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
They don't.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
They added to one.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So then it confused all of you because it's created
by the government and lawyers, not by people. So what
that meant is the charge of trafficking. So that can
mean you walker to came here today to interview me
and I and.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
That's what I told you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
But I locked the doors, took everything, and I forced
you either to clean the drop in center, force you
to have sex with somebody against your will. You're over
the asia eighteen just barely, so then I have to
prove any trickery, any fraud. So trickery, how did I
trick you to come here?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Fraud? I lied about something.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And then you're over the age of eighteen, so I
have to prove that you didn't choose it.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
If you are twelve or under.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
The age of eighteen, then you don't have to prove
any force of fraud. So that's what trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
The next thing that confuses people is a pimp and
a trafficker. The reality is a pimp and the traffic
is the same. Pimp is a trafficking charge. They don't
get a pimp charge, they get.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
A trafficking charge.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's the confusion, right because we try to separate it
because the TV glamorizes pimps.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Oh they're just fun. They had a pimp slab.
Speaker 8 (13:26):
They fun.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
It's so fun.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
But it's not, Tina says. The business of sex trafficking
(13:51):
is much more complicated than most people realize. It can
take shape in various forms, influenced by gender, ethnicity, and
a number of other social and cultural factors.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I want to break down real quickly so you all
can understand the four forms of domestic sex trafficking. Right,
there's pen control, most people just talk about that. There
is family control. Since the pandemic, forty two percent of
our youth family control. The next thing gain control, which
(14:23):
you see a lot here of our Latina population, so
you'll see MS thirteen in eighteen street Los Locos, so
that'd be the most popular. And then of course the boys.
And the reason why the categorize that way is.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Because different you go do different things.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Right, you're not traffic the same. So it's very difficult
with the boys because what boy wants to say they
were sex traffic sexually abused without unfortunately the African American
community thinking their game.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And I'm just it's that's the saddest piece to me.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Tina points out that it's not just a misunderstanding of
the terminology hurting the movement, but also a misunderstanding of
how to combat trafficking as well. Throughout this season, we
talked about how the twenty seventeen hashtag Missing DC Girls
went viral. What began as a way to raise awareness
of several cases involving missic black and brown teenagers quickly
(15:23):
led to complications for the DC's police Department and organizations
like Courtney's House.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
But they got everything wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
One it was just girls and not all the boys
that were online missing as well, who were also in
my program.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I'm like, wait, it's a whole section on the boys.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
They didn't understand the trafficking and didn't even reach out
to people to help them understand. They just like hash
egg and not. We were furious, our kids was furious
coming to the center, like not understanding trafficking also made
the kids angry and having trauma. They were literally telling me,
like they always do, Miss Tin, you need to call
them I love them because they think I have more
(16:01):
power than I have. And they're like, you need to
call them a tellone because it's misinformation.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's not true.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
You heard the cause when you leave out a whole gender,
So the real the kids are missing, like right now,
that is a quick that lasted for a few.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Months, child a couple of months and.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Then that's it and no one cares and the list
has grown more than it was and.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's what it did. It hurt. And again with the boys,
it's more boys missing right now than girls.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
But we're not talking about that hashtag nothing.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
And this begs the question, if more young boys are
missing than young girls, why aren't they receiving at least
an equal amount of attention.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
They don't want to believe the trafficking good boys. That's
why I think it is. I really think is they
don't like I have to convince people, which doesn't make sense,
and the way I say it just to make them
think always is this. Why do we think we know
that boys are abused just like girls, So why would
we think, oh, I'll just abuse them but not profit also.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Done like say it out loud. It don't make sense right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
But the problem is the boys are the perfect you
know why they look down The girls will the boys won't.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Tina says racial disparities are another hurdle in the movement
to help traffic teens. These disparities are present in the
legal system, in policing, and even in institutions meant to
provide support the nonprofit organizations. She says, Courtney's House is
fighting against that and trying to set a better example.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I'm part of whole court.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Hope Court in DC is a specialized court for sex trafficking,
so I'm part of that. I don't believe in a
court system that you should go into a court system.
I'm on it so they can get the right services.
At the same time, Courtney's House is trying to shut
it down. Why because it's all youth of color, And yes,
Caucasian kids are traffic here.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
They come to me a different way.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
They come to me byby firls do through therapists you are,
and they're at private, very well known private schools in
the area. But because I trained therapists, it always comes
that way. The police returned them home to give them
a therapist, and then they come to me. It's not
that way for you, fo A. People of color are
black and brown. Yeah like that if you look right now.
(18:21):
Most of the organizations are Caucasians that work on trafficking,
that have houses, and most of them are faith based.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
Most of them when you go on.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Their website, will also tell you and no shape because
God led me to this. But God led me to
this to be sure I had skills. But they say
I just prayed on it all that and God gave
me a house. I've never seen it because they call
me all the time. I've never started a housing the
(18:49):
day of my life. I don't know what to do,
but God put in my heart to do this, and
I say, in that right, I said, well, God, I've
also probably told you.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
Contact people and contract people that know what they're doing, so.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
They don't partner with me. They want to steal my
information for free. They always tell me how they don't
have money for it. So you think these are the
places I will refer to any of the black youth,
and also all the programs they go to they want
to leave because of the racism, other kids teasing them
that are Caucasian, the staff not saying nothing.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
The racism is throughout this movement.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It's very difficult.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And Tina solution to get involved in every aspect of
the movement, from working on policy to training judges to
implementing a curriculum on domestic sex trafficking in the school system.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I will tell you if you talk to anyone in
this area, they are going to say, Tina, do everything
Hanti you have to, because one needs the other. I
started a youth policy group and it's funded and our
youth get paid. I don't believe in these things where
they ask the youth and give them twenty five dollars
gift cards to get seventy five dollars every week and
(20:00):
one hundred dollars for all politicians you know they talk to.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
First, we worked on because they really wanted to work
on the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Not legalizing prostitution in DC, so we were able to
block that bill. And right now we're focusing on foster care,
change some policy. Then I am the first faculty survivor
African American for the National Judicial of Judges Training Center,
So we train judges on like how to identify and
(20:30):
not arresting. So I focus heavily on don't arrest because actually,
because they're judges, were all over them. Okay, I just
want to tell you how many of them are like,
you know what I do? I just put her in
jail and then she'll talk. And that's actually the behavior
that we try to change other alternative ways. The other
(20:51):
way I work on that is we have a curriculum
coming out in schools not in DC, Maryland, or Virginia,
but twenty three other states, and it is for kindergarten
through twelfth grade.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I really feel like it all has.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
To be a community of understanding what's going on in
our own neighborhoods and what's affecting our kids who are
getting good grades, who go to good schools in the area.
Things about grown people manipulating, so of course any one.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Can get manipulated.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We have to work on five hundred things of changing laws.
If we didn't change laws like we have to write,
because we have to still do the work and support them.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
Tina says.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Approaching the issue holistically like this makes a huge difference because,
unlike many other similar organizations, Courtney's House provides support that
lasts four years down the line.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about us is several long term program We have
people right now that are at college and surrounding areas
doing well, went through college, maybe when it became you know,
dentistry work or chefs that we were able to help.
The thing is I get to see the growth, which
(22:07):
I love. We go to their events. I get to
see that they're getting in college. So some of the
things that we did for two of our youth that
got into college and are going away, we were able
to get a grant and pay for books.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Y'all know how expensive books are, so we were actually
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Because we have a fund for scholarships and school items.
We're going to go with one of the youth because
she's in care, so we'll be going with her and
buying items and setting it up. We helped pick out
her list of what she thinks she wants to do
right now. So when we say a family, I get
to see all of y'all get to see their.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Children live healthy.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
You find a need that they need, and you make
sure you do it.
Speaker 8 (22:46):
That's what I say.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
After sitting down with Tina, she agreed to give us
a tour of Courtney's house. It's a large, two story
house with five rooms, a communal kitchen, and a spacious
living room. We started at the front door, working our
way through the house as she walked us through how
it works.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So Courtney's House, let me kind of start from the
beginning real quick.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
We're dropping center. So a driving center is not housing.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So the popular misconception is everybody just need housing and
we can't provide services because they need housing.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Like that doesn't actually make sense. So the reason why we're.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
In a house is because I always tell you this
is like their house right there, a center. We just
happen to work out it here. So I think that's
important for a community. But also a lot of our
youth do have placements. You know in foster care has placement,
so they do, some don't. And then here in DC,
so youth age go to twenty four in DC, which
(24:02):
is good.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
That's because they had specialized housing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And what was happening in like the regular over eighteen
houses is they were being sexually assaulted, they were being retrafficked.
So DC had to like do something different, right, So
our ages here are eleven to twenty four. So again
it goes up, so we can find housing for people
who need it because of the youth at that past here,
(24:26):
so more people provide housing. Even though they provide housing
in these places, say we accept sex traffick king, they
really don't do the case management. So you still need
a program to work with them. And again we have
a relationship and usually those programs don't know anything actually
really about them. So the next part of that and
we work with boys and girls and always have because
(24:48):
of my own experience, so we've always worked with boys
and girls.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
At the beginning of Coordina's House almost twelve years ago.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Twelve years ago.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So with that being said, when you come I'm here,
you're signing right. The other thing is we have because
of the young population. Every day we have your activities,
So we have a calendar that we have with different
activities that the survivor's service coordinators do, so we don't
say case managers that coordinates house. So if day there's
(25:18):
an activity we have one on ones. One on ones is counseling,
but no kid wants to be like, I can't wait
to go to counseling. It's so great, So we call
them them one on ones because that's what it is.
They get to pick a topic. But I promise you
can pick a topic and I'm always going to be
able to make it back to trafficking. But that's the
good thing is that we say thirty minutes on purpose.
(25:40):
Those are how long the sessions are, but they're not
and that's because they talk more. So it's usually forty five.
So with kids, you gotta be like thirty right to
get them to forty five right. So we do that,
but you earn points. So when I go upstairs, I'll
show you what are like. You know, when you go
to the subway or get something to eat, and they
(26:01):
have those little cards. You know, my hairstyles got those
and the fifth one you get free, your half off
or whatever. So here we have those cards and they
gets punched when they do group group. It's on Saturdays,
so those are still in online right now and they're
call transitioning your mindset out of the life. Then we
have a boy's group specifically too that's here and it's
(26:23):
thirty minutes. All of them say thirty minutes, but again
they go over of course. So with that being said,
June was prime month, so we also did some prime
Black Lives matters.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And look how it's just artistic they are because.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Girl, I can't ain't not them around none.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
So this is some of our work from some of
their things.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We have a lot of no competitions. Won't play with
the no.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
And then Thursday we unfortunately had a we fortunately we
had a pool day, so you know, kid games, light
mintos and sharp and you know, and I think saying
these things and are hide and seek competitions here will
tell you the young population.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
So when I say I work with youth, I don't
know why people think the.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Higher age when like our average change is between eleven
and seventeen.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Next, we moved into the downstairs kitchen which leads out
to the backyard.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Okay, so we eat all together.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We have a dropness center eight that cooks every day.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
She's putting a new menu up.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Holda turned my legs on.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
She's putting a new menu up. So that's not here.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
But we do have all our babies, you know what
their allergies are and such here too.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
We had some.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Stuff donated and when it was those high winds.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It tore up our little umbre looon. But this is
our back game. We do all of that was donated to.
We do cookouts and stuff for the kids.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
When it's not a hundred degrees, they like to do
their on the ones outside.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Walking back inside, Tina tells us how COVID nineteen has
impacted their services, including how they do meal times.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We're open right now since because of the pandemic two
days a week here Tuesday and Thursday.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Twelve to six.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
So we say they like to call it dinner, but
it's like lunch and really dinner whenever people come towards stands,
so it's really two meals today. But nothing so here
you're not allowed to use cans to process foods, so
actually everything is clicked from scratch, even the chicken. NOI kets,
everything clicked from scratch, just so they can learn what
fresh food is. And I mean the kids, y'all. I
(28:36):
still got to force them to eat vegetables. So we
just find new ways. The Dropping center a of doing
that so they'll be able.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
To eat things to introduce.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
But Thursday I have food from another organization at barbecue
for the kids.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
So that was like a treat.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Chipotle like donate, so we get a lot of food donation.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I'm good at free.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Tina has set up the lower as a hangout area
for the kids.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
This is the basement area.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Okay, so there's two bathrooms, once upstairs, once down here
with a shower so people.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Do take showers. We have all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
They love being down here, and then more artwork and
items for the survivors as well. Gangs you have, like
I said, gang competitions, washing and.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Drying, so people are allowed to wash clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I have a ton of things so they're also able
to get all the toiler trees things. We have clothing
donations as well, and that's another bathroom.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Tina says working with so many kids can be challenging.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
They have to clean every two hours here. I mean
I work with kids that do not believe in getting fascinated.
Out of seventy two, we have four youth. That's why
we couldn't really come in because people were getting COVID.
No one stayed in the house. I mean, it's wasn't
the story at all. So I have to do a
thing that we're all fascinated, but all the kids aren't.
(30:06):
So we still take them down the street. There is
a test site, so we take them once a month.
I mean our work with cares go. You can't take
them there fourteen days and ain't gonna have them. And
we go with them, you know, to get tested.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
And it's the quick one so that they'll know. Oh,
and movies.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
We have a screen, so we usually put something up
and it's usually movies and shows like we've been watching
Grown Ish too, because I love some of their topics,
you know. So and then it's a discussion about it
over food.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I like that, and I make popcorn for scratch because
won't go like a wave.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
While walking us around the second floor offices, Tina takes
us through the price system that's meant to encourage participation
in counseling sessions.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Remember they're talking about the one on one survivors.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
So every here we say survivors, and I actually don't
like when people say survivors and victims, Like nobody wants
to be a victim.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
So you were surviving when you were out on the street, and.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That makes them want to tell you and not say
that they were a victim because then you don't want
to talk about You want to be stronger than that.
So survivors, so they have a grand goal. So the
grand goal when you get your whole chart kind of
feel can be like getting your hair done braided. Boys
love getting their haircuts. So one of the one, you
(31:28):
get one whole punch on your car complaining more than
your car weekly one on one we're on the special treats.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
So then you get to pick from grab baggs that
we have of items.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
There's a whole bunch of stuff and you'll see a
lot of phone things we got do it because.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Those go quickly.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
Complete three consecutive weeks of one on ones and you
win a swag bag.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Then you have like another bag with things they probably
would like and want that they can win that.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
Complete four conservative weeks of one on ones and you'll
earn what your grand goal is.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
We have big il ticket items for the winner.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like real ug boots and big ones for going to
all your items. We have a lot of like boy
boots and things and clothes for them as well, and
some some slash for both boys and girls.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So we got some good prices.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
To earn these prizes. She has each person pick various
goals to work towards.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Each child is different, so goals could be things like
that sleeping without a night light because of their nightmares
and how to work on that. It could be learning
how to say no to people, not getting a car
with somebody, So those are some of the Beaconning goals.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
These are not.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Goals like school and get straight eggs.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
If I can get them to go to school, I'll
be happy. So that's a goal. Went three days a
week like amen.
Speaker 8 (32:57):
So yes.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Courtney's House is a crucial institution in the Congress Heights neighborhood,
and the work they do extends from the DMV area
through the rest of the country. Every day, Tina and
her crew are fighting diligently to help traffic teens and
eradicate racial disparities in the missing children's system. The work
is tough, funding can be hard to come by and
(33:22):
the staff is often shorthanded. As such, we thought we'd
end this episode by having Tina tell you how you
can support Courtney's House and all about the incredible work
they do to support their community.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
You know, I think the.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Great thing about Courtney's House is that you can support
from anywhere.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
Www dot Courtney's House.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
We're official ig so on Instagram, we are Official Courtney's House.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
Guess what, y'all we got a TikTok.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
We don't show the kids' faces, but Official Courtney's House.
Follow us on TikTok. We have TikTok wars every day
with the youth. That's how they alls from one prizes.
So there are a few things you can send some prizes.
We have an Amazon list.
Speaker 7 (34:05):
Do you want to know how sixty youth eat food quickly?
Speaker 3 (34:11):
We go through snacks boxes daily, so we have a
full food program.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
You can donate and help with that, and that is
a true need. We really do run out of food.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
We take field trips with our youth.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Witchelift because we do a lot of art projects and
I'm telling you our kids are artists.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
So there are some things.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That people offer online We actually had a cartoon artist
offer some free cartoon design online with kids and they
loved it. So think about what you're good at, think
about what you can do out there, and think about
what you can do here because you don't have to
do direct services. There are so many things you can
do and help and feel an impact at Courtney's house.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeart Radio, Tenderfoot TV,
and Black bar MITZVAH. Our host is CELESE. Hilly. This
episode was written and produced by Noemy Griffin. The show
is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright, and CELESE.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
Hilly.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Executive producers on behalf of iHeart Radio include Matt Frederick
and Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers
on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay,
with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on
behalf of Black bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and
(35:32):
Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Foos. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright.
Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by
makeup and Vanity set special Thanks to a team at
Uta Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group, Tenderfoot
TV and iHeartMedia, as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have
increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and
(35:55):
conviction of the person or persons responsible for their Freeway fantom.
The previous reward of up to one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department has been matched.
A new total reward of up to three hundred thousand
dollars is now being offered. If you have any information
relating to these unsolved crimes, contact the Metropolitan Police Department
(36:17):
at area code two zero two seven two seven nine
zero ninety nine. For more information, please visit Freeway dashfanom
dot com. For more podcasts from Ihar Radio and Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
You're listening to the Freeway Fanom, a production of iHeartRadio,
Tenderfoot TV, and Black bar Mitzvah. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast
author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not
represent those of iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, Black bar Mitzvah, or
their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter that may
(00:24):
not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Here's the reality of missing youth in a sad reality,
the reason why you all don't see it. So if
you're listening to this right now, I want you to
go on DC's website, police website and look for missing kids.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And I'm missing children that come up.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm going to tell you right now, ninety percent of
the boys and girls I'm in my program. The hard
thing is we can't tell you who because these are
still open cases.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So it's hard when it's trafficking.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
The homicide detectives termed the cases the little girl cases.
This child was laying on the side of the road.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I wouldn't go no way, I would call up my house.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Those first five murders should have been a huge warning
bell for the police.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We just want to know what happened.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
This person must have saw that. They were thinking that
maybe it's just one person, and he says, uh, they
need to know.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
This is me.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I thought that they would catch him.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I thought it was just a matter of time.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I'm Celeste Headley, and this is Freeway Phantom. Over the
course of this season, we've covered the murders of eight
young black girls that occurred in Washington, DC between nineteen
seventy one and nineteen seventy two. Six were confirmed victims
of the Freeway Phantom and two were unconfirmed. In talking
(02:06):
about each of these cases, we've uncovered bigger systemic issues
at play, like racial bias in the media and police response.
But while talking to Henderson Long of DC's Missing Voice,
we became aware of another issue that's sadly too prevalent today,
human trafficking. Today, many of the reports of missing children
(02:26):
can be attributed to child sex trafficking.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Whenever you talk about missing people, you better address trafficking
because it's always going to come up.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
In twenty twenty two, twenty five thousand children were reported
to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as runaways.
The Center reports that one in six of those kids
were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Anytime a young person is missing, they can fall victim
of sex trafficking, they can fall victim to physical abuse.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
This is important, whether.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
They ran away on their own or whether they were abducted.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
It's so important.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
And I don't want to minimize structures in the family.
And voluntary when the person leave voluntarily, don't mean he
left voluntary. It's coercion going on from the pimp. And
Tina's going to get.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Into all of this.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
Henderson told us about Courtney's House, a DC based organization
that works with survivors of childhood sexual exploitation. The organization
receives dozens of referrals every year. For this bonus episode,
we sat down with its founder, a domestic sex trafficking survivor,
to discuss the issues currently facing other survivors and the
(03:40):
work that her nonprofit does to advocate for and support them.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
My name is Tina Front, executive director and founder of
Courtney's House, is based in Washington, DC.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
The mission isn't.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
To rescue right, is to get survivors a place of
community and encouragement to help them get it out the
life and that they learned the tools so they.
Speaker 7 (04:05):
Won't re enter the life.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's not about saving people. What the hell that's got job.
I can't save you, but I can help you and
lead you.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
To the water and encourage you to drink it.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
That's what I can do without judging.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
As a trafficking survivor herself, Tina decided to devote her
life to helping others escape exploitation. She joined advocacy groups
fighting to support other survivors, but it wasn't easy, and
her own journey out of trafficking wasn't quite over. After
years working in anti trafficking nonprofits, she considered going back
(04:45):
into what she calls the life.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I actually was in a very bad place, couldn't make
no money, correctly lost jobs.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
It was crazy doing all this stuff. Want to see
in the Heroes of.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Water that still I'm doing good because I wasn't supposed
to be there. So I went out on the track.
This is like two thousand and seven, So I went
out on the track of track. It's like where you go,
right if you want to sell yourself. I'll never call
it the sex one because I never thought it was.
Speaker 8 (05:17):
So.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
With that being said, it's Chicago. It's one of real winner.
It is literally five degrees outside, you know, it's people out.
But what I was paying attention to was I'm just
gonna walk around and see if any pimps out here.
Speaker 7 (05:34):
It's a pemp track, and it was the car start
following me.
Speaker 8 (05:37):
It was a pimp.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So I'm like, shit, I can't go home because he
following me. So I'm like, I'm about to cut through
the alley. I hear this sound and I'm about to
run because I think that it's a wreck. It's I'm
about the hall. But then I'm like, that's not a wreck.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
So it was this girl, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Like fifteen, hiding behind the dumpster. And then I realized
like that Pip was also looking for her. So I
was like, hey, I'm about to help you.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So I did.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And at that time, like I really couldn't find anything
in Chicago, you know that really worked in trafficking or
really did what they said for.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
A place for her to go to.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But I was able to talk to Foster Care and
like find this placement and then I realized I'm supposed
to go back to DC.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Teni's calling was clear helping survivors like herself get back
on their feet, but she still struggled to find her
place within the system. Her previous experience is working for
domestic trafficking advocacy groups left her feeling burned out and exploited.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
I didn't want to start my own organization.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And when I say that, that's because I was at
another organization and being a survivor is actually pretty hard
in this movement. Being at this organization, it was difficult.
I worked ninety hours a week, took care of my mother,
and also had two small children at that time. And
when I left that place, I was drained. I was
(07:13):
mentally drained. So I was feeling pretty down. And as
a survivor, I felt you sing that, I felt like
I had another pimphany. It was an organization as a
black woman, I felt like this movement wasn't created for
me as a survivor.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I felt that, and that's crazy because it was off.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Of my teas of what happened to me that it
was created off of.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
But I was feeling pretty down. So my mom at the.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Time was like, look, you gotta start your organization, Like
I want you to start my your organization.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
She's very religious and I.
Speaker 7 (07:43):
Said, uh uh no, that's not no girl, that's not
the science.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Two weeks after that, I get a call from the
foundation that used to find the organization I was with
from the housing so they funded this. So they do
iran it and it came to me and said we
have a grant coming out you should apply for it.
Got the grant was one hundred and twenty thousand ain hand,
no staff. So I said, well, why don't you do
(08:09):
with team to know how to do street over reach.
So we started with street over reaches like I started
for other people. Said I'll start that getting people. I'll
get volunteers and I'll train them correctly and we're gonna
do real ass street outreach, right like on the pimp
control tracks on the ground with were pemps at so
I did. So we did things different. I switched up
(08:32):
the items we gave out every six months. So first
it was like chapsticks.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Mirrors getting into the neighborhoods themselves, showing up in these communities.
Her willingness to meet people where they were helped establish
Tina and her volunteers as friendly and supportive faces in
the communities.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
What made me feel good at night. Like what really
made me feel good was that you would see people,
they would pull them out and move on past and
smile and they would say things because you have to
bring a message that's you for them. This is not
you get in one situation and then you out. We
had a youth I first met her at thirteen when
(09:13):
they started doing raids. She didn't come to me until
she was fifteen, but I used to see her at
the raids. And what happened was most of Barby firls
come word of mouth. And I'm so honored by that
because it's other youth in the program to tell their friends.
And so that's what actually happened with her. She knewed
so many people that were receiving our services, she decided
(09:35):
to trust us.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
After months of hard work securing funding, five oh one
C three status and establishing community relationships, it was time
to find a home base. Tina settled on a house
in the Congress Heights neighborhood of DC. This would become
Courtney's House, which opened in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
My youngest daughter's name is Courtney and my oldest daughter's
name is Shaney. For the housing was going to be
Shay and Courtney's House, but I didn't name it. My
mom left that in her will the name, and she
left me a small amount of money to star Courtney's House.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Courtney's House works with youth survivors of trafficking. They come
to the program through referrals and many of them have
been on the Missing Children registry. Tina and everyone who
staffs Courtney's House had built a robust community in the
DC area, connecting with many of these missing kids who
might otherwise be forgotten by the system.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So if youth are missing, there's two parts of that story.
If they're currently missing right now, foster care, others parents,
they still refer them to me.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I still look for you from mine. There are sites.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
But more importantly, most of our kids, Norman and people
who are in the life you all, we all know
that it's the same people. So that's my first start.
And because I have a relationship with them, we can
work with the police and help in that sort. Is
because I usually have more information than the police do,
So that's one. And I know a lot of different
(11:10):
places where people put people, so.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
That's one too. Henderson Long and I've been thinking a
ways where we can say things.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So behind the scenes I do email Henderson long and
say who's in our program or not and if we
need their help, but publicly he cannot give that information.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Henderson and Tina agree that when legal terms like trafficking
are turned into buzzwords through media firestorms, the risk of
misinformation that comes with the heightened detention is high.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
The way I kind of break down a few words
so that we can understand modern day trafficking, trafficking. These
are buzzwords we've all heard. So the reason why they
came up with trafficking that confuses everybody. Think of the
other things that are connected to trafficking, right, drug, trafficking,
oregan trafficking, Guys, it's a government word.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Government doesn't make.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Up new words for things.
Speaker 7 (12:08):
They don't.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
They added to one.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So then it confused all of you because it's created
by the government and lawyers, not by people. So what
that meant is the charge of trafficking. So that can
mean you walker to came here today to interview me
and I and.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
That's what I told you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
But I locked the doors, took everything, and I forced
you either to clean the drop in center, force you
to have sex with somebody against your will. You're over
the asia eighteen just barely, so then I have to
prove any trickery, any fraud. So trickery, how did I
trick you to come here?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Fraud? I lied about something.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And then you're over the age of eighteen, so I
have to prove that you didn't choose it.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
If you are twelve or under.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
The age of eighteen, then you don't have to prove
any force of fraud. So that's what trafficking is.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
The next thing that confuses people is a pimp and
a trafficker. The reality is a pimp and the traffic
is the same. Pimp is a trafficking charge. They don't
get a pimp charge, they get.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
A trafficking charge.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's the confusion, right because we try to separate it
because the TV glamorizes pimps.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Oh they're just fun. They had a pimp slab.
Speaker 8 (13:26):
They fun.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
It's so fun.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
But it's not, Tina says. The business of sex trafficking
(13:51):
is much more complicated than most people realize. It can
take shape in various forms, influenced by gender, ethnicity, and
a number of other social and cultural factors.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I want to break down real quickly so you all
can understand the four forms of domestic sex trafficking. Right,
there's pen control, most people just talk about that. There
is family control. Since the pandemic, forty two percent of
our youth family control. The next thing gain control, which
(14:23):
you see a lot here of our Latina population, so
you'll see MS thirteen in eighteen street Los Locos, so
that'd be the most popular. And then of course the boys.
And the reason why the categorize that way is.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Because different you go do different things.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Right, you're not traffic the same. So it's very difficult
with the boys because what boy wants to say they
were sex traffic sexually abused without unfortunately the African American
community thinking their game.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
And I'm just it's that's the saddest piece to me.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Tina points out that it's not just a misunderstanding of
the terminology hurting the movement, but also a misunderstanding of
how to combat trafficking as well. Throughout this season, we
talked about how the twenty seventeen hashtag Missing DC Girls
went viral. What began as a way to raise awareness
of several cases involving missic black and brown teenagers quickly
(15:23):
led to complications for the DC's police Department and organizations
like Courtney's House.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
But they got everything wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
One it was just girls and not all the boys
that were online missing as well, who were also in
my program.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I'm like, wait, it's a whole section on the boys.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
They didn't understand the trafficking and didn't even reach out
to people to help them understand. They just like hash
egg and not. We were furious, our kids was furious
coming to the center, like not understanding trafficking also made
the kids angry and having trauma. They were literally telling me,
like they always do, Miss Tin, you need to call
them I love them because they think I have more
(16:01):
power than I have. And they're like, you need to
call them a tellone because it's misinformation.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's not true.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
You heard the cause when you leave out a whole gender,
So the real the kids are missing, like right now,
that is a quick that lasted for a few.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Months, child a couple of months and.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Then that's it and no one cares and the list
has grown more than it was and.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
That's what it did. It hurt. And again with the boys,
it's more boys missing right now than girls.
Speaker 7 (16:30):
But we're not talking about that hashtag nothing.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
And this begs the question, if more young boys are
missing than young girls, why aren't they receiving at least
an equal amount of attention.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
They don't want to believe the trafficking good boys. That's
why I think it is. I really think is they
don't like I have to convince people, which doesn't make sense,
and the way I say it just to make them
think always is this. Why do we think we know
that boys are abused just like girls, So why would
we think, oh, I'll just abuse them but not profit also.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Done like say it out loud. It don't make sense right.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
But the problem is the boys are the perfect you
know why they look down The girls will the boys won't.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Tina says racial disparities are another hurdle in the movement
to help traffic teens. These disparities are present in the
legal system, in policing, and even in institutions meant to
provide support the nonprofit organizations. She says, Courtney's House is
fighting against that and trying to set a better example.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I'm part of whole court.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Hope Court in DC is a specialized court for sex trafficking,
so I'm part of that. I don't believe in a
court system that you should go into a court system.
I'm on it so they can get the right services.
At the same time, Courtney's House is trying to shut
it down. Why because it's all youth of color, And yes,
Caucasian kids are traffic here.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
They come to me a different way.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
They come to me byby firls do through therapists you are,
and they're at private, very well known private schools in
the area. But because I trained therapists, it always comes
that way. The police returned them home to give them
a therapist, and then they come to me. It's not
that way for you, fo A. People of color are
black and brown. Yeah like that if you look right now.
(18:21):
Most of the organizations are Caucasians that work on trafficking,
that have houses, and most of them are faith based.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
Most of them when you go on.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Their website, will also tell you and no shape because
God led me to this. But God led me to
this to be sure I had skills. But they say
I just prayed on it all that and God gave
me a house. I've never seen it because they call
me all the time. I've never started a housing the
(18:49):
day of my life. I don't know what to do,
but God put in my heart to do this, and
I say, in that right, I said, well, God, I've
also probably told you.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
Contact people and contract people that know what they're doing, so.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
They don't partner with me. They want to steal my
information for free. They always tell me how they don't
have money for it. So you think these are the
places I will refer to any of the black youth,
and also all the programs they go to they want
to leave because of the racism, other kids teasing them
that are Caucasian, the staff not saying nothing.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
The racism is throughout this movement.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It's very difficult.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
And Tina solution to get involved in every aspect of
the movement, from working on policy to training judges to
implementing a curriculum on domestic sex trafficking in the school system.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I will tell you if you talk to anyone in
this area, they are going to say, Tina, do everything
Hanti you have to, because one needs the other. I
started a youth policy group and it's funded and our
youth get paid. I don't believe in these things where
they ask the youth and give them twenty five dollars
gift cards to get seventy five dollars every week and
(20:00):
one hundred dollars for all politicians you know they talk to.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
First, we worked on because they really wanted to work
on the.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Not legalizing prostitution in DC, so we were able to
block that bill. And right now we're focusing on foster care,
change some policy. Then I am the first faculty survivor
African American for the National Judicial of Judges Training Center,
So we train judges on like how to identify and
(20:30):
not arresting. So I focus heavily on don't arrest because actually,
because they're judges, were all over them. Okay, I just
want to tell you how many of them are like,
you know what I do? I just put her in
jail and then she'll talk. And that's actually the behavior
that we try to change other alternative ways. The other
(20:51):
way I work on that is we have a curriculum
coming out in schools not in DC, Maryland, or Virginia,
but twenty three other states, and it is for kindergarten
through twelfth grade.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I really feel like it all has.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
To be a community of understanding what's going on in
our own neighborhoods and what's affecting our kids who are
getting good grades, who go to good schools in the area.
Things about grown people manipulating, so of course any one.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Can get manipulated.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
We have to work on five hundred things of changing laws.
If we didn't change laws like we have to write,
because we have to still do the work and support them.
Speaker 8 (21:34):
Tina says.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Approaching the issue holistically like this makes a huge difference because,
unlike many other similar organizations, Courtney's House provides support that
lasts four years down the line.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Think about us is several long term program We have
people right now that are at college and surrounding areas
doing well, went through college, maybe when it became you know,
dentistry work or chefs that we were able to help.
The thing is I get to see the growth, which
(22:07):
I love. We go to their events. I get to
see that they're getting in college. So some of the
things that we did for two of our youth that
got into college and are going away, we were able
to get a grant and pay for books.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Y'all know how expensive books are, so we were actually
able to do that.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Because we have a fund for scholarships and school items.
We're going to go with one of the youth because
she's in care, so we'll be going with her and
buying items and setting it up. We helped pick out
her list of what she thinks she wants to do
right now. So when we say a family, I get
to see all of y'all get to see their.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Children live healthy.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
You find a need that they need, and you make
sure you do it.
Speaker 8 (22:46):
That's what I say.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
After sitting down with Tina, she agreed to give us
a tour of Courtney's house. It's a large, two story
house with five rooms, a communal kitchen, and a spacious
living room. We started at the front door, working our
way through the house as she walked us through how
it works.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So Courtney's House, let me kind of start from the
beginning real quick.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
We're dropping center. So a driving center is not housing.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So the popular misconception is everybody just need housing and
we can't provide services because they need housing.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Like that doesn't actually make sense. So the reason why we're.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
In a house is because I always tell you this
is like their house right there, a center. We just
happen to work out it here. So I think that's
important for a community. But also a lot of our
youth do have placements. You know in foster care has placement,
so they do, some don't. And then here in DC,
so youth age go to twenty four in DC, which
(24:02):
is good.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
That's because they had specialized housing.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And what was happening in like the regular over eighteen
houses is they were being sexually assaulted, they were being retrafficked.
So DC had to like do something different, right, So
our ages here are eleven to twenty four. So again
it goes up, so we can find housing for people
who need it because of the youth at that past here,
(24:26):
so more people provide housing. Even though they provide housing
in these places, say we accept sex traffick king, they
really don't do the case management. So you still need
a program to work with them. And again we have
a relationship and usually those programs don't know anything actually
really about them. So the next part of that and
we work with boys and girls and always have because
(24:48):
of my own experience, so we've always worked with boys
and girls.
Speaker 7 (24:52):
At the beginning of Coordina's House almost twelve years ago.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Twelve years ago.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So with that being said, when you come I'm here,
you're signing right. The other thing is we have because
of the young population. Every day we have your activities,
So we have a calendar that we have with different
activities that the survivor's service coordinators do, so we don't
say case managers that coordinates house. So if day there's
(25:18):
an activity we have one on ones. One on ones is counseling,
but no kid wants to be like, I can't wait
to go to counseling. It's so great, So we call
them them one on ones because that's what it is.
They get to pick a topic. But I promise you
can pick a topic and I'm always going to be
able to make it back to trafficking. But that's the
good thing is that we say thirty minutes on purpose.
(25:40):
Those are how long the sessions are, but they're not
and that's because they talk more. So it's usually forty five.
So with kids, you gotta be like thirty right to
get them to forty five right. So we do that,
but you earn points. So when I go upstairs, I'll
show you what are like. You know, when you go
to the subway or get something to eat, and they
(26:01):
have those little cards. You know, my hairstyles got those
and the fifth one you get free, your half off
or whatever. So here we have those cards and they
gets punched when they do group group. It's on Saturdays,
so those are still in online right now and they're
call transitioning your mindset out of the life. Then we
have a boy's group specifically too that's here and it's
(26:23):
thirty minutes. All of them say thirty minutes, but again
they go over of course. So with that being said,
June was prime month, so we also did some prime
Black Lives matters.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And look how it's just artistic they are because.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Girl, I can't ain't not them around none.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
So this is some of our work from some of
their things.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We have a lot of no competitions. Won't play with
the no.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
And then Thursday we unfortunately had a we fortunately we
had a pool day, so you know, kid games, light
mintos and sharp and you know, and I think saying
these things and are hide and seek competitions here will
tell you the young population.
Speaker 7 (27:09):
So when I say I work with youth, I don't
know why people think the.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Higher age when like our average change is between eleven
and seventeen.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Next, we moved into the downstairs kitchen which leads out
to the backyard.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Okay, so we eat all together.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
We have a dropness center eight that cooks every day.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
She's putting a new menu up.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Holda turned my legs on.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
She's putting a new menu up. So that's not here.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
But we do have all our babies, you know what
their allergies are and such here too.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
We had some.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Stuff donated and when it was those high winds.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It tore up our little umbre looon. But this is
our back game. We do all of that was donated to.
We do cookouts and stuff for the kids.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
When it's not a hundred degrees, they like to do
their on the ones outside.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Walking back inside, Tina tells us how COVID nineteen has
impacted their services, including how they do meal times.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We're open right now since because of the pandemic two
days a week here Tuesday and Thursday.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Twelve to six.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
So we say they like to call it dinner, but
it's like lunch and really dinner whenever people come towards stands,
so it's really two meals today. But nothing so here
you're not allowed to use cans to process foods, so
actually everything is clicked from scratch, even the chicken. NOI kets,
everything clicked from scratch, just so they can learn what
fresh food is. And I mean the kids, y'all. I
(28:36):
still got to force them to eat vegetables. So we
just find new ways. The Dropping center a of doing
that so they'll be able.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
To eat things to introduce.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
But Thursday I have food from another organization at barbecue
for the kids.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
So that was like a treat.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Chipotle like donate, so we get a lot of food donation.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
I'm good at free.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Tina has set up the lower as a hangout area
for the kids.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
This is the basement area.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Okay, so there's two bathrooms, once upstairs, once down here
with a shower so people.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Do take showers. We have all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
They love being down here, and then more artwork and
items for the survivors as well. Gangs you have, like
I said, gang competitions, washing and.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Drying, so people are allowed to wash clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
I have a ton of things so they're also able
to get all the toiler trees things. We have clothing
donations as well, and that's another bathroom.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Tina says working with so many kids can be challenging.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
They have to clean every two hours here. I mean
I work with kids that do not believe in getting fascinated.
Out of seventy two, we have four youth. That's why
we couldn't really come in because people were getting COVID.
No one stayed in the house. I mean, it's wasn't
the story at all. So I have to do a
thing that we're all fascinated, but all the kids aren't.
(30:06):
So we still take them down the street. There is
a test site, so we take them once a month.
I mean our work with cares go. You can't take
them there fourteen days and ain't gonna have them. And
we go with them, you know, to get tested.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
And it's the quick one so that they'll know. Oh,
and movies.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
We have a screen, so we usually put something up
and it's usually movies and shows like we've been watching
Grown Ish too, because I love some of their topics,
you know. So and then it's a discussion about it
over food.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I like that, and I make popcorn for scratch because
won't go like a wave.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
While walking us around the second floor offices, Tina takes
us through the price system that's meant to encourage participation
in counseling sessions.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Remember they're talking about the one on one survivors.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
So every here we say survivors, and I actually don't
like when people say survivors and victims, Like nobody wants
to be a victim.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
So you were surviving when you were out on the street, and.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That makes them want to tell you and not say
that they were a victim because then you don't want
to talk about You want to be stronger than that.
So survivors, so they have a grand goal. So the
grand goal when you get your whole chart kind of
feel can be like getting your hair done braided. Boys
love getting their haircuts. So one of the one, you
(31:28):
get one whole punch on your car complaining more than
your car weekly one on one we're on the special treats.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
So then you get to pick from grab baggs that
we have of items.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
There's a whole bunch of stuff and you'll see a
lot of phone things we got do it because.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Those go quickly.
Speaker 7 (31:44):
Complete three consecutive weeks of one on ones and you
win a swag bag.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Then you have like another bag with things they probably
would like and want that they can win that.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
Complete four conservative weeks of one on ones and you'll
earn what your grand goal is.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
We have big il ticket items for the winner.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like real ug boots and big ones for going to
all your items. We have a lot of like boy
boots and things and clothes for them as well, and
some some slash for both boys and girls.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
So we got some good prices.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
To earn these prizes. She has each person pick various
goals to work towards.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Each child is different, so goals could be things like
that sleeping without a night light because of their nightmares
and how to work on that. It could be learning
how to say no to people, not getting a car
with somebody, So those are some of the Beaconning goals.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
These are not.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Goals like school and get straight eggs.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
If I can get them to go to school, I'll
be happy. So that's a goal. Went three days a
week like amen.
Speaker 8 (32:57):
So yes.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Courtney's House is a crucial institution in the Congress Heights neighborhood,
and the work they do extends from the DMV area
through the rest of the country. Every day, Tina and
her crew are fighting diligently to help traffic teens and
eradicate racial disparities in the missing children's system. The work
is tough, funding can be hard to come by and
(33:22):
the staff is often shorthanded. As such, we thought we'd
end this episode by having Tina tell you how you
can support Courtney's House and all about the incredible work
they do to support their community.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
You know, I think the.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Great thing about Courtney's House is that you can support
from anywhere.
Speaker 7 (33:42):
Www dot Courtney's House.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
We're official ig so on Instagram, we are Official Courtney's House.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
Guess what, y'all we got a TikTok.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
We don't show the kids' faces, but Official Courtney's House.
Follow us on TikTok. We have TikTok wars every day
with the youth. That's how they alls from one prizes.
So there are a few things you can send some prizes.
We have an Amazon list.
Speaker 7 (34:05):
Do you want to know how sixty youth eat food quickly?
Speaker 3 (34:11):
We go through snacks boxes daily, so we have a
full food program.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
You can donate and help with that, and that is
a true need. We really do run out of food.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
We take field trips with our youth.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
We have a.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Witchelift because we do a lot of art projects and
I'm telling you our kids are artists.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
So there are some things.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That people offer online We actually had a cartoon artist
offer some free cartoon design online with kids and they
loved it. So think about what you're good at, think
about what you can do out there, and think about
what you can do here because you don't have to
do direct services. There are so many things you can
do and help and feel an impact at Courtney's house.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Freeway Fantom is a production of iHeart Radio, Tenderfoot TV,
and Black bar MITZVAH. Our host is CELESE. Hilly. This
episode was written and produced by Noemy Griffin. The show
is written by Trevor Young, Jamie Albright, and CELESE.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
Hilly.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Executive producers on behalf of iHeart Radio include Matt Frederick
and Alex Williams, with supervising producer Trevor Young. Executive producers
on behalf of Tenderfoot TV include Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay,
with producers Jamie Albright and Tracy Kaplan. Executive producers on
behalf of Black bar Mitzvah include myself, Jay Ellis and
(35:32):
Aaron Bergman, with producer Sidney Foos. Lead researcher is Jamie Albright.
Artwork by Mister Soul two one six, original music by
makeup and Vanity set special Thanks to a team at
Uta Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group, Tenderfoot
TV and iHeartMedia, as well as Black Bar Mitzvah, have
increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and
(35:55):
conviction of the person or persons responsible for their Freeway fantom.
The previous reward of up to one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars offered by the Metropolitan Police Department has been matched.
A new total reward of up to three hundred thousand
dollars is now being offered. If you have any information
relating to these unsolved crimes, contact the Metropolitan Police Department
(36:17):
at area code two zero two seven two seven nine
zero ninety nine. For more information, please visit Freeway dashfanom
dot com. For more podcasts from Ihar Radio and Tenderfoot TV,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
Host
Celeste Headlee
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