Nationality American Organization Breaking Free Name Vednita Carter | Years active 1996-present Citizenship African American | |
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Awards Women of Distinction, Century College Residence Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States | ||
Sex trafficking in your back yard vednita carter tedxminneapolis
Vednita Carter is an anti-prostitution activist, author, and executive director of the "Breaking Free" organization which helps women in prostitution.
Contents
- Sex trafficking in your back yard vednita carter tedxminneapolis
- Interview with vednita carter of breaking free on sex trafficking
- Biography
- Awards
- References
Interview with vednita carter of breaking free on sex trafficking
Biography
Before beginning a career as an anti-prostitution activist, Carter, from Twin Cities, Minnesota, was a stripper. In 1989, Carter began to work with women in prostitution in Minnesota at a different agency, which later closed, and became program director. In 1996, Carter founded Breaking Free, an organization that aids girls and women in exiting prostitution. She subsequently became this organization's executive director, and the program expanded to offer more support, including: "emergency services such as food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance, legal assistance to victims of trafficking". By 1998, the organization rented an apartment block to permanently re-house women and girls, and by 2010, they had more apartments and three "transitional houses". In 2015, the housing block named "Jerry's Place", after Sgt. Gerald Vick, was closed due to funding issues.
In their book Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice, Francine Sherman and Francine Jacobs call Carter "a leading service provider for exploited women and girls".
Carter has been published in Hastings Women's Law Journal, the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, and the Journal of Trauma Practice. Carter contributed the piece "Prostitution = Slavery" to the 2003 anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan.
Awards
Carter won the 2010 Survivor Centered-Service Provider category from the Norma Hotaling Award. Carter was one of six women granted the Women of Distinction award by Century College in 2012.