Radical Empathy End of 2017 Report / Status

This year, my journey with Radical Empathy Education Foundation has been one of discovery and hope. I wanted to share some about it here.

Short Version
This year, I started a non-profit to raise awareness of human trafficking. It’s up and running, growing, and we have the right path ahead of us. More cool stuff next year!

Longer Version
So much time was spent ensuring that we had the business structure set up correctly from the beginning (non-profits are still businesses and corporations first). I’ve spoken with so many people about this part of the journey, and I have no idea how people spin up companies so quickly. I think the truth MUST be that they are just going really quickly. We’re working with non-profit experts to ensure that we’re making the decisions that they would have made if they started something from scratch. These decisions have taken more time than, I think, that others would think are moving to slowly.

Throughout 2017, we’ve brought on experienced advisers, built a powerful Board of Directors, and found so many subject matter experts that it’s humbling. We now have relationships with universities for researching our results and with hardware companies that want to use our products to add value to their customers.

We have attended and demoed our (in development) game, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story, at conferences and for groups across America. During this time, we’ve met with thousands of people, and I’ve learned one thing:

MOST PEOPLE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

Of course there are people that do, but the VAST majority of regular people haven’t ever heard of it. And that’s just not enough.

The work ahead of us is immense and overwhelming, but it is also hopeful, because the individuals and groups we have assembled are completely committed to success.

On our travels, we’ve also met some amazing trafficking survivors that have given us so much guidance and shared so much wisdom. The stories I have heard are so heartbreaking and horrible that it’s impossible to convey, and I know that I have only heard a TINY amount of this reality.

Next year, I’ll share a whole lot more. There are exciting things afoot and it’s humbling to be a part of this journey.

If you feel the calling, we're still accepting donations to put into our work, products. and travel. 

Every penny (and share) helps. https://www.gofundme.com/radicalempathy/

More coming in 2018!