{"id":3010,"date":"2016-01-26T17:49:38","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/?p=3010"},"modified":"2025-06-10T13:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:32:58","slug":"congratulate-shandra-woworuntu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/safe-blog\/congratulate-shandra-woworuntu\/","title":{"rendered":"Shandra Woworuntu Appointed to U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shandra<\/a>
\nJanuary 26, 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

Shandra Woworuntu is a survivor of human trafficking who has translated her pain into powerful advocacy. She was originally a financial executive at an international bank in her native Indonesia. In 2001, political turbulence erupted, and she lost her job. Desperately needing income, Shandra responded to an advertisement for a job that promised a six month position in the hotel industry in Chicago, but when she arrived, she found out she had been lied to.<\/p>\n

Shandra Woworuntu’s Story of Surviving Sex Trafficking<\/h2>\n

Shandra was sold and forced into an underworld of sex trafficking in New York and the surrounded areas. After many horrifying acts, she summoned the courage and escaped her traffickers by jumping out of a bathroom window in Brooklyn. After escaping, Shandra was homeless – she had no food, no money, little knowledge of English, and no way of finding support.<\/p>\n

Shandra started to believe that she would never be able to find help until she met someone who took the time to connect her to law enforcement agents. They linked her to Safe Horizon\u2019s Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP). The expert staff at ATP provided compassion and care to help her overcome the traumatic experience as well as guidance to rebuild her life.<\/p>\n

Shandra Woworuntu’s Advocacy Against Trafficking<\/h2>\n

Since then, Shandra helped create a survivor leadership program called \u201cVoices of Hope\u201d that is facilitated by Safe Horizon. She has raised global awareness of human trafficking by lobbying for policy changes and encouraging worldwide education. In 2014 she founded Mentari Human trafficking Survivor Empowerment Program Inc., a non-profit organization to help survivors reintegrate back into their communities.<\/p>\n

In 2015 she helped Mentari establish a program in Indonesia that distributed five thousand copies of her educational book \u201cImpian Dewi\u201d (Dewi\u2019s Dream) to educate children about human trafficking. Mentari Indonesia also partnered with local organizations to promote backyard farming to help eliminate poverty and prevent human trafficking.<\/p>\n

A New Success<\/h2>\n

President Barack Obama appointed Shandra to the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. As a member of the Council, Shandra will play an integral role in providing recommendations to the U.S. Government to strengthen U.S. federal policy and programming efforts to help end human trafficking once and for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We congratulate Shandra Woworuntu, a survivor of sex trafficking and former client of Safe Horizon, for her years of powerful advocacy that earned her an appointment to the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":{"id":3011,"alt_text":"shandra-woworuntu_congratulations","caption":"","description":"shandra-woworuntu_congratulations","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":600,"height":406,"file":"2016\/09\/Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations-150x150.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations-300x203.jpg","width":300,"height":203,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations-300x203.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":3010,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Shandra-Woworuntu_Congratulations.jpg"},"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2015],"tags":[133,296],"class_list":["post-3010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safe-blog","tag-human-trafficking","tag-shandra-woworuntu","issue-human-trafficking"],"acf":{"page_header_title":"","page_header_excerpt":"We congratulate Safe Horizon client and human trafficking survivor Shandra Woworuntu for her accomplishments and successes","page_header_image":"https:\/\/www.safehorizon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/silhouette_hero_image.png","related_initiative_title":"What is human trafficking?","related_initiative_link":"\/get-informed\/human-trafficking-statistics-facts\/","related_initiative_link_text":"Learn the facts","featured_posts":[{"ID":1391,"post_author":"12","post_date":"2016-01-28 00:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2016-01-28 00:00:00","post_content":"\"1454009221_Ileana_Taylor.jpg\"\r\n\r\nJanuary 28, 2016<\/em>\r\n\r\nHelping over 180 clients and counseling more than 1, 000 other individuals affected by trafficking last year, Safe Horizon\u2019s Anti-Trafficking Program<\/a> (ATP) is spearheading the charge against human trafficking in and around New York City.\r\n\r\nAt ATP, we give survivors the chance to speak to a compassionate, expert case manager. Each case manager personally guides their client in obtaining critical resources to get back on their feet. Ileana Taylor is one of these inspirational ATP staff members and has been advocating for trafficking survivors as a case manager since 1999.\r\n

Ileana\u2019s Role as a Case Manager<\/h2>\r\nAlthough a typical day for Ileana consists of a variety of tasks, she dedicates most of her time to helping trafficking survivors navigate complex systems to obtain vital resources and find hope and safety. This ranges from connecting clients to resources such as emergency housing to accompanying them to appointments at public benefit offices and federal agencies.\r\n\r\nIleana also supports her clients work through their legal issues with ATP\u2019s onsite staff attorneys and writes support letters for T-Visa applications. A T-Visa allows survivor of human trafficking to stay and work in the U.S. Without these vital documents, they could experience further violence when returning to their native home.\r\n\r\nATP case managers like Ileana manage 35-40 cases per year and play a crucial role in helping survivors of human trafficking rebuild their lives.\r\n

Inspired to Help Human Trafficking Survivors<\/h2>\r\nIleana became passionate about fighting for human rights while living through a period of unrest in her native Guatemala. Inspired by people who have overcome trafficking, she decided to dedicate her career to helping more people affected by this horrendous crime.\r\n\r\nShe moved to the United States to pursue a better life. After earning her Associates in Mental Health from Warwick Community College, Ileana began working at ATP as a case manager. She later went on to receive both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Social Work from Adelphi University in addition to a certificate from New York University in Trauma Counseling.\r\n\r\nCase managers like Ileana make an impact in the lives of their clients by linking them to resources they need including:\r\n