The Vision: Educating Adults and Youth in the Diocese
In the summer of 2020, Rev. Victoria Jarvis (a deacon at St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Brookhaven), received a call from the offices of the Bishop’s staff. The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Commission on Human Trafficking needed to refocus and advance its work. As chair of the commission, Jarvis and her fellow commission members began by educating themselves. They met with many anti-trafficking organizations across the state of Georgia, including the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia (CACGA), Rescuing Hope, Street Grace, and Wellspring Living.
Using the information they gathered and the connections they established with these experts, the Commission had a clear vision for their next steps. The Commission determined a need to focus on educating adults and youth in our diocese on human trafficking.
Securing Support for a Human Trafficking Curriculum for Parishes
The Commission determined that they needed to develop a curriculum to teach ways to identify human trafficking, who to contact in these events, and how to safeguard our children. But with 117 worshiping communities to serve and an annual budget of only $1,000, launching a human trafficking curriculum would require additional financial support. The Commission submitted a grant request to the Episcopal Community Foundation for Middle and North Georgia. We awarded a grant of $20,000 to develop this new curriculum and purchase the equipment needed for implementation across Diocese. With grant funds, the Commission created a curriculum which could be used in a variety of parish settings, with adults and youth, and with adults in Spanish.
Expanding Reach Across The Episcopal Church
The Commission realized they had an opportunity for a greater impact in The Episcopal Church. Determined to expand their reach, Jarvis and Commission member Ron Bagwell (St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roswell) presented at the triennial conference for the Association for Episcopal Deacons in June of 2025. 150 deacons from across The Episcopal Church attended the conference. Many attended the one-hour presentation on human trafficking and the Commission’s work.
Jarvis and Bagwell left the conference empty-handed. All of their brochures and materials had been distributed to people interested in their work. A third of the conference attendees requested the curriculum to take back to their own dioceses. This is clear evidence of the widespread interest in the Commission’s work. Through the Commission’s partnership with ECF, parishes across the entire Church have the time-saving value of not having to produce their own content, and the financial benefit of not having to pay a speaker fee.
Additionally, the Diocese of Georgia invited the Commission to conduct outreach to the 70 parishes in south Georgia as well. The Commission now has a statewide reach for the curriculum’s impact on human trafficking in Georgia. Jarvis also received a call requesting training for all the chaplains at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This group is not invited to vital trafficking-recognition and response training required of airline and airport staff.
Bring the Human Trafficking Curriculum to Your Parish
Through ECF’s investment, the Commission on Human Trafficking was able to create a meaningful curriculum for our parishes. They have led this human trafficking curriculum with the Diocese of Georgia as well. They have shared the curriculum with the entirety of The Episcopal Church. And they have an interfaith impact through the ATL Interfaith Airport Chaplaincy. What an incredible impact for the Episcopalians whose donations have contributed to ECF’s grantmaking funds!
The Commission would love to hear from you if you would like to host a training on human trafficking for your congregation. Learn more on the Diocese of Atlanta’s website.
To learn how ECF can partner with your ministry to create an exponential impact, please contact our executive director today.
