Our Community Partners

Our Community Partners...

The UMD Alternative Breaks program develops long-term, sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships with communities, organizations and groups who are contributing to positive social change around issues where they live. Most of the individuals, communities and partners Alternative Breakers work alongside and learn from during AB experiences have been hosting AB groups for many years.

The Covenant House

Homelessness, especially youth homelessness, is one of the biggest root causes of human trafficking. Since its establishment 1995, Covenant House Washington has become one of the largest nonprofits serving homeless, disconnected, and exploited young people in the Washington, DC area. The Covenant House, an umbrella organization of which Covenant House Washington is a part, has opened outreach programs, crisis centers, employment and education service centers and long-term, transitional living programs in 20 more cities in the United States, Central America and Canada. For more info: http://covenanthousedc.org/

Thurgood Marshall Academy

Thurgood Marshall Academy is a college-preparatory public charter high school located in ward 8’s historic Anacostia neighborhood. The school upholds Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s legacy of equal opportunity through our commitment to providing an excellent education for all students. Opened in 2001, Thurgood Marshall Academy prepares students to succeed in college and instills in students an understanding of democracy and advocacy for themselves and for others. Thurgood Marshall Academy serves nearly 400 students annually, over 90% of whom live in Wards 7 and 8, communities with the most poverty and fewest resources in the District. Almost 100% of our students are African-American and about 75% qualify for federal free or reduced lunch – the education marker of poverty. For More Info: http://www.thurgoodmarshallacademy.org/

Courtney’s House

Courtney's House fearlessly searches for children who are being forced into prostitution on the streets, in brothels, strip clubs, private homes, and hotels, embraces the rescued children and brings them into a safe environment where they and their families can heal, recover and develop hopeful, dignified and influential lives, and trains community officials and creates awareness of the reality of sex trafficking in neighborhoods across America to help stop the crimes from happening. For More Info: http://www.courtneyshouse.org/

  

Sasha Bruce Youthwork (SBY)

Sasha’s Bruce Youthwork improves the lives of homeless, runaway, abused and neglected youth and their families in the Washington DC area. This year we celebrate 41 years of service with our 2016 Sasha Bruce Benefit. For over four decades, we've reunited more than 13,000 homeless youth with strengthened families. (This blurb is taken from the Sasha Bruce website.) For more information: http://sashabruce.org/        

HIPS

HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency. Services include syringe exchange, both walk in and delivery, condom distribution during daytime and nighttime outreach, a drop in center for showers and laundry, and harm reduction counseling. For more information: http://www.hips.org 

Innocents at Risk
Innocents at Risk is a nonprofit founded to fight child exploitation and human trafficking. Their mission is to educate communities about global and local human trafficking. In 2007, Innocents at Risk started training flight attendants to recognize risk factors and signs of a child being transported for exploitation. For more information: http://www.innocentsatrisk.org

The Solidarity Center
The Solidarity Center stands with workers as they defend their right to freedom of association, supporting them as they organize, advocate and build worker voice. Our 221 professional staff work in about 60 countries with 400-plus labor unions, pro-worker nongovernmental organizations, legal-aid groups, human rights defenders, women’s associations, advocacy coalitions and others to support workers—in garment factories, home service, seafood processing, mining, agriculture, informal marketplaces, manufacturing, the public sector and beyond—as they exercise their rights, including organizing for safer work sites, demanding living wages and improving laws (and the enforcement of existing laws) that protect working people, and fighting exploitation and abuse. For more information: https://www.solidaritycenter.org