Technology to Rebuild Lives – Orange County Register

Michelle Heater, program director for the Waymakers Victim Assistance Program, attends an event to learn about the Freedom Life Map held in Costa Mesa on Thursday, January 11, 2024, an organization involved with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force. I spoke to people. Freedom Lifemap is an online tool used by organizations that help victims of human trafficking rebuild their lives. (Photo credit: Mark Rightmire of Orange County Register/SCNG)

For the first time, those fighting human trafficking have seen the Freedom Lifemap, a tool developed in Orange County. This tool aims to help people forced into slavery regain agency. Every year, an estimated 28 million people around the world, and hundreds in Orange County, are forced to provide labor against their will in sex work and other jobs. The rollout, held at the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa on Thursday, January 11, was attended by the tool’s developers and members of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force.