Congress Taps Teen Activist Dallas Jessup (18) To Testify on Trafficking Solutions

Congress Taps Teen Activist Dallas Jessup (18) To Testify on Trafficking Solutions
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Just Yell Fire founder Dallas Jessup, a Vanderbilt University freshman, to testify Thursday to U.S. House of Representatives with an unusual solution to trafficking.

Washington DC (Vocus) March 23, 2010 -- Congress believes the 18 year old founder of a non-profit might have a solution to the worldwide human trafficking crisis: the U.S. House of Representatives has called Dallas Jessup to testify on Thursday, March 25.

Dallas Jessup, a Vanderbilt University freshman, captured the worldwide spotlight with her film Just Yell Fire and NGO of the same name which focus on empowering teenage girls to fight back against predators and traffickers.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by James P. McGovern and Frank R. Wolf, will hold the hearing on the National and International Implications of Human Trafficking on Thursday, March 25 in meeting room 2255 at the Rayburn Office Building.

Also slated to testify are Timothy Williams, director of INTERPOL and Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, for the U.S. Department of State.

“I’m excited to offer a different approach to the trafficking crisis,” said Dallas Jessup, founder and executive director of Just Yell Fire, NGO. “Our solution is already working for more than 1 million girls across 48 countries but the big answer lies in the classroom and I’m hopeful that the Commission can help make that happen.”

According to Jessup, America’s schools should include danger avoidance, rights awareness, and get-away skills for teenage girls into every middle and high school’s curriculum; every year, for every girl. “If you do this you will have the most powerful generation of young women in history; girls who aren’t easily tricked, intimidated, or taken. It’s these girls who will turn the tables on the traffickers and put these predators out of business.”

Jessup’s Just Yell Fire theory and methodology of protecting teenage girls has garnered some high profile supporters. MIT offers Just Yell Fire as a for-credit course, the FBI National Academy and the national Mensa Conference have asked Jessup to keynote, and the NYPD sex crimes unit has incorporated Just Yell Fire into its outreach program.

Media Contact: Maggie at Platform Strategy 360.521.0437

About Dallas Jessup: CNN Hero and Youth Activist, Dallas (18) grew a community service project to fight predators into the non profit Just Yell Fire which is now a Million Girl Revolution across 48 countries. A Teen Choice Award nominee, inductee into the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans, Jefferson Award winner, and Seventeen Magazine Mission Award winner, Dallas is a freshman at Vanderbilt University. Her book, "Young Revolutionaries Who Rock" won the USA Books Best Young Adult Non Fiction award in 2009. A professional speaker, she travels up to 10,000 miles a month keynoting women’s, non profit, and youth events. www.dallasjessup.com