Skip to content

Built on a Decade of Prevention Work

Since 2015, UNITAS has developed prevention education, trained professionals, and worked with schools, public systems, and survivor-informed experts to strengthen how exploitation is recognized and addressed. UNITY Prevention carries that work forward with a clearer focus on prevention.
 
UNITAS Flower wall

Built on the Legacy of UNITAS

 UNITAS established the foundation: prevention education for young people, professional training, survivor-informed expertise, and partnerships with schools and public institutions. UNITY Prevention brings those parts of the work together under a clearer prevention-focused identity. 

 UNITAS established the foundation for this work. UNITY Prevention carries that work forward with a clearer focus on prevention. 

Young People Learned More

Prevention education gave young people clearer language for recognizing exploitation, manipulation, and risk.

Professionals Became Better Prepared

Educators, social workers, law enforcement, and other professionals strengthened how they recognize concerns and respond.

Institutions Strengthened Their Response

Work with schools and public systems helped move prevention beyond individual awareness and into practice.

Survivor-Informed Expertise Shaped the Work

Lived experience has informed prevention education, training, and program development across UNITAS's work.

Why the Name Is Evolving

The transition from UNITAS to UNITY Prevention reflects a clearer public identity for the organization’s next stage of work.

UNITAS established the foundation. UNITY Prevention carries that foundation forward with a name that is easier to understand, easier to access, and more directly aligned with the organization’s prevention-focused work in the United States.

The change is not about starting over. It is about making the mission clearer.

UNITY Prevention continues the legacy of UNITAS while expanding the organization’s focus on practical, community-based prevention infrastructure through youth education, professional training, survivor-informed support, and UNITY Centers.

Our Story

UNITAS began with a belief in the power of unity: that exploitation cannot be prevented by one organization, one school, one agency, or one intervention alone.

Over time, that belief became a model of prevention built through education, partnerships, curriculum development, professional training, survivor-informed support, and coordinated response. UNITAS developed LIGHTS, a prevention curriculum designed to help young people understand trafficking risks and recognize where to turn for help. The organization also trained adults and institutions to identify warning signs, strengthen response protocols, and better protect the young people in their care.

Today, UNITY Prevention is carrying that work into a new phase.

The organization is focused on making prevention more accessible, more coordinated, and more connected to community. This includes continuing youth education and professional training, while also developing UNITY Centers as place-based prevention hubs that help young people connect to trusted support before harm deepens.

The Next Chapter: UNITY Networks

 UNITY Networks extend prevention into local communities by strengthening referral pathways, case coordination, and connections to specialized services. The first, UNITY Detroit, is being developed for young adults ages 18–21. 

Our mission

To prevent human trafficking and exploitation by helping people recognize risk earlier, respond more effectively, and connect to support.

Our Team

Meet the dedicated professionals leading UNITY Prevention's prevention education, survivor support, and community partnerships

Tonya Headshot

Tonya Turner

President + CEO
Lamont Headshot

Lamont Hiebert

Lead Trainer
John headshot

John McMunn

Director of Strategic Partnerships
Esther headshot

Esther Rodriguez Brown

Holistic Trauma Consultant
Jessica Headshot

Jessica Kay

Survivor Consultant
steven headshot

Steven Procopio

Consultant for Male Survivors
Jarret headshot

Jarret Davis

Research Analyst
Jillian Headshot

Jillian Dudley

Youth Advocate
TWG Logo

TWG Strategy

Fractional COO of UNITY Detroit

Board of Directors

Diane Johnston
Senior Vice President, UBS Wealth Management Financial Advisor | Endowment & Foundation Consultant

Dr. Coralanne Griffith-Hunte, PsyD, C.C.T.S.F
Founder and Chairwoman of Created for Greatness Leadership Group

Dr. Charles Harris
Acute Care Surgeon with Inova Health Systems

Program Partners

NYC Department of Education

Washington DC Public Schools

NYPD Human Trafficking Squad

NYC Administration for Children’s Services

Brooklyn DA’s Human Trafficking Unit

Queens DA’s Human Trafficking Unit

NYC Office to End Gender-Based Violence

New York Foundling, The Phoenix Project

ESD Global: Empowerment Self-Defense

The Jewish Board: Bridging the Gap

The Bowery Mission

The Woolf Group

Board of Advisors

Moe Ross
Founder & Director, The Unscripted School of Healing

Agnes Jamora
President, Cold Flame Spirits

Contractors and Consultants

Steven Procopio

Chloe Akahori
Domino New York

Theresa Flores

Esther Rodriguez Brown

Jessica Kay

Dawn Albert

Curriculum Contributors

Tonya Turner
UNITAS President + CEO, Harvard Certified

Lamont Hiebert, CLC
Lead Trainer, Love146 Co-Founder

Dr. Coralanne Griffith-Hunte, PsyD, C.C.T.S.F
UNITAS Board Member
Psychologist, Clinical Trauma Specialist, NY State 2019 “Woman of Distinction”, Senior Legislative Advisor

Steven Procopio, ACSW, LICSW
Expert on male sex trafficking and exploitation; U.S. DOJ and HHS Consultant

Theresa Flores, LSW, MS
Speaker, Author, Survivor; Founder of S.O.A.P. Project; Founder of Traffick Free

Andrea Powell, EMLE
Founder of Karana Rising; Founder of FAIR Girls

Erika L. Ewing, MFA
Got To Stop Founder & CEO

Toni D. Rivera
Speaker, Author, Activist

Survivor Contributors
Additional survivors were contracted and played a key role in informing LIGHTS.