On Friday, November 6th, actress AnnaLynne McCord (90210, Dallas) will present the Junior League of Los Angeles’ (“JLLA”) Community Leadership Award to Carissa Phelps, author/attorney/advocate and founder of Runaway Girl, Inc., for her work helping sexually exploited runaway children and homeless youth.
The event is part of JLLA’s annual Community Leadership Forum that is free for the community to attend. It will be held at the Downtown Central Library in Los Angeles from 9am – 12 noon.
Carissa Phelps was the subject of the award-winning documentary, Carissa, the 2008 film that revisits her life as a sexually exploited runaway child living on the streets of Fresno, CA. She’s also the founder of Runaway Girl, Inc., which advocates for runaway and homeless youth, while providing training for organizations to effectively reach out and address homelessness and human trafficking.
Actress AnnaLynne McCord has bravely opened up about her own sexual assault experience, and now feels it is time to speak out to aid other women. She just launched her own digital radio show “Truth” which launched 10/1/15 on Smiletime.
The Junior League of Los Angeles, now in its 90th year of service, is bringing together members of the community to focus on an important issue impacting the city as it presents the annual Community Leadership Forum. This free community event will be held on November 6, 2015, at the Downtown Central Library in Los Angeles. Breakfast will be served from 9-10 AM; Speakers & Panel Discussion from 10 AM – 12 PM.
This year’s topic will focus on The Disturbing Link Between Foster Youth and Human Trafficking. Featuring prominent experts in their field from the city, state and federal levels, the speakers will include: Carissa Phelps, author, advocate, attorney and founder of Runaway Girl Inc., Dana Harris, LAPD Detective Supervisor, Human Trafficking Investigator, and Maggy Krell, Deputy Attorney General, Statewide Human Trafficking Coordinator.
Statistics indicate that approximately half of the sexually exploited children on the streets today were at one time living in foster care or in a group home run by the state. The Community Leadership Forum is just one way JLLA is bringing attention to the alarming issues among the foster youth population in the Los Angeles area.
JLLA recently established a new partnership with the Alliance for Children’s Rights, a leader in the foster care world that provides children with permanency through adoption, legal guardianship, access to healthcare and an equitable education. This collaboration focuses on females ages 16-21 and empowers them with the life skills to transition out of foster care. For more information, click here.
The Junior League of Los Angeles is committed to empowering women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. Now in its 90th year of service, JLLA provides volunteers and funding to local non-profit agencies for the benefit and enrichment of the Los Angeles community. Nearly 600 volunteers contribute more than 60,000 hours of volunteer work each year to important projects and programs. In addition to the volunteer services that members contribute, the JLLA has contributed millions of dollars to fund programs and agencies that improve the overall wellbeing of the Los Angeles community.
