We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christi Bartman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christi below.
Christi , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
Human Trafficking prevalence numbers are hard to measure across the nation, in our state and particularly in our region. The data that is there is siloed, not shared or not reported or disclosed. I serve the Appalachian Counties of Ohio as an anti-human trafficking educator and advocate through Eyes Up Appalachia. One of the key issues is that human trafficking looks different in our Appalachian and rural communities than it does in the metro areas. Most people only identify it with what they hear from those reports. But when I explain it to our communities, they say “oh yeah, that happens here.” One of the key differences I see is the prevalence of familial trafficking – specifically a family member allowing access to a child in exchange for drugs or rent. In order to better understand the issues specific to our region, I partnered with the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (ONCAC) and Give Back Hack through a grant from the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio. Over 2022 ONCAC and I surveyed the agencies that would directly serve individuals that either were trafficked or at high risk of being trafficked. Even though it was simply a voluntary response we had 79 agencies respond to report 104 individuals that were trafficked and 134 that were at high risk of being trafficked. Of those that reported offender data, just under 30 % were family members. The risk factor prevalence of those that provided extensive detail showed sexual abuse as a child as the highest vulnerability that correlated with someone being trafficked or at high risk for trafficking. That was followed by self-worth or mental health vulnerabilities, trauma bonding, emotionally controlling or abusive relationships and drug misuse. Once we had these findings we used that information to inform a series of stakeholder meetings facilitated by Give Back Hack. We used Design Thinking to empathize with and define the problem (the survey), ideate (brainstorming at the stakeholder meetings), prototype and test. We are in the prototype phase at this point. During the ideation sessions we came up with four themes related to our overall goal of prevention – mobile services, warm handoff for transition age youth, social media/technology education and the whole family concept to disrupt the cycle where someone feels they need something badly enough they would offer up their child. We narrowed a list of ideas to those first three that we felt were “manageable” on a small prototype to test. As I type we are putting the final touches on those and soliciting input and participation for the test. Once we test them, we will regroup, discuss the possibilities of expanding, revising or starting again as we iterate solutions. The final outcome will be several projects that we can do as a region that can move us from a reactive to a preventative approach to human trafficking.
Christi , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I founded Eyes Up Appalachia, an anti-human trafficking initiative in Appalachian Ohio, because I saw a need that was not being met. We were doing great anti-trafficking work in many of the areas of Ohio, particularly the metros. But we had not made much progress in the 32 Appalachian counties. Of those 32 only half had anti-trafficking coalitions. Teaming with the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio as my fiscal agent seemed to be a logical step for several reasons. I pitched my first lean canvas appeal to them and was successful and it has been a wonderful partnership. I had been involved in higher education and other professions where there were multiple layers of approval before you could put ideas you knew would work in place – and I wanted to avoid that. I wanted to move agilely and through partnerships and collaboration because, even though I have the passion, I am not a direct service provider and I realize that is who I needed to team with to move the needle to reduce trafficking. Another aspect of this effort, and one that turns my business undergrad degree on its head, is that it is pro bono on my part. I raise money to pay survivors for their work with me and partner on some grants but all my efforts to train, speak and coordinate are generally pro bono.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I started Eyes Up Appalachia right before COVID hit. Working within the Appalachian communities and those that work with vulnerable populations is all about building trust. What could have been a major setback actually turned out to be a powerful boost! Appalachian Ohio covers 32 counties. In-person work requires a great deal of travel time. Because we went virtual with everything I was able to meet far more people and agencies, do far more trainings, and expand my presence faster than would have been physically possible without COVID!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
As mentioned earlier, my business model is based on collaborations and partnerships – not profit. The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio has not only helped me make connections (they have the exact same footprint I serve) but they also ran the “Cause Connector” crowd funding campaigns for several years and I have benefited. Through them I have received funds to pay the survivors that consult with and advise me for their lived experience expertise so I can better understand how to address trafficking from a “real” perspective. The Cause Connector has also funded printing of my informational rack cards and coasters with a local and national hotline that we could distribute to local bars. Ohio University students, through the Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, helped me create my website eyesupappalachia.org and Instagram account – @eyesupappalachia. A Columbus advertising firm helped me create the name and logo pro bono. The Board of Realtors connected me with their designer who laid out my informational rack cards pro bono as well. The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio named me as an inaugural Health and Human Services Pillar Fellow which came with funding for the prevalence study. I have also teamed with a group called Relink.org to produce webinars and service directories. I am currently working with the Ohio University College of Engineering and the University of Toledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute to map vulnerabilities to aid in prevention work as well. This latest partnership is the result of student work done by an Ohio State University Rapid Innovation for Public Impact class that first developed the concept for the Appalachian region of Ohio. 
Contact Info:
- Website: eyesupappalachia.org
- Instagram: @eyesupappalachia
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christi-scott-bartman/