Action Network 

What is the ACTION Network?

The ACTION Network is a coordinating body that brings together a multidisciplinary group of governmental and nongovernmental organizations to address child trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in San Diego County.

What is the history behind the ACTION Network?

In late 2005, a fifteen-year-old African American girl came to a local teen shelter terrified. Only a few days before, she was lured into a home in Southeast San Diego where a street gang laid out assault riffles and handguns on a kitchen table. The gang members told the girl that they would kill her grandmother and little sister if she refused to leave with them to Las Vegas to be prostituted.

This tragic case prompted the community of San Diego to form an alliance to specifically address local child prostitution. No child should ever have to worry about selling his/her body to keep their loved ones alive. And no society should ever allow itself to be held hostage by those that seek to harm its children. There is power in community and that is a fundamental reason why we united under one voice to form a multidisciplinary coalition to fight these egregious crimes committed against the most vulnerable.

On October 25, 2005, organizations like San Diego Youth Services, San Diego County Office of Education, San Diego Juvenile Court, U.S. Attorney's Office, District Attorney's Office, San Diego City Attorney's Office, San Diego Police Department's Vice Unit, FBI, IRS, ICE, UPAC, San Diego Family Justice Center, Youth Restoration Alliance, Center for Community Solution's Rape Crisis Center, Sheriff's Department, Chula Vista Police Department, Sharp Hospital, Heartland Human Relations, San Diego County Probation Department, San Diego Public Defenders Office, Organizational Improvement Systems, Commission on Children Youth & families, Community Policing Consultants, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and many others got together to recognize that there was a significant child exploitation problem in San Diego.

During the same time, the Girls Issues Group (GIG) and SANDAG conducted a survey on teen prostitution where up to 93% of professionals that work with children reported that teen prostitution was a serious problem in San Diego. On December 1, 2005, these two groups conducted a community meeting to release the results of their survey. Since GIG's sun was setting after their last meeting, they publicly passed on the torch to a group of concerned organizations.

As a result, the ACTION Network was founded on February 15, 2006, when approximately forty members of the community came together and ratified the ACTION Network Charter. We recognized that teen prostitution was a severe problem and that additional resources were needed in San Diego to combat local teen prostitution and domestic trafficking in children. 

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