October 04, 2011
By the time Melissa Snow ‘12G decided to return to school for her
Master’s degree, she had already made a huge impact in the fight
against human trafficking as Director of Programs for Shared Hope
International.
While earning her bachelor’s degree in sociology at the
University of Colorado, Melissa managed, developed and evaluated
nine projects at Shared Hope that fight sex trafficking in the
United States and abroad. “For the past eight years,” she explains,
“I’ve worked to rescue and restore survivors of sex trafficking in
India, Nepal, Fiji, South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica and the United
States. I’ve also created training videos and resources to help law
enforcement and social service providers to identify and respond to
trafficking victims.” With these materials, she adds,
“thousands have been trained and sensitized to the importance of
informed victim-centered response.”
Given the nature of her work, Melissa chose the
multidisciplinary
Master’s of Arts in Global Development and Social Justice at
St. John’s University. “I was ecstatic,” she says, “when I
saw that the title of the Master’s program included the core value
of social justice within the scope of global development.”
According to Melissa, an important component of the program is that
it seeks to spark a global dialogue on development by connecting
students from around the world.
Melissa believes St. John’s program corrects a common error in
many efforts to aid those in need. “Far too often,” she observes,
“conversations about development exclude those whom the project
intends to impact or serve.” This program, she explains, “addresses
that intrinsic weakness and provides students with a community and
foundation of knowledge that establishes an advanced understanding
of cultural dynamics that are critical to the success of
development projects.”
For example, Melissa notes, “one class we had last year involved
the use of software that allowed us to map trends in social,
environmental and health issues. I was able to use this
software to identify data related to issues use as teen pregnancy,
gang activity and HIV rates in Jamaica.” She shared the information
with a program that targets at-risk youth in Jamaica to raise
awareness on certain social issues. Melissa is delighted that
“the program was then able to redirect and target their outreach”
in areas where the at-risk populations were highest.
The opportunity to bond with fellow students at the Rome campus
enhanced the program’s focus on Distance Learning. “The courses can
be very difficult when you do not have relationships with fellow
students,” she explained. “So the director of the program designed
our first month as a study abroad together in Rome. We had the
opportunity to live, eat, study, travel and enjoy fellowship
together, developing a bond that continues to carry us through in a
connected way.”
This experience, Melissa adds, underscores the importance of
relationships to successful global development. “Relationships are
the foundation for understanding, acceptance, love and justice,”
she says. “With relationships, we are willing to see and hear each
other, and this paves the way for sustainable and successful
interaction, thus creating healthy space for development both
personally and professionally.”
In 2011, Melissa received the Love in Action award for her work
with survivors of human trafficking through the Maryland Human
Trafficking Task Force. She currently directs the
Anti-Trafficking Program for TurnAround, Inc., and
chairs the Human-Trafficking
Task Force/Victim Services Committee in Maryland. As director,
she works with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and local
and state law enforcement agencies to provide emergency response
and ongoing care to help survivors regain their freedom. A
Registered Yoga Teacher, she has written or co-written scholarly
articles and has conducted training sessions here and abroad.
Upon graduation, Melissa plans to continue her work addressing
the sex trafficking of women and children in the United States and
around the world. “This degree,” she says, “has and will continue
to provide me with the education, resource and tools to
aggressively and successfully combat this issue.”