By Jan Edwards | President
Welcome 2026! Another great start to the year, however, a bit slower than in the past. With so many changes happening in the education space and with our schools, this Spring Semester has been quite stressful and very hectic.
Regardless, we keep pressing on and continue to fight for our kids locally and at the federal Level to pass legislation that protects them from online predators and ai chat bots.
This is our 10 year Anniversary educating youth and empowering young lives to stay safe! We are grateful you've been with on on this journey!!!
Summary
This Spring our efforts to educate youth and parents about online safety, awareness, and empowerment topics was less than we hoped, however, we garnered a new grant to expand our PEER Advocacy training and have increased our Parent Education which has been very rewarding. Our three day Cyber Savvy traiing is still in high demand and we are always in search of new grants and donors to fund our school programs so we can continue to deliver this life saving programing.
We trained 516 youth and adults, both in-person and online with our new collaborative paretnershp with the Orange County Council of the PTA, delivering over 1,000 hours to a diverse communities with resources and training equiping families with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate today’s challenges of the online environment.
We were actively engaged in a range of community outreach and prevention-focused events to expand awareness and strengthen protective networks for youth. Our team participated in four Red Sand events and Human Trafficking Awareness Day, using these platforms to educate the public and elevate critical conversations around exploitation.
We also engaged with youth leaders at RYLA, reinforcing prevention education and peer-to-peer advocacy. In partnership with the community, we supported local initiatives such as the Clean Up Pine Hills event, demonstrating our commitment to safe and thriving environments. Additionally, we collaborated with schools and parent organizations through the Seminole PTSA at Indian Hills Middle School and a Semimole County Community PTA event entitle Stay, Tomorrow needs you, addressing the rise in teen suicide and how online environment can impact our children's mental health, equipping parents and educators with tools to better protect children.
Our outreach was further extended through an After School Partner event, ensuring continued engagement with students in trusted spaces. Together, these efforts reflect our holistic approach to prevention—meeting communities where they are and empowering them with knowledge and resources to safeguard youth.
The summer looks to be very busy as we deliver our PEER Advocacy program to two Boys and Girls Club, home clubs and gear up for our partnership with After School All Stars and Boys and Girls Clubs Summer Camps!
Advocacy
Paving the Way Foundation continued to elevate its national impact through strategic engagement and advocacy efforts. Our President, Jan attended the Polaris National Convening, joining leaders and experts from across the country to collaborate on best practices, emerging trends, and innovative solutions to prevent trafficking and support survivors.
In addition, she traveled to West Palm Beach to meet with parents who've lost their children to online exploitation in partnership with NCOSE to and advocate for the Kids Online Safety Act, reinforcing the urgent need for stronger protections for children in digital spaces.
These efforts reflect our commitment to not only educating communities on the ground, but also influencing policy at the highest levels to create lasting, systemic change for the safety and well-being of youth.
We continue tol advoacte for the the passage of the Frederick Douglass Act that provides funding for Prevention, Prosecution and Protection of survivors.
In big news, the State of Florida will be ensuring that big tech keeps our kids safe by removing all social media accounts of youth that are under the age of 14 starting in May. This is a big move for the state and we are following the foot steps of many other nations, including Austrialia, Norway, and the UK. Parents and leaders are starting to see the damage being done to our youth in these spaces and doing what they can to hold tech accountable and giving parents the help they need.
Financial Overview
We are so appreciative of our grants with Orange County that support Parent Education and our PEER Advocacy program. Sustained and increased funding is essential to meet the growing demand for our prevention education programs, particularly our high-impact three-day Cyber Savvy™ training that equips youth with the tools to recognize and prevent exploitation.
As we work to expand our reach and deepen our impact, we are encouraged that our monthly donations through GlobalGiving continue to grow, and for that we are deeply grateful. This ongoing support helps lay a strong foundation, and additional investment is needed to scale our efforts.This is an important part that our donors play. Every dollar committed goes right back into educating our community.
We are actively expanding our training programs beyond Orange County and are excited about the opportunity to reach and work with more youth across the Central Florida community. With increased funding, we can ensure more schools and students have access to the life-saving education and resources they need to stay safe.
Outreach & Engagement
We continue to look for new ways to expand our reach into the community and are growing our footprint to include Osceola and Seminole County. Through partnerships with local law enforcement, community leaders and local organizations, we grow our footprint to educate more famiiies and save our children from being exploited online.
We are members of the Osceola, Orange and now Seminole County Childrens Cabinets, our President was on a panel in February at the Osceola Childrens Cabinet. Communities are really starting to resonate what we do and why we do it, inviting us to more events like:
Impacting and educating thousands of lives and creating connections to bring our training programs into schools, churches and after school programs.
At every event we particpate in or parent education program we deliver at the end of the night is always the same - "Thank you, I didn't fully understand what my kids were up against, now I do and can help keep them safe! "
Paving the Way Foundation, as a member of the Central Florida Human Trafficking Task Force, along with One More Child, Flight Center, Empowerment Access, United Abolutionists, Haba Law Firm and My Name, My Voice we all recognized by the City of Kissimmee as they proclaimed April 7th Human Trafficking Awareness day as part of their support for April being Child Abuse Awareness Month. Knowing that child who are abused are vulnerable to future exploitation.
Last night, one of the mom's gave me a big hug and said "thank you for bringing your team to talk with us!
This is why we do what we do—we love educating our kids and their parents, they are an inspiration for us to move through challening times.
Community Wide Recognition
We don't do the work for accolades or applause and when it comes our way, we are truly appreciate of the time and attention to others noicting the difference we are making in the community.
Our President, Jan Edwards is being recognized April 21st by the Orange County Public School Board member Angie Gallo for her organizations work in educating and empowering youth to prevent exploitation in the School District.
She is also being honored on April 30th to recieve the prestigious Valerie Radcliff Children’s Friend Award, presented by the Orange County Council PTA. This honor recognizes individuals who have made a meaningful impact in the lives of children and families, and you are most deserving.
She and the organization are honored to be recognized by leaders in the community for the impact we continue to making in creating an environment to keep our kids safe!
International Impact
Paving the Way Foundation was selected to host a UN NGO Commission on the Status of Women Parallel Event via Zoom: Prevention is Protection: Justice in Action
We continue to lead the way on collaboration as we hosted 5 Subject Matter experts on Prevention Education, Victim Triage, Legal Resources, Debt Bondage Repair and Family Support Systems as they have a powerful conversation on ways to move beyond policy language, highlight how grassroots, boots-on-the-ground organizations can turn prevention, education, and front line training into real-world protection for children and families—strengthening access to justice before harm occurs with leaders from around the nation impacting the world.
Impact Metrics
While educating kids may not be as 'thrilling' as kicking in doors and recovering youth, we find the engagement, particpation and behavourial changes more than exciting, we see it as life changing. Preventing children from experiencing a life time of trauma is thrilling to us!
And the youth think so too! Here are a few stats from our latest follow up survey from over 250 middle school youth 8 weeks after our program completed:
Kids continue to take new actions like turning off their location settings and turned on their privacy settings, no longer accepting all friend request and some have even deleted apps on their phones. All of these actions will reduce the opportunity for predators to target our kids!
Challenges & Lessons Learned
Looking Ahead
As we move into the 2nd quarter of 2026, we look ahead to the lives we will impact with your generousity. In these times of uncertainty, we know one conversation can make a difference and bring some sense of clarity and certainty to our kids. Expanding our foot print is exciting and has it's own set of challenges. We know with you by our side, we will match the growing requests to save more lives!
Thank you for your continued suppot!
Sincerely,
The Paving the Way Team
Links:
By Jan Edwards | President
By Jan Edwards | President
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