About Us
Project Protect Our Children is a 501c3 founded in 2019 by Denise M. Mears. Denise found her passion in anti-human trafficking working with a Houston non-profit that provided direct services to teenage trafficking survivors.
Through her work in Houston, she realized that the average child didn’t have the ability to understand the level of deception a predator will go to, thus making them easily manipulated. Technology and the internet have made it easier for predators to engage, entice and entrap our children both in the real world and the virtual one. It was evident to her that our children were falling victim to an evil that they were unaware of. She realized that our youth need to be given the knowledge and skills to be able to identify such situations.
Hearing the young girls’ stories of how they were manipulated and what they endured while being forced to work Houston’s streets ignited something in her. She realized that most communities were missing a vital resource in the fight to stop child sex trafficking and exploitation – preventative education.
Preventative education provides knowledge. Knowledge spreads awareness; awareness is the key to prevention and identification. Every child should be taught how to protect themselves from human trafficking and exploitation. Every victim should be given the opportunity to be recognized, as most walk among us controlled by their trafficker and shackled by psychological chains.
Faced with the most current statistics and armed with skills and knowledge she had acquired, she felt called to provide preventative educational programs and awareness trainings at no cost.
Our Mission
We are dedicated to preventing child sex trafficking, exploitation and abuse through proactive community engagement, preventative educational programs, awareness and empowerment opportunities.
Our Vision
Our vision is a world where every childhood is free from predators, exploitation and abuse.
Our Mission Partners
We believe that fighting human trafficking is a collaborative effort.
As affiliates of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force and members of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance of the Southern District of Texas, the Houston Rescue & Restore Coalition, the Montgomery County Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the Brazoria County United Front Coalition, we are working to combat Human Trafficking in our communities.
Our Board of Directors
We are proud to introduce the Project Protect Our Children Board of Directors and honored to have them by our side! Together we will make a difference. Together we will fight to end child sex trafficking, exploitation and abuse. Together we will work to protect our children.
Our Advisory Board
Edwin “Jack” Lamm III, Lamm & Smith, P.C
Denise Weatherford, New Caney Independent School District
Kelly White
Elizabeth Shaw, C12
Brett Mears, Palmer Logistics
Denise DeGeare, Independent Personal Technology Consultant