Derek Ellerman (born June 27, 1978) is an American social entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of Polaris Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that combats

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

and modern slavery. In 2004, he was selected as a Fellow by

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

. Ellerman is the co-publisher of the intersectional feminist website Everyday Feminism.

Educational background

Derek Ellerman attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, graduating in 2002, with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

Cognitive Neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the Biology, biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental ...

Professional background

While an undergraduate student at Brown University, Ellerman established the Center for Police and Community (CPAC), an organization that addressed issues of

police misconduct Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, false confession, coerced false confession, intimidation, ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. At CPAC, Ellerman served as the Executive Director and worked to support individual victims of police abuse. He assisted in successfully advocating for the creation of the first civilian review board for law enforcement in the state of Rhode Island. In 2002, during his senior year at Brown, Ellerman co-founded Polaris Project with Katherine Chon after reading an article in a local paper about a fake massage business, the conditions of which were close to slavery. Located in the United States, Polaris Project works to address and combat all forms of

, while providing programs and services to help all victims throughout the country.

References

External links

Congressional Testimony, 2004

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellerman, Derek Living people 1978 births Anti–human trafficking activists American social entrepreneurs Ellerman, Derek