The World Vision ACT:S college advocacy network engaged with more than 16,000 college students at the triennial Urbana conference.

January 2010

By Kristie Urich and Shawna Templeton, World Vision U.S.

Abducted. Defiled. Forced. Sold.

These provocative words, describing the exploitation of millions of children each year, were displayed in an unlikely place: on black t-shirts worn by students in the crowded halls of Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo. — the site of Urbana, a triennial student mission conference hosted by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

The Human Wrong Initiative

Some 1,000 college students donned these t-shirts in a stance of solidarity with childern affected by human trafficking, and as an introduction to a new creative activism campaign — the Human Wrong Initiative to stop child slavery.

Launched by World Vision, in partnership with International Justice Mission and Sojourners, the campaign seeks to raise up a generation of students to speak out against the human wrong of child exploitation and drive action by U.S. Congress to pass the Child Protection Compact Act (CPCA). If passed, the CPCA will improve enforcement of current anti-trafficking laws.

The Human Wrong initiative was one of several ways in which the call to respond to poverty and injustice was embraced at Urbana09 by more than 16,000 college students.

The ACT:S Experience

World Vision’s ACT:S college activism network also introduced a 2,400-square-foot interactive advocacy exhibit at Urbana. Mixing art, scripture, and creative activism with technology and social media, the ACT:S Experience served as a vehicle to explore faith and justice, learn about creative activism, and discover how students can use their own voices to amplify the voices of the poor.

The four-room experience was a journey through stories, interaction, and practical application. Exhibit visitors found opportunities to mobilize their campuses, churches, and communities and learned that advocacy is an integral part of a mission to serve the poor. At the end of the exhibit, visitors expressed their personal commitments through visual art. At a photo station, students wrote their commitments on a board, took a photo through a computer, and then sent that photo to their friends and family to tell them about their commitment to faith and justice at Urbana. Students declared commitments ranging from simply, “Love others,” to “Pursue a graduate degree,” or “Live in God’s vision for the poor.”

Students attend Urbana in search of opportunities to serve in missions, often overseas. Participants coming through the ACT:S Experience, however, recognized the need to act now, and not only when an opportunity arises to serve abroad. Almost 4,500 people joined the ACT:S network, with hundreds of these students indicating a specific desire to be an ACT:S Mobilizer — a key advocacy movement leader on their campus, in their church, or in their community.

Poverty and advocacy learning track

World Vision also co-hosted an elective learning path for students interested in advocacy. This is the first time advocacy on poverty and social justice-related issues has been an official focus track in the 63-year history of Urbana. Participating students considered how advocacy is part of our biblical call to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” (Proverbs 31:8, NIV). They learned from aid workers, policy advocates and grassroots community mobilizers, whose work involves speaking up on behalf of vulnerable children and women, both in the United States and abroad.

Jesse Eaves, World Vision policy adviser for children in crisis, was one such specialist who contributed to the poverty and advocacy track by leading several seminars and meeting with hundreds of students. “It was inspiring to see students talk about advocacy as a first step rather than an afterthought,” Eaves observed.