Derek Ellerman (born June 27, 1978) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

social entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of Polaris Project, a

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

-based nonprofit organization that combats

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

and

modern slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...

. In 2004, he was selected as a Fellow by

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

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

Educational background

Derek Ellerman attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Provide ...

, graduating in 2002, with a Bachelor of Science in

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

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 in Providence, Rhode Island. 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 Ashoka USA Fellows 1978 births Anti–human trafficking activists Social entrepreneurs Ellerman, Derek