Nonprofit 'Wonder Girls' holds annual summit to provide safety tips for teens

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 11:00PM
Nonprofit, 'Wonder Girls' puts on summit to prevent human trafficking
Kemberly Richardson has more on the nonprofit's annual summit hosted at Rockland Community College that provides safety tips for young women.

SUFFERN, New York (WABC) -- A local nonprofit held its annual event focused on keeping teens safe.

The "Wonder Girls" Teen Safety Summit took over Rockland Community College on Tuesday, with several hundred girls gathering to listen and learn from authorities what red flags they should look out for.

Everything, from drugs -- especially fentanyl -- to distracted driving, was discussed, but it was the area of concern in social media that was really driven home.

"A lot of times people will try to catfish and act like they are somebody's friend and you'll fall into their trap," said 13-year-old Paige Diaz.

Diaz told Eyewitness News she recently got a strange message from someone on TikTok and immediately blocked and reported the person.

Human trafficking was also a big topic. Experts point out that globally, human trafficking affects roughly 40 million victims, and 71% are women and girls.

"A lot of the times, you'll see predators, especially with child trafficking," said "Wonder Girls" CEO Natalie Maniscalco. "They'll use social media to get in direct contact with children."

Leslie Rodriguez, Director of Children and Youth Programs at Center For Safety & Change, acknowledged many times traffickers know their victims or are friends of friends who may reach out online.

"We've seen it all the time that they are creating these false profiles in order to lure in their victims," she said. "A lot of the times these youth don't know what's going on, they think it's all about the likes or how many followers I get, not knowing this person is reaching out there to lure me in."

"Wonder Girls" has a program in 20 schools across New York and New Jersey.

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