Local resident Stacey Efaw grew up in a military family. She came to the Tampa Bay area in the 80s when her family was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. She graduated from Armwood High School and completed her bachelor’s and MBA at the University of South Florida.
“I have over 20 years nonprofit leadership experience,” Efaw said. “After a short stint in the corporate world, I began my nonprofit career at ECHO of Brandon. I served as the executive director there for 13 years. I was lucky to watch ECHO transform from a small food pantry to one of the main social service agencies in Eastern Hillsborough County. After that, I served as executive director at the Humane Society of Pinellas. Then I was chief development officer at Habitat for Humanity in Pinellas and West Pasco, the second largest Habitat in the U.S.”
Efaw recently become the executive director of Selah Freedom, which is a nonprofit that works with victims of human trafficking.
“I am very excited about my new position at Selah Freedom,” Efaw said. “We have had great success in the Sarasota area. We have begun programming throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough County and I know, with the community’s support, we will have similar results in these counties as well. There are many more people that need our help and our team is passionate about helping them.”
Selah Freedom is a nonprofit anti-human trafficking organization based in Florida and the Midwest with the mission to end sex trafficking and bring freedom to the exploited through four strong programs, advocacy and awareness, prevention, outreach and residential.
Selah Freedom confronts the issue of sex trafficking and is upheld as the model for how to effectively bring solutions to survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation. ‘Selah’ is a Hebrew word which means to pause, rest and reflect. Selah Freedom gives survivors a chance to do just that. Women in its sex trafficking outreach program are provided the opportunity to dream again—to discover who it is they were created to be.
“The issue we deal with is tough and not one that many want to tackle,” Efaw said. “We have two safe homes, one short-term and a longer program. I am proud of the loving approach that Selah Freedom takes when dealing with the survivors. They have already been through so much and really need someone to give them a chance and encourage them so that they can have a better life. I am thrilled that Selah Freedom has such an innovative prevention program that goes into the schools and teaches our children about sex trafficking so they can be aware and recognize the signs of traffickers.”
If you’d like to learn more about Selah Freedom, you can visit its website at
www.selahfreedom.com.
