Alison Ungaro has lived in Gainesville, Florida for the past 27 years. She graduated from the University of Florida with both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Speech Language Pathology before joining a multidisciplinary team in the SLP field to serve patients with complex medical needs. This training proved invaluable as she decided to devote her career to helping survivors of sex trafficking. She has spent the last 15 years building safe spaces, comprehensive care, and programming needed for survivors to heal, body and soul. 

As Anew’s Founder and Executive Director, Alison’s mission is to see survivors of human trafficking find the care they need, with programming that is based on best practices in the field and with the sensitivity needed for people who have experienced complex trauma. 

Women and girls make up approximately 80% of those victimized through sex trafficking in the US, with most experiencing childhood sexual abuse and roughly 45% experiencing familial trafficking. Currently there are only enough safe beds in the US to serve 10% of victims of human trafficking. Alison has dedicated her life to seeing this narrative shift and for more women with lived experiences of trafficking and exploitation to have the opportunity for healing and restoration. 

Alison serves on the Alachua County Advisory Board for Victim Services, and has been a contributor in the development of the State of Florida’s standards of care involving Adult Safe Homes for Human Trafficking Survivors, alongside the Department of Children and Families, as well as the Office of the Attorney General of Florida. Additionally, she serves with the North Central Florida Human Trafficking Task Force, representing the only adult safe home of its kind for over 11 counties. 

Alison continues to educate, inspire, and mobilize her community to be part of the fight against the injustice of human trafficking, believing that each woman is worth being seen and having access to care when it’s needed most.