Voices for Voices®

Breaking the I-5 Pipeline: Oregon's Fight Against Sex Trafficking with Brittany Jones (Ep. 321)

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 321

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Breaking the I-5 Pipeline: Oregon's Fight Against Sex Trafficking with Brittany Jones (Ep. 321)

What happens when a political candidate is willing to fund solutions from their own pocket? Meet Brittany "BJ" Jones, Oregon Governor gubernatorial candidate for 2026, whose commitment to change goes far beyond campaign promises.

Our compelling conversation with BJ Jones delves into Oregon's darkest challenges - particularly the rampant human trafficking along the I-5 corridor, one of the nation's worst hotspots. Jones articulates a fresh approach focused on protecting victims rather than criminalizing them, while ensuring perpetrators face maximum penalties. "Our kids, our people, our women, our children, our men - we need to be protected," Jones emphasizes, contrasting with the current system where offenders often receive minimal consequences.

The discussion reveals Jones' personal connection to many of the issues facing Oregonians. As a veteran who experienced homelessness with her children, she understands firsthand the gaps in support systems. Her son's mental health journey informed her advocacy for replacing school principals with licensed counselors - a model she witnessed dramatically improve both behavior and academic performance. This practical experience shapes her vision for comprehensive mental health reform across the state.

Perhaps most striking is Jones' extraordinary commitment to funding initiatives personally if legislative approval fails. Having lived on $12,000-20,000 annually for most of her life, she views the governor's salary as an opportunity to directly fund programs she believes in, particularly her homelessness initiative. "I'm not afraid to lose my couch," she states plainly, expressing her willingness to sacrifice personal comfort for meaningful change.

Jones also addresses the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) and pledges to enforce indigenous treaties that have historically been violated by the government. Her day-one plan includes declaring a state of emergency to address homelessness, indigenous rights violations, and the drug epidemic - giving her directive control over state agencies to allocate resources more effectively.

Want to learn more about this candidate who previously ran for president and now focuses her vision on Oregon? Follow BJ's campaign on Facebook at Jones for Governor 2026, on TikTok @BJforOregon, or visit her website through any of her social media platforms.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Introduction and Previous Episode Recap

5:28 Addressing Human Trafficking in Oregon

11:06 Indigenous Rights and MMIW Crisis

15:26 Day One as Governor: State of Emergency

19:55 Mental Health Initiatives in Schools

30:43 Treaty Enforcement and Closing Thoughts

33:40 Website Information and Show Conclusion

#OregonTrafficking #SexTraffickingAwareness #I5Pipeline #BrittanyJones #HumanRightsOregon #EndSexTrafficking #SurvivorStories #AdvocacyInAction #FightAgainstTrafficking #CommunityActivism #StopTheTrafficOregon #EmpowerSurvivors #LawEnforcementCollaboration #OregonJusticeReform #BreakTheSilence #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #factoverfictionmatters #transparency #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices321

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Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Thank you for joining us on this show as well as our over now 320 episodes. As this is episode number 321, I just want to thank everybody for their love and support, following us, subscribing, giving us the big thumbs up like share, follow, all those things that are free and helping us reach 80 countries, over 80 countries, 800 cities. It's just really. It's remarkable, and we can't do this without you. So thank you so much for uh tuning in whether this is your first episode. If it is your first episode, you're going to want to at least go back uh to uh episode, uh, uh, the previous episode. I just lost what, what number it was. I know I just said it was 320, uh, but you'll want to go and check out basically part one of our conversation with the guests we have on today, because, uh, it all, it all ties together with uh, with uh, with with uh these two shows specifically, and we are delighted to have our guest stick around, take time out of her day to be with us, to talk with us, to share her heritage, her vision. Her heritage, her vision. She is Brittany Jones, BJ for Governor 2026. She's in the state of Oregon and in our part one episode we dug in to just a lot of the background of BJ heritage what kind of state Oregon is from, just from, like an outsider perspective, has the coast and in many different areas that not all the states here in the united states has. So it's very, uh eye-opening and I like to learn and it was very, very helpful, as the show uh previous show was uh about halfway and get towards the.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

The last a few minutes of the show start getting into politics, how to register for office. Talked about her being an introvert, like I am, and whether you're an extrovert or introvert, you can run for office. You just have that, that belief in what, what you're doing, what you want to do, uh to uh. In the end, we want to help people. So, uh, we open, uh or give open invitation to anybody who, uh who is running for office, and we are an equal opportunity provider. So what we are sharing, we're sharing BJ for Governor for 2026. And we're going to get into her platform and a little bit more detail here in this episode. But we would love to also do that for uh others, uh, whether it's in the state of Oregon or uh, another state, uh, or even another country, we would be happy to have you come on and share, uh, share a little bit about yourself and what your, what your plans on doing and once you get elected and are in that that position.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

One thing I didn't know which BJ mentioned that she, she's run, she, she's run or ran for president as well, and so that is awesome, because that is when for our viewers and listeners to know about me, like the dream big, think big. And so when she mentioned that she ran for president, it's like, oh my gosh, this is really a next level individual that really truly wants to help, not just on the local level, but on a national level. So we've never had a presidential candidate or somebody who's ran for president before on our show. So we're grateful for that. But, without further ado, just want to reintroduce Brittany Jones, bj for Governor Oregon 2026, for joining us on this second part of the episodes.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

Happy to be here, happy to continue the conversation, looking forward to it Excellent, excellent, excellent.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

So let's let's jump, jump right in. Uh, the the way we got connected was through a mutual acquaintance, and that is around the topic of human trafficking, sex, sex trafficking. Uh, what are your thoughts on it and how are your thoughts and plans different than what is currently and what has historically happened around that area?

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

that area. This is something. So when I used to act, I was part of a horror film like a student project called the Chop Box and it was actually. It was about a monster, but it was based on the sex trafficking along the I-5 corridor. So the I-5 corridor is one of the worst in the nation for sex trafficking and a lot of the times you don't see law enforcement enforcing it in the way that I feel it should be enforced.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

A lot of the times the victims are charged with crimes and not the perpetrators. So making a system where the people who are the victims can come forward without fear of criminal prosecution, to actually come forward and say what is going on, I think would be a huge step in stopping sex trafficking through here. In general. That's something that I wanted to do on a national scale, but since I'm running for Oregon, I have to focus on Oregon and improving the infrastructure, making sure that resources are being put where it needs to be along the highways, making sure that there's safety checks in place and this is kind of a controversial stance. I have, but adult work has been around since.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Why is the mouse not working?

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

I'm trying to be coded because my daughter is right next to you yeah, I understand just one second yes, not a problem at all.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Just so awesome to be able to have these conversations and learn. I learn more. It's so awesome to be able to have these conversations and learn I learn more. You may learn more watching and listening. It's just incredible to hear. Go ahead and continue whenever you're ready.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

Yeah, sorry about that, but that profession has been around since, you know, almost since money was invented, and being able to have it legalized and regulated puts protections in place for the people working in that industry, and so putting those protections in place really helps. She's sick from school. I know this is another episode, so I'm going to reiterate that she's homesick from school, so that's why she's with me right now. But you know, knowing, especially you know having a child like that, like a young child, and knowing the statistics, knowing that a lot of women and men are victims throughout their life, a lot of women and men are victims throughout their life, I feel like offenders don't get more than a slap on the wrist. I think offenders should get the maximum penalty every single time. There should be no minimum penalty for offenders Like our kids, our people, our women, our children, our men. We need to be protected from this, from human trafficking and and being victimized, and the protections need to be in place for what they do and what may have occurred and again not being taken seriously.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And then you know it's kind of getting a slap on the wrist, as if it's I don't know like they stole a candy bar from a convenience store. This is, again, it's serious. And you have a daughter, we have a daughter. For me is the longer individuals are allowed to freely roam around and do what they do, again, like you said, whether it's a girl, a woman, a man, a child, what have you? We're all human beings and we really should as a nation, and I would believe that running for president, that that's something that if you were elected, that you would also ramp up and be able to do it on a broader scale of the United States, as we are with the governor race. Again, you're looking at it from that lens and that actually the mutual acquaintance that we have actually is a human trafficking survivor and did go and even to this day goes through just horrific things that any one of those to the common person would be like, well, yeah, that person should be held accountable, would be like, well, yeah, that person should be held accountable.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And it's incredible when others say, oh, that didn't happen or oh, like you mentioned, that the survivors are the ones charged with crimes from their traffickers. And that's something you, you know, currently we're working through as an organization of you know, we we want to help people and if an individual or individuals are upset at something, we say, first off, we have the constitution, so we have that First Amendment, right of free speech. And number two prove us wrong, prove us that you didn't do this, that you weren't involved, and then that way, you know, we can move on. But until all that happens across the country, and especially in Oregon and I didn't know about the I-5 corridor, that that's the kind of like a gateway, from once somebody is taken, that it it allows them to, you know, get get away pretty easily and they're on the highway, they don't have to go on, you know, 15 back streets to get back roads yeah, and we also have the mmiw crisis that um mmiw started in canada.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

It's the missing and murdered indigenous women, children, two-spirit, um.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

Some organizations, some organizations down here, go by mmip missing and murdered indigenous people so that it covers all genders, because all genders are targeted. And you know the I-5 corridor, oil pipelines, man camps, working camps, and there's not really any justice for the indigenous community because the federal government and the state authorities all say it's not their jurisdiction, even when it happens off of reservations, and then when it does happen on reservations, they don't have the support, they don't have the funding, they don't have anything from any outside sources. And building up that type of infrastructure on the reservation, you need permission from the federal government to develop infrastructure, and so it's like our hands are tied when it comes to even protecting our own people. So like a lot of changes need to be made in many different aspects.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

So a lot of changes need to be made in many different aspects. Yeah, and to summarize it, what I hear is right now there's the protections for people in general and children and what across the board they're. They're not in place, and so that's something I I would assume that, if elected governor would be, have a big role and you're the platform and and executing that platform of you know. Day one of you know what you might be looking at and I'm not sure, and you probably may have or may not, I'm not sure Like what's day one you know if elected look like in your administration.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

You know if elected look like in your administration. Well, it's going to be very busy because with everything that's going on with the homelessness epidemic, the MMIW crisis, the continued genocide against the indigenous community, the drug epidemic all of that going on even just within the state of Oregon itself constitute a state of emergency. And when the governor enacts a state of emergency, it gives the governor control over state agencies, including law enforcement. So I could immediately start taking directive control over these agencies and making sure that the resources are allocated the way they need to be for investigations and keeping people safe, rather than targeting minor equity. Priority communities is what somebody asked me to say before because, that covers much.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

You know, anyone that's in that moment needs that coverage, needs that help. That's the community that we focus on right now and with ice violating human rights across the board, as governor, I would be able to say you cannot detain people in the state of Oregon and you cannot extradite them, so pretty much I can't kick them out of the state because they're federal, but I can tie their hands in targeting people and violating human rights. So there's many things like that. And then there's a homelessness program, a housing program I want to implement, and if I can't get the legislator to approve funding for it, I'll just use my own salary and get it started and that's on my website as well, because things need to get done. You know things. I can't sit around waiting for something, something to be approved, like I've lived off of 12 to 20,000 a year my almost my entire life. So the governor's salary will be a huge step up and I can actually use that salary to help people in a way that I haven't been able to before.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

That's an incredible point you bring up, and I think from my experience with Voices for Voices, it's one thing to you know talk about something or put your own money, your own spend.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

You know your time, you know the blood, sweat and tears is the cliche that's being used, that we are willing to put the money where our mouth, put our mouth where the money is, or whatever that saying is, of saying you know what, if this won't be done and I'm able to do it by personal means, then I'll be it, I'll donate and I'll be able to do that.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And so to hear you said that that's huge because you are talking about enacting and getting leadership over those agencies, but you're also saying that, okay, well, if the money's not there in the budget, you'll, just a beautiful thing to hear and it makes individuals think like, okay, like they're legit, like they're not just trying to do all these things. I mean, we are, you know, we've got things we want to do, but if there's something specific, that a certain amount of money that we have that we can, like you said, fund ourselves, that means so much, and so you're a candidate that really is willing to reach into your own pocket if you need to do that. Has that mindset always been there with you of you know helping people, whatever that may be, whether it's money or volunteering, or is that something that you know? Recently it came to you.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

That's always been my mindset. I kind of so, especially you know like, for example, when I was homeless as a veteran and I had my kids and I couldn't get help from the VA or any of the programs associated with the VA, because they had a requirement that you deploy at least one day to a combat zone to be able to qualify for their housing services. Not everyone in the military employs to a combat zone, so that lets a lot of us fall through the gaps and leaves us homeless on the streets. So I made a statement, I opened up a thrift store to raise money to help get people like myself off the streets. Now COVID did happen.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

It was kind of during that time time and so it didn't last very long, but it was still the the effort and I I still want to bring that back. But before I could bring that back and I had my other store, I was a metaphysical shop and I just invited the community in for a safe place to be able to to gather without, you know, persecution. And then I've had throughout time, you know, when I had my home, different people living with me at different points in time to help them get on their feet. So it's always been how I am, and even when I was running for president, I put way more finances into it than I ever got. Like I never collected my full salary and anything I did collect, I like paid the bills that needed to be paid and then I put everything else into the campaign again.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

And it got to the point where I was putting so much into the campaign that I I gave up my house, I gave up my store, I gave up everything to campaign full time and put everything I could into it. And I'm going to do the same thing with with the governor campaign, because it's worth it to me to to fight for that change. Like I'm a lady on Tik TOK I forget the username so that people aren't taking a stand because they're afraid to give up their couch, their their comfort zone, and I'm not afraid to lose my couch. It has to be done to make changes on the scale that I want to make the changes on absolutely.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And I can't continue without talking about little bit about mental health and how mental health affects individuals going through things, whether they're a human trafficking survivor or a child in an abusive situation or anybody that's in an abusive situation. Uh, it sounds like mental health is, uh, one of those priorities as well. It might, uh, while it's not the overarching you know the human trafficking but it does have that mental health connection of you know the trauma, of you know going through being taken and what occurred during that time and where you're being fed, and you know things like that. And I applaud you for that, because that's something that we as an organization believe in a lot and there's a lot of people that need help.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Some don't know it, and so I just want to say thank you for having that piece also in that, that that piece also in there, because that's that that's important. As we all know, we all have it, some I want to talk about it, some some don't. And again, I'm one of somebody like yourself, where you know you could sit, sit around and think, and or you can go out and do it and you know, see what happens. The worst thing that's going to happen is the answer will be no, but I'm at least going to give it a shot, and it's always a learning opportunity yeah.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, opportunity, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you can expand on any of that mental health uh, whether it's your own or how you know people that you've met over the years and and as you're you're running for the governorship how uh that would be, you know, one of those priorities, uh, of helping if an individual needs it.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

Well, I want to start at the base level first. Like the younger I know, my son has attenuated psychosis syndrome, which is a step before schizophrenia. So he has auditory and visual hallucinations and ADHD and ODD and so oppositional defiant disorder and hyperactivity. So when he was in this school in Elkton instead of a principal they actually had a licensed counselor in that office.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

So, instead of being sent to the principal, children were sent to this counselor to be able to talk about what happened, and his behavior and his grades improved so much in that school during that time that it really I think that should be the standard for any school is to have that mental health available for the children. Going through those, you know, going through anything to be able to have someone there to talk to and then getting trouble. They get to figure out why it happened, how it happened and how it can, you know, be done differently in the future, and it helps them work through anything that they might need to work through, you know, lowering the student to teacher ratio as well, so that classrooms are less stressful. It's like starting with a kid, with the children first, and then expanding outward.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

I would love to have mental health available to everyone. Right now it's so hard to get in to see any type of therapist or a psychiatrist or anything like that, because they're overbooked and expensive and not all health insurances will cover different types of therapy that might be needed, so that a lot of that funding and a lot of that would have to go through, you know, the state legislator, which is out of the government, the governor's hands, but it's something that I definitely advocate for and would push for to make sure that that could hopefully happen. And you know, with mental health help we would also see a reduction in gun violence, because a lot of that is because of mental health.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely, and one of the things that I want to do, we want to do as an organization is I have this huge goal of wanting to help some way, somehow, 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, and the other one is to either build a facility or, you know, have a, like a facility that's already built, but to make it the the mental health equivalent of St Jude's for childhood cancer, where people can come from wherever up to them. The care would be all covered, the travel, all those expenses, and that's one of the big areas. So definitely on board with it, and I know that from personal experience. When I had my mental health crash in 2017, you know getting a referral, well, we can see you in three months, or oh, well, I don't know if I'm going to be around in three months, I don't know. Like, like, the things that are how I'm feeling, and it literally took know, three visits to the ER within two weeks to have the psych team come and say you know what? Like, you don't have to be admitted, we're not going to pink slip you, but you're, you're fine, we've run all these tests, you're, you're alive, everything's fine.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Uh, or you can, you can, you know, decide to do this, and that's one of the things whether, whether you're who you are, no matter what type of person you are, what your background, what your beliefs are, uh, if, if you're going through something and you need help, you need it, like right now, like, oh, you know, I'll see you next week or three months and I think that's, that's, that's, that's, it's a yeah, it's expensive, even if you have insurance, it's expensive. There's a backlog, there's, you know, less and less coming through that pipeline, and it's very important to a licensed counselor and see if they can get to the root cause of what's going on before, you know, suspending or whatever punishment detention that they're going to do. I think that's a model that definitely could be nationwide, let alone, you know, across the board and Oregon I don't know if all the all the schools in Oregon do that, but that's the first I've even heard of and I haven't heard of anything like that in Ohio, and so I'm, I'm definitely gonna and we're gonna, you know, dig in and maybe do an episode or two just about that, with the benefits, like you mentioned, or you said, that grades improved and actual tangible numbers that could point to and say, look, this is working, and I agree with Greg about the gun violence. Mental health plays a huge role in that of disassociation from what's going on in real life versus a video game or something. But yeah, I definitely have to look into that, and so we'll close by.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

I think you've talked a lot about. We talked about your first day and in a lot of different areas. Is there anything in your first 100 days that we haven't covered, that you wanted to share to make sure we get on the show?

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

Well, one thing that we haven't covered we have talked about some indigenous issues, but the violation of treaties. So at the state level, I plan on strictly enforcing treaties to make sure, because historically the United States government has violated those treaties again and again. Yeah, and that will not happen when I'm governor of Oregon those treaties will be enforced and and honored the way they should have been from the beginning.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And that's huge, because we can make new laws all day, every day, have treaties, but if they're not being enforced, then what's the use? And so that's, I think, a huge, huge area that it sounds like the current landscape. Current governor, past governors have not done that, and so that's, you know, a differentiator of you versus uh, the come in that she runs again, or others that that may have uh, an interest in in running, and I'm just wish we had more time. And, uh, you know, down the road, next year we can, we can definitely do another couple shows. And you know where you're at, see what. Where you're at, as you know, primaries are coming up and uh, hopefully making it through that process and then getting ready for the would just the beginning, general election. It a blessing to have somebody to talk to that really wants change and wants change in the right way. So, BJ, if you can, just one last time, your website and your socials, for those that they didn't catch on the last episode, please.

Oregon Governor Candidate, Brittany Jones:

So you can find me on Facebook Jones for governor 2026. I'm also on Tik TOK BJ for Oregon. And then I'm on Instagram. Right now it's kind of a complicated username Well, not complicated, but BJ the number four or it's Jones the number four, or Governor 2026 on Instagram. But each one of those pages has a link to my website, where everything we've talked about almost is on that website. So we're still uploading the website, condensing down the presidential campaign to a state level and uploading the website as we do that. But it's all. It's all there. I think the easiest one is either TikTok or Facebook to find Jones for governor or BJ for Oregon.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Awesome. Thank you so much, bj, for joining us. It's really been a blessing to be able to have you for two episodes and just talk human to human about real issues, real things that are happening in the world and especially in Oregon, and we wish you all the best and we'll stay in contact. All the best, and we'll stay in contact and don't be a stranger, we'd be happy to have you on again, as we'd also be happy to have any other candidate that's running for office, whether it's Oregon or not. We want to be that platform because everybody had opportunity and whether they take us up on that offer, that's up to them, but BJ did and we are just so grateful that she did so.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

BJ for Governor 2026. Check out TikTok. Instagram has links to her website, retooling that from the presidential campaign down to the state campaign right now, and we just yeah, I'm just grateful to have this time. So, thank you, our viewers, our listeners, whether you're in Oregon, whether you're in Ohio, whether you're somewhere else in the United States or across 80 plus countries, 800 cities across the world. Thank you for joining us. We will see you on the next episode, the next show, and please be a voice for you or somebody in need. And one last time if you could give us a thumbs up like follow, share, subscribe, all that, all those things are free to do, that would help us greatly. So until next time, I'm Justin Alan Hayes with Voices for Voices, and we have just concluded an interview, part two, with Brittany Jones, BJ, who is running for the governorship of Oregon, and the primaries are in May of 2026. General election is in November of 2026. So we'll see you next time, take care.

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