Freedom Network Co-Chairs
Bill Bernstein, MS, LPC
Bill Bernstein is Deputy Director of Mosaic Family Services, an agency serving refugee and immigrant communities in the North Texas area. Bill directs the program at Mosaic that has served survivors of human trafficking since 2001, and has presented on the topic many times. The agency has a grant from the Department of Justice in collaboration with local Police Departments to provide comprehensive services to these clients, and provides case management, legal services, counseling and housing. Bill is a founding member of the North Texas Anti-Trafficking Team, consisting of federal and local law enforcement, prosecutors, and social service providers. In March, 2011 Bill was sent to Brussels by the State Department for a meeting of 20 trafficking experts from the U.S. and E.U. He has served as the Chairperson of the Metroplex Refugee Network and twice served as Chairperson of the Domestic Violence Subcommittee for the Dallas County Community Plan. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor who also originated the Multicultural Domestic Violence Program at Mosaic.
Ivy O. Suriyopas, Esq.
Ivy O. Suriyopas is an attorney and the Director of the Anti-Trafficking Initiative at the
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). She provides legal representation, conducts community education and outreach, and engages in policy advocacy on human trafficking issues. This legal representation includes immigration assistance, criminal justice advocacy, and civil litigation for claims involving the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and other federal and state laws. Ms. Suriyopas serves as a Freedom Network (USA) Co-Chair and a steering committee member of the New York Anti-Trafficking Network. She co-authored the third edition of “Identification and Legal Advocacy for Trafficking Survivors” and the first edition of “Immigration Relief for Crime Victims: The U Visa Manual.” She is a recipient of the New York City Bar Association’s Legal Services Award. Her previous legal experience includes externships with the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins of the Northern District of California and the ACLU of Northern California. She served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal and studied international human rights law in South Africa through Howard University. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her B.S. in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University.
Suzanne Tomatore, Esq.
Suzanne Tomatore is the Director of the Immigrant Women and Children Project at the New York City Bar Association’s City Bar Justice Center. Ms. Tomatore represents survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, child abuse and violent gender-based crimes in immigration matters and trains and mentors other attorneys to do so. She has trained community-based organizations, health-care providers, law enforcement and government officials, including international delegates from the U.S. Department of State International Visitors Program, on human trafficking. She has lectured on this topic across the United States and abroad, including Canada, Venezuela, Mongolia and the Philippines. Ms. Tomatore is also the co-chair of the Freedom Network, a coalition of thirty non-governmental organizations and individuals that provide services to, and advocate for the rights of, trafficking survivors in the United States. She is an active participant of multiple anti-trafficking task forces including the New York City Mayor’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force, the New York State Human Trafficking Advisory Committee, and she is a founding member of the New York Anti-trafficking Network. She has taught immigration law at the City University of New York Graduate Center School of Professional Studies. Prior to joining the City Bar, Ms. Tomatore was a recipient of the Open Society Institute Community Fellowship.
Florrie Burke, M.Ed., MA, LMFT, FN Chair Emeritus
Florrie Burke is a consultant on Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery to both governmental and non governmental agencies. She helped start the Anti-Trafficking Program at Safe Horizon in New York City where she oversaw both the Anti Trafficking Program and the Solace Program for Survivors of Torture and is a founding member and currently Chair Emeritus of the Freedom Network. Ms. Burke is on the steering committee of the NY Anti-Trafficking Network. She has done extensive training, speaking and consultation on Human Trafficking issues, trauma and torture both nationally and internationally. She serves as an Expert Witness on cases of Human Trafficking and she is a member of the Global Training Initiative on Human Trafficking at the UNODC in Vienna and has been part of three working groups developing materials for first responders and others who may encounter Human Trafficking. Ms. Burke has been working with trafficked persons since 1997 when she designed and implemented specialized social services to sixty deaf Mexicans who were held in slavery in a peddling ring in NYC. Ms. Burke also designed and implemented a model for Community Trauma Response following the attacks on September 11th. In 2007 Ms. Burke received the National Crime Victims Recognition Service Award from the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. She has been honored by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor and was awarded the Annual Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award by the Freedom Network USA.