Polly Willams

Polly is the Director of CSEC Programs at Orangewood Foundation in Orange County, CA.  Polly developed and implemented The Lighthouse, a transitional housing program for youth survivors of sex trafficking and Project Choice, a drop-in center for youth involved in or at-risk of sex trafficking.  

Polly has been working with at-risk youth for over 20 years.  Her love of working with youth came from experiences as an Outreach Worker on the streets of Melbourne, Australia.  Polly worked for the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in Hanoi Vietnam as Youth Program Officer. On return to Australia, Polly managed a Residential Drug Withdrawal Program for the Salvation Army and then moved to FIJI to work for the Australian Government as part of their International Aid Program (AusAID), where she trained local Fijian hospital staff on youth suicide prevention, drug and alcohol harm reduction interventions, domestic violence and crisis response.  Polly moved to the United States 11 years ago and spent 5 years as Director of Programs at Safe Place for Youth (SPY) in Venice Beach, CA.  

Polly has a BA in Youth Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Substance Abuse Studies from Victoria University in her native Australia.  Polly has presented new and innovative youth programming at numerous International and National conferences including the International Drugs & Young People Conference (Melbourne, Australia), International Harm Reduction Conferences (Chiang Mai, Thailand and Melbourne, Australia), National Alliance to End Homelessness Conferences (Washington D.C. and Oakland), TAY Conference (Sacramento) and the National Freedom Network USA Conference (Virginia).