Exploring Life & Business with Christi Bartman of Eyes Up Appalachia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christi Scott Bartman.

Hi Christi, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I have been fortunate to have an amazing set of experiences leading up to my current work. After graduating from Appalachian State University with a degree in Business Administration, I served in the US Air Force, stationed primarily in Germany and Arizona. While serving in Germany I was able to travel extensively and complete a Master’s in Public Administration from Troy State. I left the Air Force and attended law school at the University of Toledo College of Law. I spent a number of years working in corporate banking and then practicing law before stepping into a nonprofit consulting role. About a decade later, I attended Bowling Green State University and was awarded a Ph.D. in History with a policy focus in 2009. I took on teaching a class in the Political Science Dept there after I graduated because they needed someone quickly and completely fell in love with teaching and working with students. I took a position as the Public Law and Judicial Process Instructor for BGSU and then took a position at American Public University System, moved on through full professor, and finished the last several years as the Program Director for Public Admin, Public Policy, and Legal Studies.

During my time at BGSU, I had a student who wanted to write on Human Trafficking so I reached out to Senator Teresa Fedor, who at the time, was just beginning efforts to draft legislation to address it in Ohio. She put me in touch with a Toledo Police Department detective who briefed my students. From that point, I knew anti-human trafficking efforts were something I wanted to pursue. So for well over a decade I did, but only on the periphery. I was not able to put the time in that I really wanted but was hearing two very major areas that needed additional focus.

One was housing and the other was awareness and education efforts in Appalachian Ohio. I did some work for Senator Fedor on housing and we convened a group at the Statehouse to try to move efforts forward. But I really was leaning toward the Appalachian area. I approached the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio and asked if they would act as my fiscal sponsor for an anti-human trafficking initiative and they agreed. Eyes Up Appalachia came to be in 2020. In 2021 I was awarded the Social Justice Leadership Award by the University of Toledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. Also that year I was a semi-finalist in the Everyday Heroes of Central Ohio.

Outside of my work with Eyes Up Appalachia, I adjunct for The Ohio State University John Glenn College of Public Affairs. I love working with students and have had the opportunity to work with the College on its Professional Development and Executive Education offerings as well.

I am also a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions. They provide a puppy to raise from 8 weeks to approximately 16- 20 months. During that time we socialize and teach basic commands. Then we turn them over for professional training as a service dogs. It is an amazing organization and I am proud to be a part of it!

I met my husband, Mark Bartman, while stationed in Germany. He was also serving on Active Duty in the Air Force. He retired from the Ohio Air National Guard four years ago after serving as the 82nd Adjutant General of the State of Ohio. We have three children.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Eyes Up Appalachia kicked off right as COVID hit! What could have been a setback actually served as a catalyst to move the effort further faster. Because everyone was going virtual, it allowed us to reach more people and conduct more outreach and education efforts throughout the Appalachian counties of Ohio.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Eyes Up Appalachia seeks to illuminate, educate and activate against human trafficking. We are not a direct service provider but work with many direct service providers, law enforcement, healthcare providers and others across the state and particularly in Appalachian Ohio to increase awareness about human trafficking. We serve as a middleman for those doing direct service to connect them with the state agencies and other resources. Ohio is doing some amazing work around human trafficking but many are not aware of the resources we have. It is a wonderful, sharing, supportive community and any agency or person throughout the state is more than willing to share!

One of our goals is also to increase the anti-trafficking coalitions in the Appalachian counties. Almost half of our 32 Appalachian counties are not represented by an anti-trafficking coalition but there are many other coalitions, such as opioid coalitions, made up of the same individuals and agencies as an anti-trafficking coalition. Eyes Up Appalachia is here to help support a subcommittee or coalition in those counties that need one since trafficking is very community specific.

My partnership with the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio has been amazing! They have an intimate knowledge of the region. They have been instrumental in introducing me to individuals and agencies across the region as well as helping to secure funding for some key initiatives. They run the Cause Connector which is a crowd-sourcing fundraising campaign. Through that, we received money to pay honorariums to survivors to advise us and speak at training events. The Cause Connector funding also supported the printing of information brochures and coasters with the national hotline number on one side and our local SE Ohio Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program’s 24/7 crisis line on the other. The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio also named me as an inaugural fellow for the Pillars of Prosperity Health and Human Services. With that came monetary support and Eyes Up Appalachia is teaming with the Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers and Give Back Hack to implement a study to establish some baseline prevalence data for the region. Once we have two survey rounds completed and analyzed, we will host two regional stakeholder meetings that will be facilitated by Give Back Hack. They will take us through a design thinking process to determine the best steps forward based on our findings.

Partnerships are key to the success of Eyes Up Appalachia. By teaming with Relink.org, we have published a Service Directory for the Appalachian Counties. They are also currently hosting a webinar series on familial trafficking with Eyes Up Appalachia, featuring survivors that are helping service providers in our state better understand what familial trafficking is and how to address it.

Working with the Ohio University College of Engineering, The OHIO Alliance for Population Health, and the University of Toledo Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute, we are taking a prototype developed for Eyes Up Appalachia by OSU students in the Rapid Innovation for Public Impact class to map vulnerabilities that put someone more at risk for being trafficked and scaling it to the state and making it sustainable.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
As far as Columbus, as it relates to the work of Eyes Up Appalachia, I love the support offered by our state agencies!

The Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Initiative and the Ohio Governor’s Human Trafficking Task Force are wonderfully supportive of all our anti-human trafficking efforts as well as the other anti-trafficking coalitions in the state. I seriously could not be working with a more supportive, compassionate, forward-leaning group of individuals! I am very honored to be a part of this group of advocates!

As far as Columbus itself – it would have to be the Metro Parks! I spend as much time as possible there. Blendon Woods, Rocky Fork, and High Banks are my favorites!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eyesupappalachia.org/
• Instagram: @eyesupappalachia