Who we are, and why this work matters

Every community deserves marketplaces it can trust. Yet in neighborhoods across the country, illicit and counterfeit products move through licensed storefronts — putting consumers at risk, exposing young people to harm, and undercutting the honest businesses that follow the rules.

We combine public education, accountability, enforcement and partnership to disrupt the networks behind this trade, to equip the people responsible for stopping it, and to restore integrity to the marketplaces families rely on every day.

We identify and address the networks that traffic illicit and counterfeit products through licensed retail storefronts in American communities, pursuing that mission through coordinated activities in partnership with law enforcement, policymakers, and community organizations.

Our work rests on three reinforcing tracks:

Education. We help stakeholders understand how illicit products move through the supply chain, and we develop model policy resources and technical assistance so state and local jurisdictions and legitimate businesses can respond to trafficking in their own communities.

Accountability. We support awareness and referral efforts related to organized trafficking operations, and — where appropriate — back enforcement and legal and policy remedies that hold bad actors responsible and deter organized retail crime.

Partnership. We convene the people closest to the problem — law enforcement, regulators, community leaders, and responsible businesses — around practical, shared solutions.

Together, these activities further the Initiative's exempt purpose: reducing the presence of illicit and counterfeit goods in neighborhoods, protecting public health and consumer safety, protecting youth, supporting legitimate businesses harmed by illicit competition, and strengthening the capacity of law enforcement and local governments to combat organized retail crime.