Help for Trafficking Victims

First, my apologies for the long, long, delay in updating my blog. I've been busy with other, trafficking-related things, and the blog has had to wait. The good news is that I've made some great local contacts here in Michigan; people who want to raise awareness and put an end to human trafficking. We're trying to plan an event for September, about which I'll keep you all updated.

In the meantime, I've been reading a lot of reports and articles about human trafficking. One of them, the Attorney General's Annual Report & Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons, has some great information!

To follow is a list of organizations that reach out to and assist victims of human trafficking. If one of these orgs is in your area, I highly recommend checking it out!

This first set of organizations manages local chapters of a Health and Human Services program called Rescue and Restore, the purpose of which is to "increase the number of trafficking victims who are identified, assisted in leaving the circumstances of their servitude, and connected to qualified service agencies and to the HHS certification process so that they may receive the benefits and services for which they are eligible."
If you belong to, or know of, an organization that does this type of work, but isn't listed, it can be registered here.

• Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition
• Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services (NY)
• Opening Doors, Inc. (Sacramento, CA)
• International Center of Atlanta
• Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
• World Relief-Nashville
• The Salvation Army of Greater Columbus, OH
• YWCA of Greater Cincinnati-Alliance for Immigrant Women
• SAGE Project, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
• International Institute of St. Louis
• Catholic Charities of Portland
• U.S. Committee of Refugee and Immigrants, Raleigh (NC)
• Salvation Army Network of Emergency Trafficking Services of Las Vegas
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark (NJ)
• International Rescue Committee (Phoenix)
• The Salvation Army Family & Community Services STOP-IT Program (IL)
• Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence

This next list contains organizations that conduct street outreach services "to help identify victims of trafficking among populations they already serve."

• Alternatives for Girls - MI
• Breaking Free - St. Paul, MN
• Catholic Charities Community Services - Phoenix, AZ
• Center for Social Advocacy - San Diego, CA
• Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking of California
• Farmworker Legal Services of New York
• Girls Educational and Mentoring Services - New York City
• International Rescue Committee - AZ
• Mosaic Family Services - Dallas, TX
• Polaris Project - NJ
• Positive Options, Referrals and Alternatives - IL
• SAGE Project - San Francisco, CA
• Salvation Army - IL
• Southeastern Network of Youth and Family Services of Alabama
• Southeastern Network of Youth and Family Services of Florida
• Tapestri - GA
• Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid

There's other good information in this report, which I will write about in the days to come.