Meet the Grantees

Current Grantees

Colorado

The Colorado Department of Public Safety manages the Connecting Colorado: Building Effective Anti-trafficking Systems program. This program includes evaluation by the Colorado State University Social Work Research Center. The team is building collaboration and consistency across the state’s multidisciplinary teams through innovative survivor engagement practices.

Kentucky

The Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Human Services’ Division of Protection and Permanency—in collaboration with Catholic Charities, CHESS Solutions Group, state-contracted Private Child Placing and Private Child Caring providers, and other key partners—have worked collaboratively to implement this statewide project from September 2020 to September 2023. Kentucky is increasing the knowledge and capacity of child welfare to identify and respond to child trafficking throughout the state.

Louisiana

The Louisiana Child and Youth Trafficking Collaborative Accessibility Initiative (LCYTC-AI) is managed by the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Human Trafficking Prevention and the Louisiana Alliance of Children’s Advocacy Centers. The LCYTC-AI is creating an effective statewide system of equitable care coordination for minor and youth victims of human trafficking.

Maryland

The Maryland Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services is partnering with the University of Maryland School of Social Work to develop a statewide child trafficking response strategy. Through this project, the team is implementing Maryland’s strategic plan for addressing human trafficking of children and youth.

Minnesota

The Minnesota Safe Harbor Expansion to Improve Outcomes for Trafficked Children and Youth Project is managed by the Minnesota Department of Health. This statewide anti-trafficking initiative is strengthening state-Tribal partnerships, strengthen collaboration among state agencies, and improving law enforcement’s response to victims.

Nebraska

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with Nebraska Child and Family Foundation, is designing and implementing a statewide, collaborative, cross-agency response to child and youth human trafficking.

Ohio

The Ohio Department of Public Safety leads the Human Trafficking Task Force of Ohio by developing and implementing a statewide strategy to build the capacity of Ohio’s juvenile justice and child welfare systems to identify and serve minor and youth victims of human trafficking.

Oregon

The Oregon Department of Justice’s project has been successful in (1) mandating all state agencies to complete annual trainings on human trafficking awareness and identification, (2) mandating youth-serving agencies to conduct human trafficking screening for all children at intake, (3) creating and implementing a crisis and non-crisis response protocol, and (4) creating and implementing human trafficking training.

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Previous Grantees

Alabama

The University of Alabama School of Social Work was awarded a FY17 grant. Alabama addressed the key areas of increasing identification of victims, creating a coordinated statewide response protocol, and increasing awareness of services and resources for youth and child victims. Most notably, the team established best practices for a victim- centered, trauma-informed response protocol, outlining the responsibilities for law enforcement, victims service providers, and advocates.

California

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, was awarded a FY17 Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Trafficking grant. The California team leveraged existing victim assistance, law enforcement, community-based organizations, legal institutions, and child welfare efforts throughout the state to strengthen collaboration between systems and sectors. The project also developed a multi-day training to identify best practices in addressing human trafficking of children and youth.

Massachusetts

The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, in partnership with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, was awarded a FY19 Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Trafficking grant. The project strengthened Massachusetts’s existing Multi-Disciplinary Team model to enhance a statewide approach to improving outcomes for child and youth victims of sex or labor trafficking. This approach increased law enforcement coordination across counties and strengthened home-based placements for child and youth victims.