Introduction
To address the critical need for support for Native American (i.e., American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander) people who have experienced human trafficking, the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) established the Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities (VHT-NC) Program. The program aims to build, expand, and sustain organizational and community capacity to deliver services to Native American people who have experienced human trafficking. In September 2020, six VHT-NC projects were awarded 3-year grants to provide culturally responsive and trauma-informed participant outreach and identification, comprehensive case management and service provision, and training to respond to human trafficking in their communities.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in consultation with OTIP, is overseeing a formative evaluation of these VHT-NC projects. RTI International and American Indian Development Associates are conducting the formative evaluation to understand their design and implementation, including challenges, strengths, and lessons learned.
Purpose
This brief provides a description of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on VHT-NC program implementation between 2020-2023.
Key Findings and Highlights
- Analysis identified five main themes among reported impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on VHT-NC program implementation: (1) staffing and organizational challenges, (2) increased vulnerability to human trafficking in the community, (3) barriers to participant identification, (4) partnership and collaboration challenges, and (5) barriers to service delivery.
- Despite the challenges, the pandemic also revealed the creativity, flexibility, and resiliency of Native communities and victim service providers as they formulated responses and shifted practices to protect the health and safety of community members
Methods
The results presented in this brief are based on (1) quarterly performance data submitted by each VHT-NC project to ACF, and (2) 72 virtual and in-person interviews conducted between March 2022 and August 2023 with a variety of respondents involved in the VHT-NC projects.
Citation
Tibaduiza, E., Pfeffer, R., Weinstein, L., & Melander, C. (2024). “COVID has taken its toll on us”: The pervasive effects of COVID-19 on programs supporting Native people who have experienced human trafficking. OPRE Report # 2024-XXX, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- COVID-19:
- the coronavirus disease 2019.
- Grant recipients:
- The primary entities that received an award through the VHT-NC Program.
- Participants:
- people who have been enrolled into and assisted by one of the VHT-NC projects.
- VHT-NC Program:
- Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities.