Introduction
Research Questions
- What is important to know about the projects’ community contexts?
- What are the characteristics of the VHT-NC award recipients, primary partners, and project participants?
- How do VHT-NC projects develop and maintain partnerships and intergovernmental relationships?
- What are the outreach approaches that VHT-NC projects use to identify Native people who have experienced human trafficking?
- How do VHT-NC projects provide comprehensive case management services and other supportive services to participants?
- How is community training provided?
To address the critical need for support for Native American (i.e., American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and 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 received 3-year awards to enhance the response to human trafficking in their communities by providing culturally responsive and trauma-informed participant outreach and identification, comprehensive case management and service provision, and community training.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in collaboration with OTIP, oversaw a formative evaluation of these VHT-NC projects. RTI International and American Indian Development Associates conducted the formative evaluation to understand their design and implementation, including challenges, strengths, and lessons learned.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to summarize VHT-NC project implementation, including challenges and strengths, across the six sites. The report describes (1) the VHT-NC communities’ context, (2) project structure and approaches, (3) project partnerships, (4) outreach and identification approaches, (5) case management and service delivery, and (6) community training.
Key Findings and Highlights
- Projects focused on supporting Native people who have experienced human trafficking in culturally responsive and trauma-informed ways are crucial and fill a gap that has existed for too long.
- Trust is essential to addressing human trafficking in Native communities. Time is needed to build this trust and establish partner and participant relationships.
- Holistic, empathetic, and relational approaches strengthen participant engagement and partnerships. Good partnership requires reciprocity, cultural humility, continual learning, and transparency.
- Flexibility is required to respond to the unique needs of participants, provider organizations, and communities.
- Key project strengths and successes include (1) inclusion of Native staff, (2) increased trust with communities, (3) strengthened partnerships, (4) development of culturally responsive and trauma-informed processes, (5) service provision that largely met participants’ needs, and (6) improved understanding of human trafficking.
Methods
The findings in this report are informed by primary data sources (72 virtual and in-person interviews conducted between March 2022 and August 2023 with project leaders, advocates, partners, and project participants) and secondary data sources (project applications and award recipients’ performance progress reports).
Citation
Tibaduiza, E., Melander, C., Pfeffer, R., Weinstein, L., Melton, A., & Martinez, R. (2024). Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities (VHT-NC) Program: Final Report of the Formative Evaluation, OPRE Report No. 2024-189, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- Advocates:
- VHT-NC project staff who provided direct services (e.g., case management, supportive services) to participants.
- Award recipients:
- The primary entities that received an award through the VHT-NC Program.
- MMIP:
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.
- 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.