Prevention Month, 2020

OTIP & staff from the Administration for Native Americans raise awareness on January 11.

National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month Highlights

• The White House hosted a Summit on Human Trafficking where the President announced an Executive Order on Combating Human Trafficking and Online Child Exploitation in the United States and the State Department released a report Celebrating 20 Years of Progress To Combat Human Trafficking

US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) & Administration for Children & Families (ACF)

• HHS Secretary Azar and the Assistant Secretary for ACF Lynn Johnson joined White House and state officials to visit two anti-trafficking organizations in Atlanta and solidify our commitment to serve individuals who have experienced trafficking
• HHS released a National Human Trafficking Hotline poster for federal buildings to help agencies fulfill requirements from the Abolish Human Trafficking Act of 2017
• The Children’s Bureau released a Report on Child Maltreatment which includes data on victims of sex trafficking
• The Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families released a statement on The Family & Youth Services Bureau’s Steadfast Dedication to Address Human Trafficking
• OTIP and the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) provided two SOAR for Native Communities trainings at the OVW Strengthening Sovereign Responses to Sex Trafficking in Indian Country and Alaska Conference in Tucson, Arizona
• ACF Region 4 (Atlanta) colleagues hosted their 11^th state leaders meeting on human trafficking to discuss Southeastern strategic assessments, linking regional professional networks, an upcoming labor conference, statewide professional trainings, and updating guidelines
• ACF Region 6 (Dallas) colleagues and grantees participated in a SOAR Train the Trainer session to learn how to build capacity to address human trafficking in the Dallas area

HHS ACF Office on Trafficking in Persons

• OTIP Director Katherine Chon testified at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing The Trafficking Victims Protection Act at 20: A Look Back — and a Look Ahead and committed to leverage the power of data to understand trends in victimization, reduce the prevalence of trafficking, and identify opportunities for targeted prevention
• Director Chon joined ANA Commissioner Jeannie Hovland at the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives to represent HHS’ vital role to provide culturally appropriate prevention and trauma informed services to individuals who experience trafficking and their families
• Look Beneath the Surface Regional Anti-Trafficking (LBS) Regional Program grantee Tapestri, Inc. hosted their 5th Annual Human Trafficking Forum: Enhancing Multidisciplinary Response to Human Trafficking in Decatur, Georgia
• Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking grantee Alaska Native Justice Center hosted three education roundtables to raise awareness and build partnerships in Alaska
• OTIP grantees and staff helped build capacity of Florida-area law enforcement and partners before the Super Bowl LIV
• OTIP ramped up its social media engagement and launched a conversation on social media with the hashtag #PreventionMatters with quotes from stakeholders and partners, leading to a record high for sessions on our website

We look forward to a productive 2020. Stay tuned for more on ACF’s National Human Trafficking Prevention Action Plan.