Reaching Victims August Newsletter
The National Resource Center for Reaching Victims monthly newsletter is our opportunity to spotlight victim service organizations and their work; share promising practices and resources; and, engage more organizations in training. This month we share tools and resources to help you meet the needs of victims of human trafficking.
NEW RESOURCES: Human Trafficking and Youth
Human Trafficking of Youth with Disabilities
Through the National Resource Center's Innovations Mini-Grant program, the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA), in collaboration with the National Human Trafficking and Disabilities Working Group, partnered together to increase identification of children and youth with disabilities who are victims of human trafficking and improve their ability to access appropriate services. They created a series of targeted education, training and outreach materials and tools for organizations serving trafficked youth; youth with disabilities; and at-risk youth; and to youth themselves. These resources include an educational booklet, and a series of webinars focused on what victim service providers need to know when serving youth with disabilities.

What Providers Serving Youth with Disabilities Need to Know
This webinar is for professionals who work with youth with disabilities as an introduction to human trafficking.

What Human Trafficking Service Providers Need to Know
This webinar is for providers serving youth who have experienced trafficking as an introduction to serving youth with disabilities.

What Providers Serving At-Risk Youth Need to Know
This webinar introduces service providers for at-risk youth to human trafficking and risks for youth with disabilities.
Runaway Homeless Youth Human Trafficking Screening Tool
With support from the National Resource Center's Innovations Mini-Grant program, Innovations Human Trafficking Collaborative (IHTC) in partnership with Community Youth Services (CYS) and the Thurston County Human Trafficking Task Force created a victim-centered, trauma-informed screening tool to help identify runaway and homeless youth (ages 12-24) who are being exploited for sex or labor and to improve their access to the full range of crime victim services. They worked with the Thurston County Human Trafficking Task Force to jointly develop a victim-centered, trauma-informed screening tool to identify and support runaway and homeless youth victims who may be experiencing human trafficking.
To learn more about the Reaching Victims Innovations Mini-Grants or about these projects, please visit the Innovations Grants Section on the Reaching Victims website.
SPOTLIGHT: Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative
National Resource Center partner, Casa de Esperanza, has also been working with the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative on language access planning for their Community Advisory Board. The Board will be comprised of individuals who have experienced sex trafficking in Portland, Oregon. The Board will work alongside collaborative members to improve services and systems of support. Natalie Weaver, Senior Program Strategist with Multnomah County shares:

"Individuals with lived sex trafficking experience are some of the most resilient, brave, incredible people many of us have ever met. As we create the Board a priority of ours is to build a diverse team that best represents various perspectives and experiences. To support this effort, we knew we could not just use the typical methods that mainstream culture is set up for. We did not want accessibility with our Board to be an afterthought, but instead built into the fabric of our process from the very beginning. When we learned of the language access expertise of Casa de Esperanza and the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims, we reached out to learn from their wisdom. We are incredibly grateful for the support we received and believe the Board and the membership will be better because of it."
Graphic from Polaris who operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is available via phone, text, and chat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Visit humantraffickinghotline.org or call 1-888-373-7888 (TTY 711), or text 233733.
The National Resource Center for Reaching Victims, a national collaboration funded by the Office for Victims of Crime at the U.S. Department of Justice, is a one-stop shop for victim service providers, culturally specific organizations, justice system professionals, and policymakers to get information and expert guidance to enhance their capacity to identify, reach, and serve all victims, especially those from communities that are underrepresented in healing services and avenues to justice. For more information, visit reachingvictims.org.
Together, we are working to increase the number of victims who receive the support they need to help them heal.