Human Trafficking

With funding appropriated through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations, OVC administers the largest amount of federal funding dedicated to providing services directly to victims of sex and labor trafficking in the United States. During the reporting period, OVC intensified its efforts on behalf of trafficking victims, announcing new initiatives, expanding existing programs, and awarding more than $122 million to grantees to serve this vulnerable population. In FY 2018, $4.9 million supported anti-human trafficking training and technical assistance to 3,017 victim service providers and allied professionals. An additional $1.9 million supported research and evaluation projects to address gaps in knowledge regarding human trafficking.

In addition to a steady increase in the number of grantees awarded funding, service providers reported a corresponding increase in the number of clients served—due, in large part, to the expanded OVC direct services program. During the July 2017–June 2018 reporting period, the number of clients served increased by nearly 1,000 from the previous reporting period (8,913 clients versus 8,003 clients, respectively). During each of these periods, grantees supported more clients than the total number of trafficking victims who received victim services during the entire first 10 years of OVC’s anti-trafficking program (5,756 victims).

OVC Human Trafficking Grant Programs

OVC administers grant funding to enhance the quality and quantity of services available to assist human trafficking victims, including through the following grant programs:

• The purpose of the Comprehensive Services for Victims of All Forms of Human Trafficking Program is to enhance the quality and quantity of services available to assist victims of all forms of human trafficking. It does this by providing high-quality services that address the individualized needs of trafficking victims and by enhancing interagency collaboration and the coordinated community response to victims of human trafficking. In FYs 2017 and 2018, the program administers 26 awards totaling $18.3 million to provide a range of direct services necessary for delivering stabilizing relief for trafficking victims.
   
• The Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) To Combat Human Trafficking Program, jointly administered by OVC and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, supports the development and enhancement of multidisciplinary human trafficking task forces that implement collaborative approaches to combating all forms of human trafficking within the United States. ECM task forces work to identify victims of all types of human trafficking within specific geographic areas; investigate and prosecute all types of human trafficking cases at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels; and address the individual needs of trafficking victims by providing a comprehensive array of services. In FYs 2017 and 2018, OVC awarded $25.9 million to 34 grants under the program to support new and existing ECM task forces.
   
• OVC administers funding through the Specialized Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Program to address the quality and quantity of specialized victim services available to assist all victims of human trafficking. The program allows grantees to identify and select the specific population that will be served and/or the services that will be provided through the grant, in response to the specialized service needs identified by the anti-trafficking field, such as legal, housing, and mental health services. In FYs 2017 and 2018, a total of $24 million was awarded to 37 grantees under the program.
   
• Using funding from the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund, OVC supports two grantees under the Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking Program, which focuses on developing, enhancing, and improving the coordination of statewide programs and activities geared toward improving outcomes for child and youth victims of sex and labor trafficking. In FY 2017, the grantees identified and analyzed their states' greatest barriers to identifying and assisting child and youth victims of human trafficking and investigating and prosecuting these cases.
   
• The purpose of Project Beacon: Increasing Services for Urban American Indian and Alaska Native Victims of Sex Trafficking is to increase the quantity and quality of services available to assist American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking in urban areas, and to improve victim service providers' capacity to address the unique needs of these victims. In FYs 2017 and 2018, OVC continued to support grantees in providing training and education, building strategic collaborative partnerships with other community-based organizations and agencies, and conducting public awareness activities.
   
• In FY 2018, in an effort to explore innovative ideas to address gaps in programs and services for victims of human trafficking, OVC awarded two grants under the inaugural Field-Generated Innovations in Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking Program—one to increase the availability of trauma-informed services for victims of human trafficking, and another to address barriers to identifying and assisting labor trafficking victims.
   
• In FY 2018, $4.9 million from the Training and Technical Assistance & Research and Evaluation Program supported training and technical assistance for OJP trafficking grantees. An additional $1.9 million in program funds supported research and evaluation projects to address gaps in knowledge regarding human trafficking.

In FY 2018, OVC began planning work toward the implementation of a new Minor Victims of Trafficking grant program. This included collecting information from the field about where the services for minor victims of trafficking are most needed; hosting listening sessions with victim service providers, allied professionals, and survivors; and conducting a scan of best practices and data on minor victims of sex and labor trafficking to understand the scope of this evolving problem. OVC also consulted with other federal agencies to leverage their expertise and programming around trafficking, reduce duplication of efforts, and determine how cross-agency collaborations can inform effective design and implementation of the program. OVC intends to make program awards in FY 2019.

Interagency Collaboration To Address Human Trafficking

In FY 2017, OVC participated in a panel discussion with other Department of Justice leaders at the Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building to commemorate National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The forum, titled Human Trafficking: Preventing the Crime, Prosecuting the Perpetrators, Protecting the Survivors, discussed the Department's ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking and provide services that address victim needs.

In FY 2018, the OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center hosted a Roundtable on Community Oriented Policing Approaches to Human Trafficking. This roundtable brought together 30 representatives from law enforcement agencies working on promising practices in community policing and personnel with anti-trafficking expertise to explore how the response to human trafficking can be strengthened throughout the field.

Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center

In FY 2018, OVC launched the Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center to deliver high-quality, strategically focused, capacity-building training and technical assistance to increase the availability of trauma-informed, victim-centered services for all victims of human trafficking in the United States. The center will focus on states, territories, and tribal jurisdictions where there are no currently funded OVC human trafficking grantees; deliver training and technical assistance to victim service providers, community- and faith-based organizations, and other stakeholders; support tribes in addressing human trafficking; and provide capacity-building support to increase the sustainability of organizations that provide direct services to trafficking victims.

For additional information, please visit OVC's Human Trafficking website.