YMCA of the North: Enough Program - Preventing Trafficking of Girls

With funding through the OVC 2024 Preventing Trafficking of Girls program, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of the North proposes a project titled, “Enough.” The primary purpose is to expand its successful anti-human trafficking program, Enough., to fill the gap in services available to prevent and reduce victimization of girls who are vulnerable to sex and/or labor trafficking. The primary activities include: (1) Scaling up prevention and early intervention efforts of the Enough. program by increasing capacity to implement primary and secondary prevention services by staffing the program with 1 full time employer (FTE) Youth Support Specialist and 1 FTE Senior Youth Support Specialist, who will have capacity to provide 9 cohorts of the anti-trafficking and exploitation curriculum, “Not a Number,” to 72 girls and 1:1 Life Coaching services to 18 youth over the project period; (2) Creating and piloting a survivor-informed plan to provide caregiver and parent support and education to increase knowledge and skills for effective primary and secondary prevention and early intervention and aftercare, serving at least 30 parents and caregivers through at least 6 events over the project period; and (3) Enhance community collaboration and efforts to identify and provide services to girls at risk of or who are experiencing exploitation/trafficking through outreach and partnership building with middle and high schools, including alternative learning centers, and juvenile detention centers, engaging at least 25 professionals and community members. The expected outcomes include at least 90% of participants completing a Not a Number cohort, and 100% of these demonstrating increased knowledge and skills to respond to child trafficking/exploitation; 75% of participants in 1:1 Life Coaching will demonstrate an increase in at least one domain of the Self Sufficiency Matrix; and 90% will successfully complete the Life Coaching program. By increasing capacity for targeted prevention services and building the knowledge of parents and partners, the YMCA of the North will prevent and reduce victimization of girls who are vulnerable to sex and/or labor trafficking. The geographic service area includes the following Minnesota counties: Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, Washington County, Dakota County, Scott County, and Carver County with a target audience of girls and young women up to and including age 25 at increased risk of sex and/or labor trafficking. There are no subrecipients for this award.