Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2024, $600,000)
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office and Safe Haven Ministries propose to implement the West Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force. The West Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force’s jurisdictional area is primarily Kent County, Michigan. The area includes Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan with a population of nearly 200,000 residents and a total county population just shy of 660,000 residents. By engaging surrounding communities, the Task Force will build a coordinated response that can eventually expand beyond county lines to ensure county barriers do not interfere with the protection of and justice for survivors.
With Purpose Area 1 funding, the West Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force will develop, expand, and strengthen the local infrastructure for a multidisciplinary approach to human trafficking identification and response. The Task Force anticipates hiring contracting services with Migrant Legal Aid, a Kent County-based migrant rights organization while partnering alongside a diverse set of community organizations. This Task Force will collaboratively build area protocols, specialized teams of victim services and law enforcement, create local awareness and capacity to identify and report, and provide the technical assistance and resources that partners need to fight human trafficking in Kent County, Michigan.