OVC FY 16 Project Beacon: Increasing Services for Urban American Indian and Alaska Native Victims of Sex Trafficking

Under the statutory authority of 22 U.S.C. § 7105(b)(2), the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) administers discretionary grant award programs that promote the goals and purposes of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The Project Beacon: Increasing Services to Urban American Indian and Alaska Native Victims of Sex Trafficking Program (Project Beacon) furthers the goals of the TVPA by increasing the quantity and quality of holistic victim-centered services available to assist American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking in urban areas. By bridging the divide between urban American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking and nonprofit, nongovernmental urban Indian centers, Project Beacon aims to provide such victims with access to services that meets their cultural, linguistic, and spiritual needs.

The American Indian Center of Chicago (AICC) is a community-based nonprofit organization that was founded in 1953 with support from the American Friends Service Committee. AICC was formed to meet the needs of the City of Chicago’s then-bourgeoning American Indian population who were being relocated to the city as part of the federal Indian Relocation Program of the 1950s. Today the City of Chicago is home to more than 49,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives who represent more than 140 different tribes. AICC continues to act as the community hub for Chicago’s American Indian and Alaska Native population, and currently offers programs that include: education programming to support teachers in adopting experiential learning principles to promote student interest in the social and physical sciences, mathematics, and technology; a senior citizen nutrition and wellness initiative; a food and clothing pantry; a community Native Medicine Garden; and activities that encourage intertribal and intercultural exchanges about American Indian and Alaska Native visual and performing arts. AICC has a 63 year history of developing programming to meet the emerging needs of Chicago’s American Indian and Alaska Native population, and has served as the incubator for several other nonprofit organizations that now operate independently to meet the academic, health and social services needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives across the State of Illinois.

AICC, in partnership with Loyola University of Chicago’s Center for the Human Rights of Children and Beasley Health Justice Project, will use the funding from Project Beacon to: (1) support the salary of a full-time Social Worker and a full-time Intake Manager to manage the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan to provide holistic direct services to American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking; (2) facilitate the development and execution of written memoranda of understanding with key municipal, state, and federal agencies as well as private nonprofit organizations, to ensure that the systemic response to American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking is culturally appropriate and seamless across multiple systems; (3) provide training to healthcare, social services, law enforcement, prosecution, and other professionals about how to provide culturally competent care and responses to American Indian and Alaska Native sex trafficking victims; and (4) support costs associated with developing and conducting a community education campaign designed to increase the public’s awareness and understanding of the dynamics of sex trafficking and the special needs of American Indian and Alaska Native victims.

CA/NCF