Seattle Indian Center''s Project Beacon

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 Seattle Indian Center (SIC) is a community-based nonprofit organization founded in 1958 by a group of American Indian women who were concerned about the health and welfare of American Indians who were living in Seattle, Washington. For nearly 60 years, SIC has provided a robust menu of social services programming to meet the needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives who are living in poverty and battling homelessness. SIC currently operates a drop-in center, food bank, weekday meal service, and a hostel to aid homeless American Indians and Alaska Natives living in Seattle and the surrounding area. SIC also provides case management services and counseling to families in crisis, as well as a youth empowerment program, supportive services for veterans, and basic adult education courses.

SIC will use the funding from its Project Beacon award to: (1) hire a full-time Program Manager to oversee SIC’s development and implementation of a comprehensive plan to meet the holistic needs of American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking; (2) hire a full-time Client Navigator to provide victims with access to a 24 hour crisis response, and to provide direct services to victims, including intake, assessment, case management, and referrals; (3) develop formal, written memoranda of understanding with a variety of collaborative partners, including federal, tribal, municipal, and state agencies, as well as nonprofit victim services providers as part of plan to ensure that American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking receive a culturally appropriate, victim-centered, and seamless response across multiple systems; (4) provide training to professionals from federal, tribal, municipal, and state agencies, and staff from nonprofit victim services provider organizations on how to provide a culturally appropriate response to American Indian and Alaska Native victims of sex trafficking; and (5) support costs associated with conducting a regional community education campaign to increase the public’s awareness and understanding of the dynamics of sex trafficking and how the crime impacts American Indians and Alaska Natives.

CA/NCF