COLUMBUS
The Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) was recently awarded a total of $208,080 for fiscal year 2017 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Look Beneath the Surface Regional Anti-Trafficking Program grant to build capacity of Ohio’s communities to identify and respond to human trafficking.
The Look Beneath the Surface Regional Anti-Trafficking Program is a three-year project contingent on annual program reviews to build capacity of local anti-trafficking networks, organize public awareness efforts, and identify victims of trafficking through formal partnerships between OCJS and four Core Regional Coalition Partners (CRCPs) based in Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and St. Clairsville.
OCJS serves as the program director and fiscal monitoring agent for the grant, in partnership with four anti-human trafficking coalitions: The Salvation Army of Greater Cincinnati, representing End Slavery Cincinnati; The Salvation Army of Central Ohio, representing the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition; Lutheran Social Services, representing the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition; and Harmony House, representing the Belmont County Human Trafficking Coalition.
Each of these CRCPs have also identified Local Outreach Partners in their communities who will assist in carrying out the activities in the grant. These activities include: Conducting direct outreach to communities at-risk of human trafficking; Screening potential human trafficking victims and refer them for services; Providing training and technical assistance to strategic stakeholders and community professionals; Providing coalition building opportunities to Ohio counties not currently served by an anti-trafficking coalition; and Strategically disseminating English and translated public awareness materials.
The project period began in September 2017 and will end September 2020 with grant funding being distributed in the amount of $208,080 per year for three years.
To learn more about the state’s anti-trafficking efforts, please visit http://humantrafficking.ohio.
