�
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006
Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215
Over $1.5 Million Awarded to Aid Victims of Human Trafficking
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced $1,571,721 in 18 grants to strengthen outreach services that help identify and assist victims of human trafficking.
“These grants will strengthen our efforts to rescue and restore victims of human trafficking,” said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for children and families. “They will enable groups to expand their outreach to identify and help more victims of this modern-day form of slavery.”
This grant program provides financial assistance to organizations which utilize outreach services that target populations among which victims of human trafficking may be found, including prostituted individuals, persons engaged in the sex industry, migrant farm workers, domestic or household employees, low wage industrial or factory workers, janitors, restaurant and other service industry laborers and immigrant populations generally.
The grants, administered by ACF’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, include these new grantees:
-
$90,000 to the Southeastern Network of Youth and Family Services of Alabama;
-
$103,779 to the International Rescue Committee, Arizona;
-
$27,502 to the Center for Social Advocacy, San Diego;
-
$121,979 to the SAGE Project, San Francisco;
-
$46,700 to the Southeastern Network of Youth and Family Services of Florida;
-
$75,310 to Tapestri, Georgia;
-
$115,000 to Positive Options, Referrals & Alternatives, Illinois;
-
$125,000 to the Salvation Army, Illinois;
-
$25,000 to Alternatives for Girls, Michigan;
-
$70,000 to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey;
-
$114,000 to the Polaris Project, New Jersey;
-
$123,585 to Mosaic Family Services, Dallas; and
-
$71,871 to Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.
They also include the following existing partners:
-
$101,462 to Catholic Social Services of Central and Northern Arizona;
-
$75,000 to the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking of California;
-
$110,000 to Breaking Free, St. Paul, Minnesota;
-
$102,799 to the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, New York City; and
-
$72,734 to Farmworker Legal Services of New York.
Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), HHS is designated as the agency responsible for helping victims of human trafficking become eligible to receive benefits and services so they may rebuild their lives safely in the U.S. As part of this effort, HHS has initiated the Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking campaign to help identify and assist victims of human trafficking in the United States.
###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news