U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $2,070,022 in federal funding allocated through Department of Justice (DOJ) for four New York City based organizations. Specifically, the funding will help recovery for survivors of all types of human trafficking by survivor-centered services and interagency communication.
“With this critical federal funding, these organizations will be able to continue their important work, prosecuting vile sex- and labor-traffickers and serving the survivors of human trafficking in New York City,” said Senator Schumer. “It is important that we work to both eliminate human trafficking through prosecution and help survivors obtain the comprehensive services they need and deserve.”
“This critical federal funding will allow these organizations to facilitate a wide range of programs to combat human trafficking and provide assistance to survivors,” said Senator Gillibrand. “New York City will now have additional resources to identify and respond to the needs of human trafficking survivors. I will continue to push for funding to help keep our families safe and better protected.”
The Kings County District Attorney’s Office has been awarded $600,000 in federal funding. The District Attorney’s office will work with Safe Horizon Incorporated to create a task force to combat all types of human trafficking. This task force will develop strategies to identify human trafficking survivors; pursue local, state, tribal, and federal sex and labor trafficking cases; and provide a comprehensive variety of services to individual survivors.
Safe Horizon, Incorporated has been awarded $550,000 and will be working with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office to create a law enforcement agency and a lead survivor service provider within the task force. The task force will support multidisciplinary human trafficking to identify, investigate, prosecute at all levels to address the individual needs of the victims and provide proper services.
Convent House New York/Under 21 has been awarded $588,286. The organization help homeless and runaway youth survivors of sex and/or labor trafficking by providing comprehensive and mental health care and related services through local, state, and federal resources. The program will develop interagency partnerships, professional training, and public awareness activities in order to enhance communities’ ability to support survivors of human trafficking.
The Ali Forney Center, Inc. has been awarded $331,736 to will help the homeless and LGBTQ youth (16-24 years of age) community that fall victim to all types of human trafficking. The center will fund projects to enhance interagency collaboration, community response coordination, and the capacity to respond to survivors.
The Department of Justice’s Specialized Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Competitive Solicitation and Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking Competitive Solicitation: Enhancement of Established Human Trafficking Task Forces awards grants to states, units of local government (including federally recognized Indian tribal governments, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior), and nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (including tribal nonprofit and nongovernment organizations) with a demonstrated history of providing survivor assistance, social services, legal services, shelter, or mental health services for survivors of human trafficking.