John Weil (NC Network for Safe Communities) received new funding from the Governors Crime Commission for the project “Building Capacity to Identify and Serve Victims of Human Trafficking in Underserved Areas of Eastern North Carolina.” Dr. Stacy Sechrist is co-principal investigator on the project.
This project is a continuation of a 2018-2020 GCC-funded project to build capacity of communities to identify and respond to human trafficking (HT) and coordinate anti-trafficking efforts in two rural, traditionally under-resourced regions in Eastern NC: Roanoke Chowan and the Outer Banks.
Within each region, researchers will conduct in-depth, geographic-specific environmental scans of available resources/professionals and perform capacity assessments of agencies’ ability to identify and respond to HT.
Findings from this process will inform about specific capacity-building needs within each region. The project will include training and outreach efforts within each region and ongoing monitoring and performance measurement. Capacity-building will include a position to coordinate anti-trafficking efforts and develop a better coordinated multidisciplinary response to HT victims in each region.
The ultimate goal is to increase victim identification and service provision through two participating direct service provider partners in each region: Roanoke Chowan SAFE and Outer Banks Hotline.
