January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month – Let’s Stand Together and Say No More!
Contributed by Staci Yates, MY House
January is dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking throughout the U.S. and the world. There are estimated to be more than 24.9 million people — adults and children — subjected to human trafficking around the world, including in the United States. In the most recent report from The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Human Trafficking Data Collection Activities, 2022, the most recent data from 2020 was highlighted including:
⦁ A total of 2,198 persons were referred to U.S. Attorneys for human trafficking offenses in fiscal year 2020, a 62% increase from the 1,360 persons referred in 2011.
⦁ The number of persons prosecuted for human trafficking increased from 729 in 2011 to 1,343 in 2020, an 84% increase.
⦁ The number of persons convicted of a federal human trafficking offense increased from 2011 (464 persons) to 2019 (837 persons), before falling in 2020 (658 persons).
⦁ At year end 2020, for the 47 states that reported data, 1,564 persons were in the custody of a state prison serving a sentence for a human trafficking offense.
⦁ Of the 1,169 defendants charged in U.S. district court with human trafficking offenses in fiscal year 2020 —92% were male, 63% were white, 18% were black, 17% were Hispanic, 95% were U.S. citizens, and 66% had no prior convictions.
What about Alaska’s stats? Our state is working on building better data to reflect the true numbers of trafficking cases in Alaska, but we believe we have some of the highest numbers in the nation. In the 2019 FBI Uniform Crime Report indicates Alaska’s rate of sexual assault is nearly 4 times the national average. Alaska has 161.6 sexual assaults per 100,000 residents, compared to 42.6 nationally. Child sexual assaults here in Alaska are nearly 6 times the national average, read that again, SIX TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.
MY House in Wasilla has 456 current clients with 34 clients reporting being trafficked here locally. 82% of trafficked clients report mental health conditions, 76% of trafficked clients reported having experienced domestic violence and 77% reported trading sex for needs. The MY House stats reflect that we do indeed have a problem with trafficking and those are just the ones brave enough to report it in our survey.
MY House provides wrap around services for survivors of human trafficking which include: Safe House Transitional Living, Substance Abuse Treatment with partners True North and Set Free, Mental Health Services with partners Mat-Su Behavioral Health, SART on site, High School Completion Program, Job Training with partner Nine Star, Case Managers & Navigators on site. We surround our clients with wrap around services to promote healing and wholeness to those who have experienced the hideous, silent crime of human trafficking.
For the month of January MY House has several ways they are bringing awareness to Wasilla. The MY House Gathering Grounds Café and Perk Ups of Wasilla will be using the coffee sleeves with each purchase that provides a message of how to recognize and report human trafficking. As an effort to raise awareness they also have 12 organizations supporting and participating in wearing the “Stop Human Trafficking T-shirts” on the same day to bring a collective awareness to our communities.
Participating are the organizations below:
City of Wasilla, Mayor Glenda Ledford
Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce
Matanuska Federal Credit Union
Remax of the Valley
Motto Mortgage
UMV
Northern Industrial Training
Bore Tide Construction
Mac Federal Credit Union
Good, Better, Best
Youth for Sitka
Priceless
Knik Sunny Chapel
Knik Tribe
Together we can make a bigger impact in raising our voices to say we want human trafficking in Alaska and our communities to STOP! I want to say a big thank you to the organizations and individuals who stand with MY House in January as we fight the silent crime of human and sex trafficking.
Our youth today need us more than ever to speak to them about what healthy relationships look like and more importantly, what they do not look like! For a great resource on how to talk to youth about healthy relationships and human trafficking please go to The Blue Campaign/Homeland Security and download the guide “How to Talk to Youth about Human Trafficking”. Blue Campaign Toolkits and Guides | Homeland Security (dhs.gov)
Another way to get involved is to join ASHTA (Alaska Stop Human Trafficking Alliance) and be a part of the conversations on how to better combat trafficking in Alaska. You may email ASTHA’S chair, Staci Yates at notrafficking@myhousematsu.org. You may also email her to schedule a training in 2023 for your organization on understanding trafficking in Alaska.
Staci Yates, MY House
Director of Human Trafficking Recovery Services
notrafficking@myhousematsu.org
907-373-4357