AG
HEALEY’S OFFICE RECEIVES $1.5 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS TO EXPAND HUMAN
TRAFFICKING WORK
Funding
Will Support AG’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force and Provide Comprehensive
Services for Survivors
BOSTON –Attorney General Maura Healey announced today that her office has been awarded
nearly $1.5 million in federal grants to expand the office’s ongoing work to investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases and provide comprehensive, trauma-informed services to victims.
The AG’s Office was awarded two grants from the U.S.
Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs, one for $750,000 from
the Bureau of Justice Assistance to bolster the office’s ongoing human
trafficking enforcement work and the second for $749,999 to support human
trafficking victims. Both awards are three-year grants that began on Oct. 1,
2022, and will expand the work of the Commonwealth’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force (CAT Task
Force). The Task Force was formed in 2019 with $1.7 million in grant funding from DOJ, and is co-led by
the AG’s Human Trafficking Division, the Massachusetts State Police Unit
assigned to the AG’s Human Trafficking Division, and the AG’s Victim Witness
Services Division.
“Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing
criminal enterprises and my office has been committed to ending this
exploitation and protecting the rights of survivors,” AG Healey said. “This
grant funding will help expand the work of our multi-agency task force to hold
perpetrators accountable and provide the additional support and services that
victims need.”
The new grant funding will allow the CAT Task Force to
expand its multi-disciplinary approach to combatting labor and sex trafficking
through its continued partnerships with the AG’s Fair Labor Division, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations New England, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and collaboration on case work, training
opportunities, and outreach. The AG’s Human Trafficking and Fair Labor
Divisions also collaborate with workers’ advocacy organizations, labor unions,
law enforcement, and municipalities to raise awareness and build new cases.
“I am thrilled that the U.S. Department of Justice
will continue to fund the Massachusetts Attorney General’s CAT Task Force for
another three years,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. “The fight against
human trafficking (which includes both labor and sex trafficking) in our
Commonwealth, and supporting these targeted victims, is one of the highest
priorities for my office. Coordination among local, state and federal partners
is imperative to provide a victim-centered approach to disrupting, preventing
and eradicating human trafficking. This funding permits the CAT Task Force’s
important work to continue.”
“No community is immune from human trafficking,” said Joseph
R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “It is an
exploitive, abusive crime that treats human beings as mere commodities to be
bought and sold for financial gain. Every day, the FBI’s Child Exploitation –
Human Trafficking Task Force is working closely with our law enforcement and
community partners to identify traffickers and ensure they face justice for
their crimes, while helping their victims escape the cycle of abuse. We take a
victim-centered approach to each case, and we urge anyone who is or believes
they may be a victim of human trafficking to contact us.”
The AG’s Victim Services Division will continue to be
the lead service provider for the CAT Task Force. The Division intends to award
new funding to its current diverse group of subgrantees that include Boston
University School of Law’s Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program;
The Education, Vision, Advocacy Center (EVA) Project of Casa Myrna Vazquez,
Inc.; Garden of Hope; Living in Freedom Together, Inc. (LIFT); My Life My
Choice; Sojourner House Inc.’s THEIA Project; and the Support to End
Exploitation Now program of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County.
Once a victim of trafficking is identified through an investigation by the AG’s
Human Trafficking Division, the victim is connected with a victim witness
advocate from the Victim Witness Services Division of the AG’s Office. The
advocate conducts a crisis-needs assessment to ensure the victim is safe and
their needs are met. Following the assessment, the advocate will generally make
a referral to one of the subgrantee service providers. Subgrantees provide a
variety of services to victims including connecting them with access to housing
and transportation, mental health services, immigration legal assistance and
social service advocacy.
“As a survivor-led agency focused on ending commercial
sexual exploitation, My Life My Choice, is grateful to build upon our
partnership with the Attorney General’s Office,” said Lisa Goldblatt Grace,
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director of My Life My Choice. “This grant will
continue to enhance our collaboration, expand our training audience, and
support vital services for young people in the Commonwealth who’ve experienced
commercial sexual exploitation.”
“Living in Freedom Together (LIFT), Inc. is grateful to be a part of the
Attorney General's Commonwealth Anti-Trafficking Task Force,” said Nikki Bell,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LIFT. “As a survivor-led organization,
the partnership with the AG's Office and the work to end trafficking is
personal, and we look forward to continuing to support the Task Force's work to
increase our Commonwealth's capacity to respond to survivors’ needs and
increase access to essential resources for this historically marginalized
population.”
“We are excited to continue this important partnership
to respond to trafficking in the Commonwealth,” said Julie Dahlstrom, Director
of the BU Law Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program. “We are
grateful for the leadership of Attorney General Healey and her team to develop
best practices to combat trafficking and ensure that survivors receive
much-needed protections.”
AG Healey has made combatting human trafficking a priority for her office and when she took office in 2015, created a dedicated Human Trafficking Division to focus on policy, prevention and prosecution. The Division includes a team of specialized prosecutors, victim advocates and Massachusetts State Police troopers who handle high impact, multi-jurisdictional human trafficking investigations and prosecutions across the state. Through the Human Trafficking Division, the AG’s Office has charged more than 70 individuals in connection with human trafficking and helped numerous survivors.
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