Nearly $1 Million Grant Designed To Shelter Colorado Human Trafficking Victims
DENVER (CBS4) -- Two Colorado agencies have been awarded almost a half a million dollars each to support the recovery efforts of human trafficking victims. Street's Hope and The Avery Center, both operating in Colorado's northern Front Range, were chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs and Office for Victims of Crime.
More than $35 million is being given to 73 agencies nationwide this year.
The grants focus on the agencies' work to provide safe, stable housing for human trafficking survivors.
"Human traffickers dangle the threat of homelessness over those they have entrapped, playing a ruthless game of psychological manipulation that victims are never in a position to win," said OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan. "These grants will empower survivors on their path to independence and a life of self-sufficiency and hope."
The funds -- $492,750 to Street's Hope and $499,883 to The Avery Center, formerly known as Break Free Inc. and Free Our Girls -- will provide six to 24 months of transitional or short-term housing assistance for trafficking victims, including rental, utilities or related expenses, such as security deposits and relocation costs. The grant will also provide funding for support needed to help victims locate permanent housing, secure employment, as well as occupational training and counseling.
"We work tirelessly to find and prosecute human traffickers," said Jason Dunn of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver, "but supporting survivors as they look to rebuild their lives with counseling, new housing, and new employment is equally as important."
The aim is twofold, according to Megan Lundstrom, the Executive Director at The Avery Center. The first goal is to break the victim's cycle of poverty. The second is to curtail more expensive long-term support.
"We have estimated," Lundstrom stated in a press release, "that the cost to the community, through social services such as Section 8 Housing, SNAP benefits, Medicaid and other government programs for a trafficked adult and their children to continue to live in poverty after escaping trafficking in Colorado is between $21,000 and $37,000 per year. This grant will enable survivors to become more independent, live above the poverty line, and become less reliant on government assistance."
According to a DOJ spokesperson, the Office of Justice Programs receives funding appropriated by Congress for the purposes of developing, expanding, or strengthening victim service programs for victims of trafficking. The housing assistance grants are among those projects. The Office for the Victims of Crime grants are funded by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders.
