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Human Trafficking

OVC Efforts

OVC works to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and to provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices in ways that will promote justice and healing for all victims.

In this capacity, OVC strives to uphold the intent of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations to ensure that all trafficking victims—regardless of immigration status, gender, or form of trafficking—receive support in accessing the services they need.

OVC manages the largest amount of funding across the Federal Government dedicated to providing services to victims of labor and sex trafficking. OVC strengthens the victim service response to human trafficking through grant funding, training and technical assistance, and leadership in the field.

Learn about OVC support for anti-trafficking programs and the services provided by OVC-funded human trafficking grantees from July 2015 through June 2020 in the OVC brief, An Ongoing Commitment to Victims of Human Trafficking. Additionally, access our Labor Trafficking in the U.S. article for information specific to OVC's anti-labor trafficking efforts.

From July 2019 through June 2020, 227 OVC human trafficking grantees reported serving—

Fiscal Year 2020 OVC human trafficking grantee service infographic

Grants & Funding

OVC funding supports efforts to develop, expand, and strengthen programs for victims of human trafficking. Visit the Human Trafficking: Grants & Funding page to learn more and to locate funding opportunities for anti-trafficking professionals.
 

Training & Technical Assistance

OVC offers training and technical assistance to anti-trafficking professionals through its Training and Technical Assistance Center. Learn more about these and other training opportunities on our Human Trafficking: Training page.
 

OVC Leadership in the Field

Listen to a conversation between Office for Victims of Crime Director Kristina Rose and the Office on Trafficking in Persons Director Katherine Chon discuss programs managed by both offices that support survivors of human trafficking. They also discuss how the anti-trafficking field has evolved over decades and highlight a new joint effort to develop standards of care for service providers supporting human trafficking survivors.

As the U.S. Department of Justice co-chair representative on the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, OVC staff provided considerable input on Coordination, Collaboration, Capacity: Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States, 2013–2017.

This plan reaffirms the American values of freedom and equality and builds on the progress that our Nation has made in combating human trafficking and modern-day forms of slavery through government action and partnerships with allied professionals and concerned citizens.

In 2018, OVC hosted several events to listen to and learn from the human trafficking field, including a roundtable on community policing approaches to human trafficking, a human trafficking grantee listening session, a roundtable on effective human trafficking program evaluation, and an expert working group on trafficking of minors. As a result, OVC made adjustments to solicitations, giving grantees more flexibility in being able to meet the needs of the survivors they serve. OVC will continue to enhance programming to better meet the goal of enhancing the quantity and quality of services across the nation.

Also in 2018, OVC launched the Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center to strengthen human trafficking victim services in the United States by delivering free coaching and mentoring, and by providing a resource library for Tribal Nations and Tribal-serving organizations looking to start, sustain, or grow their anti-trafficking work. The Center offers help in a number of areas, including financial management, community partnerships, delivery of victim services, and more.

Visit the Human Trafficking Capacity Building Center website to learn more and access these services.

Date Modified: July 20, 2023
Date Created: April 28, 2020