Seeking Solutions Symposium

For Issues Facing St. Louis Women and Girls

Presented by the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

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Symposium Summary

Acknowledgements

The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis would like to thank all those who helped make

the Seeking Solutions Symposium possible, including:

Gourmet to Go

Nine Network of Public Media

Joseph H. and Florence A. Roblee Foundation

Regional Arts Commission

Cynthia Crim, Program Chair for the Seeking Solutions Symposium

Presenters: Janelle Gibson, Patricia Rich, Jennifer Swain, Dawn Thompson

Facilitators: Margaret Howard, Judie Johnson, Jane Klieve, Kathy Lambert, Jennifer Swain,

Dawn Thompson

Recorders: Karina Garcia, Antoinette Grier, Serena Muhammad, Sandhya Vollala

Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis Board of Directors, committee members and

volunteers

Cindy Follman, Independent Consultant, Symposium Summary Writer

Background

The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis’s mission is to “raise awareness and provide

funding for organizations that address the needs of girls and women.” One of the ways in which

the foundation helps to raise awareness is through efforts to convene, educate and collaborate

with other community organizations to address issues that girls and women face in the St. Louis

region. The purpose of the Seeking Solutions Symposium, convened by the Women’s

Foundation of Greater St. Louis and supported by grant funds from the Joseph H. and Florence

A. Roblee Foundation, was to provide an overview of the challenges facing women and girls in

the St. Louis region today, and to identify local strengths, gaps in services and collaborative

opportunities to provide effective prevention, intervention and treatment for girls and women in

the region who are most at risk. The Symposium also addressed the increasing incidence of

human trafficking in the St. Louis region to increase awareness about the issue and to determine

strategies for developing a continuum of care for girls and women most affected by this issue.

Clips from the documentary, The Makers: Women Who Make America, were shown as

Symposium attendees arrived and were seated as an introduction to women’s issues in America.

The complete video can be viewed at http://video.pbs.org/program/makers-women-who-make-

america/.

Pat Rich, Founder and Past President of the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis welcomed

attendees to the Seeking Solutions Symposium, and provided a brief overview of the Women’s

Foundation, including its fundraising strategies and grant making objectives. For more

information about the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis, please visit its website at

www.wfstl.org.

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State of the Union: Women and Girls To gain a better understanding of the critical issues facing women and girls in the St. Louis

region and the state of Missouri, Janelle Gibson, Board Member and Chair of the Research

Committee of the Women’s Foundation, presented key data, service areas, trends and issues that

women and girls face in the St. Louis region today.

Ms. Gibson’s presentation included overwhelming data pointing to the ongoing challenges that

women and girls face in the St. Louis region and the state of Missouri. Access and opportunity

disparities are at the core of these challenges, particularly as they relate to health care, personal

safety, family support and social service assistance, employment and educational attainment at

the secondary school level. Women are much more likely to live in poverty in Missouri than

men, and this gap increases as women age. Human trafficking has also emerged as an increasing

safety risk for women and girls in the state of Missouri. In 2012, the Polaris Project National

Human Trafficking Resource Center identified 255 hotline calls for Missouri from which 35

potential victims were identified in 2012. Of those high-risk calls, half were suspected sex

trafficking, and most originated from the St. Louis, Kansas City and Branson areas.

Ms. Gibson identified key gaps in addressing the access and opportunity challenges to health,

safety, education and economic opportunity that women and girls in our community face, which

include:

Access to affordable and accessible health care outside the urban core, including preventative

services, chronic disease management and outreach to women over 65

Access and education to information and services regarding reproductive health decision

making

Bilingual services and outreach

Shared referral sources for co-morbid health issues such as mental health or substance abuse

Identification of and services for trafficking victims

Continued advocacy for pay equity

Funding for “safety net” services to keep women working, such as affordable housing, child

care subsidies and health care

Supportive services to keep girls and young women working toward diploma/degree

completion

Support for STEM programs for girls

Financial literacy training for women and girls

Ultimately, the key is developing an all-inclusive safety net for women and girls that surrounds

them with the access and supports they need to be successful in their lives, as demonstrated by

the visual below:

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Safety Net for Women and Girls

For more data and information, Ms. Gibson’s complete PowerPoint presentation is available in

its entirety on the Women’s Foundation website at www.wfstl.org.

Small Group Discussion Highlights

The State of the Union: Women and Girls presentation provided an overview of the many

challenges facing women and girls in Missouri and the local St. Louis region, and provided the

context for Symposium attendees to engage in discussion groups to dig deeper into many of the

critical issues identified. Attendees were divided into three discussion groups. Each group

rotated between three different topical discussions and engaged in a brainstorming and dialogue

session to identify key resources and strengths in the community for the specific topics being

addressed, current gaps in services and collaborative opportunities. Topics addressed in each

discussion group room were chosen through a voting/prioritization process by the members of

the first discussion group that started the rotation in that location. Each of the following groups

that rotated to a new location continued the discussion based on those topics selected by the first

group. Each group discussion included a facilitator and a recorder.

The notes provided by the recorders of each discussion session were compiled. Highlights

follow with a more thorough summary of all discussion group sessions included in Appendix A.

Overarching Topics Addressed in Discussion Groups

Financial/Economic stability/Entrepreneurship (i.e., credit counseling)

Economic imperatives (i.e., education, child care, housing, employment, transportation)

Building self-confidence/Inner strength and power (i.e., beauty, personal growth, self-

confidence)

Intersection between domestic violence and human trafficking

Formal support systems (i.e., mentoring, qualitative support)

Healthy relationships/Psychological (i.e., education and training)

Current Services/Strengths Available in the St. Louis Region

The St. Louis Region has many excellent organizations, programs and collaborative efforts

currently available that provide services to girls and women in the areas of:

Success for

Women

Basic Needs Supports

Personal Safety

Educational Opportunities

Economic Opportunities

Strong Community

Organizations

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Domestic violence

Education—access to college, after school programming, anti-bullying, early childhood

education, innovative education models

Employment preparation programs for youth and women

Financial education and economic empowerment of youth and women—financial education

and savings programs, entrepreneurship and loan programs

Housing

Human trafficking

Immigrant and refugee women’s support

Mental health

Support services

Youth development—self-esteem, confidence, leadership-building

Key Service Gaps/Needs

While there are many strong resources in the region, there remain many gaps in services and

needs that continue to be unmet for girls and women in the St. Louis region. These include:

Basic needs—affordable housing, child care, reliable transportation, employment that pays a

living wage, access to mental and physical health care services

Education and outreach— mentoring for girls and women, efforts that target boys/young men

and multiple age-ranges, role models, parental engagement, personal safety and sex

education, employment-related education and skill-building, and more

Community resources and collaboration—increased knowledge-sharing, coordination and

collaboration between service providers, enhanced connections to develop a stronger

continuum of care and shared funding

Advocacy and media—media training regarding the portrayal of girls and women in the

media and gender stereotypes, anti-bullying legislation, public policy advocacy for increased

support of girls’/women’s issues

Human trafficking services—shelters, mental health services, training, increased public

awareness

Collaborative Opportunities

Discussion group participants then brainstormed a variety of strategies, action steps and ideas to

address girls’ and women’s issues collaboratively. One of the significant realizations of many

attendees during the course of the Symposium was that they were not familiar with the breadth of

organizations represented and what each organization does. Thus, many of the suggestions

regarding collaborative opportunities related to convening and networking of girls’ and women’s

service organizations in the region, while others focused on collaborations and partnerships to

address many of the key issues noted above. Highlights of these strategies follow:

Convening/Networking

Convene quarterly meetings for community organizations to share knowledge, experience

and develop partnership opportunities

Move out of service “silos,” develop organizational knowledge and relationships across the

region

Peer to peer networking

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Bring organizations together that are dealing with similar issues to discuss services, lessons

learned, evaluation strategies and increasing service capacity

Develop a map of service providers throughout the region/state to increase knowledge and

connections and catalyze a more comprehensive safety net for girls and women in need

Opportunity for Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis to provide a database of

information on girls’ and women’s organizations/services

Service Collaboration Opportunities

Enhance collaborations between health/mental health service providers, domestic violence

and runaway youth service providers

Enhance collaboration between mental health and physical health providers

Develop educational services for both boys and girls about healthy relationships and respect

for one another through public of awareness campaigns, resource fairs, media outlets,

counseling & mental health services, etc.

Build on successful current or emerging collaborations

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Human Trafficking Presentation

A key area of focus for the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis for the Seeking Solutions

Symposium was to address the growing incidence of human trafficking in the state of Missouri

and the St. Louis region. According to “Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent,

Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment,

transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or

other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a

position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the

consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other

forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,

servitude or the removal of organs” (www.unodc.org). This summary refers to human

trafficking throughout, but sex trafficking falls under the umbrella of human trafficking, and was

the primary focus of the presentations and discussions at the Symposium. To address this

troubling and complex issue, the Women’s Foundation brought two women to St. Louis to speak

to Symposium attendees about human trafficking and how they have addressed it in their

communities.

The presenters were Jennifer Swain, End Child Sex Trafficking Program Manager of youthSpark

in Atlanta, Georgia, and Dawn Thompson, Assistant Executive Director of Kristi House Child

Advocacy Center in Miami, Florida. Their presentations were moderated by Margaret Howard, a

Therapist and Consultant at Mother Ocean Transformation Services and a frequent reporter and

writer on the topic of human trafficking.

Crucial to this presentation was the introduction by Ms. Howard of the Missouri and federal

statutes related to human trafficking. These important to understand statutes follow, and set the

stage for the presentations by the guest speakers and the ensuing discussion.

Human trafficking is any commercial sex act in which the commercial sex act is

induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform

such an act has not attained 18 years (Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act

of 2000, Public Law 106-386 (22 USC § 7102; 8 CFR § 214.11(a) and 18 U.S.C.

§ 1591. Section 1591) and Missouri Laws 566.200—566.213 RSMo).

Additionally, the buying (exchange of any good, service, or money) of sex from a

person under 18 years of age is subject to penalty under federal and Missouri

human trafficking statutes, whether or not a third party is involved. It is not an

affirmative defense that the buyer did not know the age of the victim. US

Department of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/statutes.php.

Ms. Swain of youthSpark then presented a very powerful sex trafficking prevention Public

Service Announcement developed by her agency that is targeted to boys as young as 12 years of

age. The group viewed the video, and then debriefed it with Ms. Swain. One of the goals

youthSpark had in producing this video was to create a PSA that would not provoke laughter

from the boys who watched it, and Ms. Swain felt they were successful in accomplishing this.

youthSpark uses this Public Service Announcement to help youth understand human trafficking,

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and to encourage them to stay away from situations that “look” like the scenarios presented in

the video. youthSpark is now working to bring youth into conversation about the prevention of

human trafficking with a focus on younger boys. Please note: You can view the PSA at

http://www.youth-spark.org/learn/prevention-psa/.

Ms. Thompson than addressed her experience with Kristi House and the work that her

organization does to support victims of human trafficking. She noted that most youth

who are victims of human trafficking tend to be minority, low-income youth, while the

consumers of sex trafficking tend to be middle-class, white males. Many of the girls who

are engaged in sex trafficking are also in the foster system and have a history of abuse.

As a result, these young girls are “poly-victims,” who have suffered severe and repeated

trauma. Because of the trauma they have endured, they often run away and return to

abusive situations. However, many ultimately return to the safety of Kristi House or

another safe location. It is critically important in working with these young girls to

ensure that they feel that they are not being judged, and that they are in a safe space with

safe people who are nonjudgmental and willing to listen to their stories. Kristi House

uses motivational interviewing, and starts by meeting the girls’ most basic needs and

providing them with a nurturing environment. The girls also work with case managers

who “look like them.”

Both youthSpark and Kristi House have conducted extensive training programs for key

stakeholder groups that are instrumental in the prevention and intervention of human trafficking.

youthSpark led an initiative to provide a training protocol for first-line responders, with a focus

on law enforcement in the Atlanta area. Kristi House conducted training for Miami International

Airport staff, as well as law enforcement. Once a group of stakeholders are trained, they can

then help train others within their own stakeholder group, so it becomes more peer to peer

training. An important emphasis of the training initiatives is for these stakeholders to develop

policies for their own organizations that lead to changes in how they identify and respond to

human trafficking situations.

Symposium attendees then engaged in discussion with the presenters. Highlights of this

discussion follow:

There is a significant need to build a local infrastructure in the St. Louis region and across the

state to address human trafficking.

o The St. Louis Rescue and Restore Coalition is a critical group in the area working to

address the development of a safety net to address human trafficking in Missouri.

Collaboration statewide is imperative, and many partners are needed to be a part of this

effort. A significant barrier to accessing services for victims is transportation, and this

needs to be addressed.

o The Dignity Network is another local collaborative addressing human trafficking locally.

Ms. Swain advised that when forming coalitions and addressing human trafficking, it is vital

for all organizations and individuals to “REMOVE THEIR EGOS.”

Other lessons learned and shared by the guest speakers included: be flexible, and be careful

about who you collaborate with. Ensure that collaborative partners are part of the solution.

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Lobby days are useful for educating the public sector and local representatives about human

trafficking issues and legislation/laws. youthSpark has led significant efforts to advocate for

legislative changes to address human trafficking.

Trauma-informed assessment/intakes are critical. Agencies and case workers want to ensure

that they look at the whole history of the youth’s trauma. However, this cannot happen the

first time she/he comes in for care. The first step is to make sure the youth is safe both

mentally and physically by doing a simple assessment prior to engaging that individual in a

longer assessment.

Education and awareness are key.

When working with human trafficking victims, do not try to use the language that the youth

use. Do learn their street names. Often this can be found through social media. You must be

media savvy in doing this work.

youthSpark has produced a tool kit and action guide for other communities and agencies to

use to address human trafficking. The publication is entitled A Future. Not a Past. Stop the

Prostitution of Our Nation’s Children, Toolkit and Action Guide. This resource is available

at www.afnap.org.

Human Trafficking Small Group Lunch Discussion Highlights

Immediately after the panel presentation and discussion, attendees gathered into three small

group discussions over lunch to further address human trafficking prevention, intervention and

recovery in the St. Louis region and across Missouri. Each lunch discussion was facilitated by

the presenters of the Human Trafficking Panel Presentation. Critical points of information that

came out of the small group lunch discussions follow below. Please note: the key information

points presented below include lessons learned and other contributions from the human

trafficking panel presenters based on their experiences working with sex trafficking victims in

their own communities. In addition, a list of local organizations and coalitions addressing human

trafficking issues in Missouri and the St. Louis Region was also generated from the lunch

discussions and can be found in Appendix B.

Human Trafficking Lunch Discussion Highlights

Utilize a motivational interview technique. Start with what person believes are positives and

allow them to identify negatives on their own without being labeled.

Start small. Ask specific intake questions to identify girls who may be involved with

trafficking. For example, ask “how did you take care of yourself when you were on the

street?”

Once girls find safety, it is typical for them to run away and return to the abusive situation

they were previously in. However, agencies are required to report these incidents when girls

return and disclose what they did while they were away. This has led to a lock-in facility for

girls because government-sponsored shelters cannot tolerate the cycle of the girls repeatedly

running away and returning to sex trafficking. It is helpful for law-enforcement to move

cases from active to inactive instead of closing them so they can work with girls long-term,

as they run away often.

Girls can be found through back pages of weekly newspapers where many run ads to attract

men, strip clubs and through social media.

Forensic medical exam doctor can make direct referrals for the girls in terms of health needs

and services.

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Girls who are willing to talk to law enforcement or legal proceedings need to get full

protection offered to witnesses.

A community environment that includes nearby access to and vibrancy of strip clubs and

other adult entertainment venues can set the stage for and be a contributor to sex trafficking

within and around that community.

Mixed group therapy sessions are difficult for teens.

Recruiters pretend to seek out services, but they are really there to talk girls out of receiving

support services and back into the sex trade.

It is recommended not to cluster girls in residential homes together who have been victims of

sex trafficking. State staffing ratio for treatment was 6:1, and was inadequate for providing

enough supervision of girls.

Conclusion

The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis Seeking Solutions Symposium was well-attended,

and, according to the pre- and post-surveys completed by attendees, increased the attendees’

knowledge and understanding of the critical issues facing girls and women in the St. Louis

Region and beyond. The Symposium tackled the challenging and difficult topic of human

trafficking and how it can be addressed more effectively locally. In addition, attendees learned

about one another’s organizations and had ample opportunities to engage in meaningful

networking and dialogue.

At the conclusion of the lunch discussion groups, a member of the Women’s Foundation

Program Committee informed attendees that the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis was

committed to providing the following action steps:

Providing a directory of all who attended the Symposium,

Making PowerPoint presentation slides available to attendees and the public via the

Women’s Foundation website,

Developing a discussion as a follow-up to the topics presented at the Symposium on the

Women’s Foundation’s Facebook page,

Developing a summary of the Symposium, and making it publicly available on the Women’s

Foundation website.

Opportunities for Additional Action Steps

As a result of the information presented at the Symposium and the resulting dialogue in the

discussion groups, several ideas for next steps developed. The following suggestions could be

developed collaboratively and seem to be important steps to for the community to take in order

to develop a more comprehensive and connected safety net for women and girls in the St. Louis

Region and surrounding areas.

Develop a resource guide in collaboration with St. Louis Rescue and Restore to identify all

social service, legal, advocacy and other key coalitions and efforts involved in addressing

youth, women, family and trafficking issues in the region and across the state.

o St. Louis Rescue and Restore has an extensive database of organizations, but it is

currently not user-friendly and needs to be updated and made more accessible. This

could be the foundation for the above resource guide.

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Convene women’s and girls’ social service organizations to get to know one another, share

missions, programs, outcomes and strategies for working together. Make this a regular

gathering (2x/year).

Map women’s and human trafficking service organizations across the state.

Use all of the above to drive the development of a regional and state-wide safety net for those

women and girls whose personal safety is at risk.

Explore collaborative funding for education and awareness, training, advocacy and

prevention and recovery services related to human trafficking in the region and the state.

Develop and support social enterprise programs that empower girls and women.

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Appendix A

Prioritized Topics Addressed in Discussion Groups

Financial/Economic stability/Entrepreneurship (i.e., credit counseling)

Economic Imperatives (i.e., education, child care, housing, employment, transportation)

Building self-confidence/Inner strength and power (i.e., beauty, personal growth, self-

confidence)

Intersection between domestic violence and human trafficking

Formal support systems (i.e., mentoring, qualitative support)

Healthy relationships/Psychological (i.e., education and training)

Current Services/Strengths Available in the St. Louis Region

Domestic Violence

RAVEN

Safe Connections

SLEVAWN (collaboration)

YWCA Sexual Assault Center

Education

Access to College

College Bound

College Summit

Redevelopment Opportunities for Women—GED/continued education support (ROW works

with many organizations in the community as well)

Center for Women in Transition—GED assistance

Safe Connections working with colleges (collaboration)

After School Programming

After School for All Partnership (collaboration)

Anti-Bullying/Inclusion/Respect

ADL—No Place for Hate program

Wyman Center

Megan Meier Foundation

SLPS provide social services and programs to students in their district through collaboration

and partnerships with community agencies

Early Childhood Education

Head Start

United 4 Children (assistance with finding quality child care for families)

Innovative Education Models

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St. Louis Language Immersion School

Employment-Related Programs for Youth and Women

Employment Connection

Job Corps

Sweet Potato Project St. Louis for youth

Family consumer science education in the public schools

Financial Education/Economic Empowerment

Financial Education and Savings Programs

Bank On Save Up Initiative

Catholic Charities –Financial Literacy course in collaboration with ROW (collaboration)

Federal Reserve free financial literacy program

FDIC program (low cost, provides materials to teach financial literacy courses)

IDA Programs

Kingdom House & St. Louis Community Credit Union (collaboration)

REAP Program (ROW—REAP works with domestic violence programs as well)

Smart Money Week

Start Smart Program (University of Missouri extension)

YWCA 2-year program (Trio Foundation)

YWCA Young Entrepreneur’s Program

Entrepreneurship and Loan Programs

Grace Hill Women’s Business Center

Healing Hearts Bank--NCJW

KIVA loans

Micro lending programs

Housing

Gateway 180

YWCA Transitional Housing Program

Human Trafficking

Committee on Human Trafficking-St. Louis and UAW Network

Symposium at UMSL in November 2013 on Human Trafficking

Increased awareness of how to recognize human trafficking through increased training efforts

Working in schools with girls to understand personal safety and teen dating violence

SLEVAWN (collaboration)

Dignity Network

St. Louis Rescue and Restore Coalition

The Covering House

International Institute—Eastern Missouri-Southern Illinois Rescue and Restore Coalition

Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Support

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Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Program

International Institute

Kingdom House-ESOL program

Mental Health

Webster University—partnership with the Webster Groves school district to provide

counseling and mental health services to youth (collaboration)

Youth Development--Self-Esteem/Confidence/Leadership

Boys and Girls Club (Smart Girls Club)

Faith-based programs

Father’s Support Network (focuses on men)

Girls in the Know (also presented Finding Kind film and expo in St. Louis)

Girls on the Run

Girl Scouts

Junior League—lobbying for anti-bullying legislation

Kingdom House (youth programming, addresses kids age 14-high school graduation)

Sex education

Wyman Center (TOP program)

YWCA—YW Teens, Youth Women’s Leadership Academy

Other Youth, Women and Family Support Services

Father’s Support Network

Federation of Settlement Houses (collaboration)

Sister Circles

Key Service Gaps/Needs

Basic Needs

Affordable housing located near transportation

Affordable child care (quality, access and availability)

Reliable transportation

Employment (including options for past-offenders/felons) that pays a sustainable living wage

or higher

Mental and physical health care services to children, youth and parents

Resources to help families sustain housing income

Resources to help families obtain and maintain ownership of vehicles

Lack of providers in St. Louis County

Education and Outreach

Increased outreach and education opportunities for boys and men

Increased outreach to more age ranges-start early and provide role models and mentoring

programs for girls

Parental engagement in children’s services and programming

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Increased outreach and education to girls in educational settings to address personal safety as

it relates to dating and sex

Education/outreach to boys and young men regarding healthy relationships, dating, sex, etc.

Increased education and training of teachers in local schools

Recruitment of professional women to increase mentoring between older and younger

women preparing to enter or in the workforce

More women-owned businesses

Increased job-related skill building and education for youth and women preparing to enter the

workforce, including time management skills, etc.

Access and exposure to appropriate role models for children and youth to counter much of

what they get from popular culture and peer pressure

Diversity education

Financial literacy for teens

Education of donor community about these issues

Community Resources and Collaboration

Increased knowledge-sharing and coordination between service providers to enhance

connections and develop a stronger continuum of care

Increased partnerships/collaborations between service providers with shared funding

Increased funding for more women’s programming and to expand its reach, and build

program capacity

Explore partnerships with Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurship

Collaboration with law enforcement (though need to consider legal issues involved)

Collaboration with professional women’s organizations, especially those of women of color

Engaging men in the process of becoming partners and allies for women’s issues and services

Connected safety net across the region and across services and ages to provide better

consistent long-term assistance

Advocacy & Media

Media training regarding how girls and women are portrayed in the media and the messages

being sent to the public about gender roles and stereotypes

Consistent anti-bullying legislation

Voter education programming

Advocating for local, state and federal government policies/programs/legislation to better

support nonprofit women’s services

Human Trafficking Services

Shelters for survivors of human trafficking

Mental health services for human trafficking survivors

Training for law enforcement, hotel staff, airport staff, religious organizations

Training to effectively identify and treat issues of human trafficking victims/survivors, such

as substance abuse and mental health challenges

Increased public awareness about human trafficking, as there is a lack of education and

understanding about human trafficking, and many have the misperception that it only applies

to immigrant populations

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Challenges in addressing this issue include: Human trafficking victims often have difficulty

finding shelter because they do not meet the definition of domestic violence and are not

eligible for shelter at many domestic violence shelters; sex workers often to not “identify”

themselves as sex workers or that they have a drug/alcohol problem; hotels are

uncomfortable addressing the issue and reporting suspicious behavior; lack of resources to

increase current program capacity

Collaborative Opportunities

Convening/Networking

Convene quarterly meetings for community organizations to share knowledge, experience

and develop partnership opportunities

Link with educational institutions/organizations, particularly exposing youth to college

campuses and courses while still in high school

Move out of service “silos,” develop organizational knowledge and relationships across the

region

Peer to peer networking

Bring organizations together that are dealing with similar issues to discuss services, lessons

learned, evaluation strategies and increasing service capacity

Women organizations meet to share knowledge and promote diversity

Increase business engagement in women’s services organizations to develop mentorship and

greater access to and knowledge about employment opportunities

Further develop partnership with United Way’s 211 program and volunteer bank

Service Collaboration Opportunities

Enhance collaborations between health/mental health service providers, domestic violence

and runaway youth service providers, such as that developed by Safe Connections and Youth

in Need

Enhance collaboration between mental health and physical health providers, such as People’s

Health Center, Hopewell Center, People’s Community Action

Develop educational services for both boys and girls about healthy relationships and respect

for one another through public of awareness campaigns, resource fairs, media outlets,

counseling and mental health services, etc.

Explore revenue streams through social entrepreneurship

Build on successful current or emerging collaborations, such as SLEVAWN and the Ready

by 21 program

Develop a map of service providers throughout the region/state to increase knowledge and

connections and catalyze a more comprehensive safety net for girls and women in need

Opportunity for Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis to develop a repository of

information on women’s services and community organizations to encourage collaboration

and knowledge about local resources.

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Appendix B

Human Trafficking-Related Community Resources

There are several human-trafficking community organizations, coalitions and services operating

in the St. Louis region and across the state of Missouri. Many are listed below.

The Covering House

o Seeks to provide refuge and restoration for girls who have experienced sexual

exploitation or sexual trafficking.

o Provides life skills, clinical program, tutoring, individual and group therapy, supportive

adults programming, and more.

o Just acquired a residential home to provide a safe shelter for human trafficking victims.

o Will provide out-client services as a step-down program from transitional housing.

Kingdom House

o Serves underserved families

o Able to identify a child in distress or need

o Encourage awareness of and ability to identify victims of human trafficking

St. Louis Rescue and Restore Coalition

o Provides trauma-informed screenings, education and legal assistance to victims of human

trafficking.

Dignity Network

o The Dignity Network’s mission is to promote a restorative approach to addressing

commercial sex, including both human trafficking and prostitution, through prevention,

support, education, and advocacy.

Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois Rescue and Restore Consortium

o Through a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, the

International Institute manages and supports this Consortium.

o It is comprised of 4 coalitions that conduct outreach and education with the ultimate goal

of identifying victims.

o Social Workers are able to provide comprehensive case management for foreign born

victims and referral services for all victims.

o www.stoptraffickingmo-il.org

Mental Health America and Hopewell Center

o Provide mental health care services

o More frequently mental health care providers see PTSD as an indicator of trafficking

Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center

o Provides a 24-hour care crisis shelter that serves youth in the city

o Will provide transportation for the youth in need to the shelter

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Safe Places

o National program that designates safe spaces for youth in need or distress to go

o Been through training and agree to help children in distress/need

o Allow children to use phone to access services

o Need to make sure that all staff recognize the location as a “Safe Place,” and have

information and resources to respond appropriately when a youth in need accesses it as

such

Places for People

o Research and practice evidence based interventions for women & girls involved in

trafficking

o Use evidence based trauma interventions

U.S. Attorney‘s Office Human Trafficking Task Force, Eastern District of Missouri

o Replicating Western District’s programs

o Has a list of case managers that can be contacted for trafficking victims

o Provide training for agencies that want to participate

National Traumatic Stress Network

o Offers resources and webinars to teach best practices for working with these individuals.