Awareness Good, Prevention Better

Human trafficking awareness is the first step in building coalitions, recognizing the signs of trafficking in possible victims, organizing advocacy and bringing the issue of human trafficking to the attention of the public and the priority list of legislators, law enforcement and human service providers. But awareness is not enough. Prevention programs that focus on the targeted potential victims, especially young girls in our own country are essential in averting more targeted victims from becoming actual victims. Current models of prevention programs will be discussed, including one which uses an art activity over a span of weeks allowing the participants and leaders to develop relationships which may lead to additional questions and discussion. Exhibiting and reproducing the artwork creates a sense of achievement and empowerment among participants who share their knowledge among peers. Creating prevention programs that use the resources of more than one organization to reach targeted audiences also works to create community coalitions and builds public awareness by drawing media attention. This presentation will focus on: • Distinguishing between awareness and prevention programs, their goals and outcomes; • Trends in prevention programs in North America; • Engaging organizations who serve the targeted groups; • Targeting groups who could benefit from a program; • Matching the activities and objectives of a program to an audience; • Achieving lasting impact to the participants and the community; • Measuring outcome when the outcome is prevention