Regional Coalition Marks Eighth Anniversary of Fighting Human Trafficking

FORT MYERS, Fla. - May 13, 2013 - PRLog -- Regional Coalition Marks Eighth Anniversary of Fighting Human Trafficking

Fort Myers, Florida – The Southwest Florida Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking celebrates its eighth anniversary this month and continues to lead the way in victim identification and rehabilitation efforts in Florida.

Coalition members provide a variety of services for victims, including advocacy, shelter, case management, education, medical care, and more. Florida ranks third in the nation in the number of calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The coalition recently launched a Point of Contact/Point of Rescue program, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is now reaching out to business leaders statewide to encourage similar victim identification training programs. The coalition also advocates for new laws to prevent trafficking and protect victims, including several that were passed this legislative session.

Current members of the coalition include Abuse, Counseling & Treatment (ACT), Wings of Shelter International, Beauty from Ashes, Into the Jordan, the Human Trafficking Awareness Partnership Inc. (HTAP), Catholic Charities, and Safety Against Forced Exploitation (S.A.F.E.). The regional coalition now includes local coalitions in Lee, Hendry, Charlotte, and Collier counties as well as Sarasota and Tampa.

The coalition’s next meeting will be held at 10 a.m. May 23 at the Lee County School District Building, 2055 Colonial Blvd. The public, and professionals working in law enforcement, health and education, are invited to attend and join the fight against human trafficking in Southwest Florida.

About the Southwest Florida Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking

The goal of the Southwest Florida Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking is to unify efforts to fight human trafficking throughout Southwest Florida. The coalition is made up of individual organizations that provide services for victim identification, rescue and rehabilitation. For more information about activities in Lee and Collier counties, contact Yaroslaba Garcia, ygarcia@actabuse.com or (239) 939-2553; or Allison Martins, Allison@humantraffickingawareness.org or (239) 415-2635. For the Hendry County Coalition, contact Nancy Acevedo, nacevedo@actabuse.com or 239-939-3112. For information about the Charlotte County Coalition, contact Linda Lusk at Linda.Lusk@carefl.org (mailto:County-Linda.Lusk@carefl.org) or 941-627-6000 or Arthur Lee, endmodernslavery@yahoo.com (mailto:County-endmodernslavery@yahoo.com). Updates on coalition activity and rescues can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/swflhumantrafficking and Twitter, @SWFL_HTC.