Next Coalition Meeting:
Meeting will resume this September. Have a good summer!
Sarasota County Human Trafficking Task Force
Colleagues and Community Partners,
In the past year, there has been an increase in the awareness and attention being given to combating human trafficking in Sarasota County.
In February, the Child Protection Center hosted a meeting involving various agencies and community members to brainstorm next steps on this issue for Sarasota. It was apparent at this meeting that there is a strong passion and commitment to work against human trafficking and the group recognized a need to become more action oriented. To do this will require collaboration and communication between a variety of services providers, law enforcement and community members. As a result, we feel it is time to form a formal Task Force for this purpose.
The following steps have been taken to launch the Task Force.
As described in the attached Statement, the Task Force will be made up of three Teams: 1) Perpetrators Brought to Justice; 2) Victim’s Lives Restored; and, 3) Community Engaged and Safe. These active, working teams will be made up of 6-8 people with an initial time commitment of 2 days per month.
Our Next Steps are:
If you are interested in being considered for one of the Chair roles, for a Team role or would like to suggest someone who should be invovled, please send an e-mail to Kyla Whipple at [email protected] by May 22, 2012.
For those who are not interested or able to be part of a working task force team yet, but would like to be engaged in combating human trafficking in our community, we anticipate creating a meaningful and productive forum for this. These meetings will likely be quarterly.
We appreciate your interest and will keep you posted on our progress.
Sincerely,
Robin & Kyla
Kyla Whipple, LCSW
Case Coordinator, CPT
Therapist, SATP
Child Protection Center
720 South Orange Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34236
(941) 365-1277 ext. 206
[email protected]
In the past year, there has been an increase in the awareness and attention being given to combating human trafficking in Sarasota County.
- The local Human Trafficking Awareness Coalition has formed a speaker’s bureau to raise awareness.
- The Office of the Attorney general hosted a 2 day training on Human Trafficking.
- The Girl Scouts recently held an event to raise awareness for youth and their parents.
- Selah Freedom House, a recovery program for trafficking victims, has been initiated and is making progress toward opening its doors.
- A community screening of the film “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls” took place in April and several local politicians and community partners attended. See www.selahfreedomhouse.org for more details.
- The Child Protection Center will be hosting the Southwest Florida Human Trafficking Coalition bi-monthly meeting May 17th.
In February, the Child Protection Center hosted a meeting involving various agencies and community members to brainstorm next steps on this issue for Sarasota. It was apparent at this meeting that there is a strong passion and commitment to work against human trafficking and the group recognized a need to become more action oriented. To do this will require collaboration and communication between a variety of services providers, law enforcement and community members. As a result, we feel it is time to form a formal Task Force for this purpose.
The following steps have been taken to launch the Task Force.
- Reviewed federal guidelines for creating a Human Trafficking Task Force and interviewed the leaders of the Ft. Myers and Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Forces.
- Had initial touch points with a number of individuals and groups who may need to provide input or be involved.
- Engaged a pro bono consultant to assist with the Task Force formation process.
- Recruited Robin Jenson, Acting Suncoast Regional Director and managing attorney circuit 12, Childrens Legal Services, to serve as Chairperson and Kyla Whipple, Case Coordinator, Child Protection Center, to serve as Vice-Chair for the first year.
- Created a draft Mission / Vision Statement and launch plan. Please review the attachment.
As described in the attached Statement, the Task Force will be made up of three Teams: 1) Perpetrators Brought to Justice; 2) Victim’s Lives Restored; and, 3) Community Engaged and Safe. These active, working teams will be made up of 6-8 people with an initial time commitment of 2 days per month.
Our Next Steps are:
- To identify a Chairperson and Vice-Chair for each Team that has passion for the topic and leadership and project management skills.
- The Chair and Vice-Chair for each Team will then recruit their team.
If you are interested in being considered for one of the Chair roles, for a Team role or would like to suggest someone who should be invovled, please send an e-mail to Kyla Whipple at [email protected] by May 22, 2012.
For those who are not interested or able to be part of a working task force team yet, but would like to be engaged in combating human trafficking in our community, we anticipate creating a meaningful and productive forum for this. These meetings will likely be quarterly.
We appreciate your interest and will keep you posted on our progress.
Sincerely,
Robin & Kyla
Kyla Whipple, LCSW
Case Coordinator, CPT
Therapist, SATP
Child Protection Center
720 South Orange Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34236
(941) 365-1277 ext. 206
[email protected]