Bucks County Foundation awards grant to NOVA to combat human trafficking

Bucks County Foundation has awarded a $10,000 grant to Network of Victim Assistance to enhance services for youth identified as at-risk for human trafficking in Bucks County and to increase the knowledge and awareness of the impact of human trafficking for school staff.

Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery in which people profit from the control and exploitation of others. Primarily two types of trafficking exist: labor trafficking and sexual exploitation (often referred to as prostitution).

NOVA spearheaded the development of the Bucks Coalition Against Trafficking (BCAT) in 2013 to raise awareness of human trafficking in Bucks County, coordinate and enhance services to trafficking victims, encourage arrest and prosecution of traffickers, and advocate for human trafficking legislation at the state level.

NOVA and the BCAT will use these funds to

• Sponsor a one-day training for Bucks County school staff, NOVA staff and BCAT members utilizing a national expert in school responses to trafficking
• Convene an advisory committee of school and NOVA staff and BCAT members to develop and distribute materials for schools to use to identify students at risk of trafficking
• Provide psychosocial groups to help minimize risk behaviors for students identified as high risk for trafficking and referred by schools
• Develop human trafficking educational programs for secondary school students
• Design and develop an implementation timeline and launch a social media campaign on human trafficking prevention and awareness

Bucks County Foundation is a Charitable Community Foundation created to serve Bucks County and the people who live here using funds provided by individuals who love this community and want to support it in perpetuity. Since its founding in 1979, the Foundation has provided over $3 million in scholarships for Bucks County students to attend college, as well as grants to help needy children and homeless animals and to support the arts, education, museums, the environment and the Bucks County Free Library, among other institutions and initiatives.

IMAGE: Penny Ettinger, executive director of Network of Victim Assistance, and Bucks County Foundation board member Bill Maeglin at NOVA’s offices in Jamison