Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Human Trafficking Awareness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Student-led group reports donation drive, partnerships after city support
Summary
Youth Against Human Trafficking, a student-run nonprofit that began as a high-school club, reported collecting more than 500 toiletry items for trafficking survivors, building chapters, volunteers and a volunteer hours tracking website after initial city funding; CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking) offered support.
Youth Against Human Trafficking (Y-AHT), a student-led nonprofit that began as a club at John F. Kennedy Middle College, presented its work and plans to the City Council, reporting a recent donation drive that generated more than 500 toiletry items distributed to survivors through a Cast LA partnership.
The group's CEO and founder, Eva Baltierra, and a board of high-school-aged officers described their focus areas as awareness, advocacy, youth leadership, survivor support and education. Speakers said the nonprofit grew from a 2022 school club and formally organized after students recognized local needs.
Why it matters: Council members and staff praised the youth initiative for filling gaps in local awareness and for partnering with established service providers such as CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking). CAST's Amy Nguyen described survivors' continuous needs for housing, legal, medical and mental-health services and thanked the students for their drive.
What the group reported: Y-AHT said it had coordinated a school donation drive that gathered over 530 items (hygiene supplies and other basic goods) and had begun building chapters across the Corona-Norco Unified School District. The students described a volunteer platform on their website (yacht.life) to log volunteer hours and coordinate drives.
Requests and next steps: Students requested continued city support and said financial assistance, storage and help with advertising would expand their reach. Council members thanked the students and encouraged staff to coordinate city support where feasible.
Taper: CAST and Y-AHT officials said they would continue joint outreach and that Y-AHT plans to expand chapters, volunteer recruitment and donation boxes in community centers and libraries.
