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Uprising tells council about expanded anti‑trafficking education and regional training conference
Summary
Uprising, the regional human‑trafficking prevention nonprofit, described school and professional training programs, youth leadership work and plans to expand a regional training conference in partnership with state attorney general offices.
Representatives of Uprising briefed the council on Feb. 3 about the organization’s prevention education and training work in Sheridan County and the region, including school presentations, adult trainings and a growing regional conference.
Presenters and programs: Terry Markham, director of Uprising, introduced teacher Jessica Pickett and student leader Faith, who described classroom prevention work and the organization’s youth empowerment program. Pickett recounted a classroom incident that prompted greater attention to online grooming and said it led her to join Uprising’s board. “That was the first kind of red flag that went off in my head because I don't know too many 14 year old boys with credit cards,” Pickett said.
Scope of services: Markham told council Uprising is the state’s primary provider for human‑trafficking training referrals and has expanded to provide law‑enforcement and first‑responder training through a state contract. He said the group delivered hundreds of trainings statewide in 2024 and runs a youth prevention program (YEP) that sends trained teens into schools and community events. Youth leader Faith described a peer‑to‑peer session that drew about 22 teens.
Conference and train‑the‑trainer work: Markham said Uprising is scaling a training‑of‑trainers program to build local capacity for youth prevention education across 4–6 communities and is partnering with the Wyoming and Montana attorney general offices to expand an annual training conference that has drawn representatives from multiple states. “We expect that we're probably gonna get a, a bump up in registration this year and maybe a new crowd,” Markham said, noting the conference is being moved to Montana this year to reflect cross‑border caseloads.
Funding and local activity: Markham said local GPET (General Purpose Excise Tax) funds support Uprising’s school‑based prevention work in Sheridan County, and he thanked the council for that support. The organization also runs adult trainings for service providers, counselors and others; Markham said roughly 35 trainings were held in Sheridan County in 2024 and that Uprising delivered several thousand trainings statewide.
No council action was requested. Councilors thanked the presenters and acknowledged the organization’s expanding regional role.
