Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Human Trafficking Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Human-trafficking task force maps gaps in shelter, legal aid and long-term care; agencies report new grants and expanded navigation
Summary
State and nonprofit providers told the interim committee that North Dakota needs more shelter space, longer-term trauma-informed care, consistent data and expanded legal assistance to serve trafficking victims and to respond to emerging online recruitment patterns.
The Legislative Management Study Committee heard a series of presentations on Sept. 30 on human-trafficking victim services, grant awards and service gaps in North Dakota.
Legislative staff summarized the federal statutory framework and North Dakota's chapter 12.1-41 implementing the Uniform Act on Prevention and Remedies for Human Trafficking. The Attorney General's Office described the 2023'025 human-trafficking grant awards and the reimbursement process for subgrantees.
YouthWorks, 31A Project, the YWCA, and other subgrantees described operational needs and service activity. Anna Frizzell (YouthWorks) said the organization has provided navigation, short-term shelter and transitional housing for youth victims; she recommended creating additional long-term residential placements or evidence-based community services so children can be maintained in their home communities when appropriate.
"When you have a minor child and you have any kind of commercial sexual activity, you have a trafficking victim," Frizzell told the committee, summarizing the state's safe-harbor approach for minors and the practical complexity of cases involving familial trafficking.
Stacy Schafer of the 31A Project described public education, a "Bravery Backpack" program for children who arrive at police stations with few personal items, a survivor mentorship program and a demand-reduction diversion course for buyers. Schafer said 31A's mentorship work served more than 60 survivors in 2024 and that the demand-reduction course has had 33 participants to date; she reported no documented reoffenses among course completers.
Caitla Page, the task-force coordinator, provided preliminary task-force statistics and needs: during a recent quarter the task force reported serving 238 clients (70 new) in victim services and documented that 35 percent of clients identified as Indigenous. Page urged a standardized statewide data framework to track tips, referrals and outcomes and said the task force will produce an annual report.
The Attorney General's office said the Drug and Violent Crime Policy Board reviewed requests in the last biennium and recommended allocations to multiple subgrantees for shelter, legal services, navigators and clinical services; grantees must submit documentation to receive reimbursement. Staff emphasized the need to return unspent funds at the end of the biennium if expenses are not submitted.
Committee members asked for follow-up on the new safe-harbor provisions, whether additional shelter beds for males could be funded, and whether grant reporting could be consolidated to provide uniform, searchable statewide data.
No formal vote was taken; staff said they would provide the committee with the grant award breakdown and the task force's annual report.
