In October 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was passed by the United States Congress, providing numerous benefits to victims of a severe form of trafficking. The TVPA must be explained to service providers so that they can fully and effectively implement its provisions in order to meet the needs of victims of a severe form of trafficking. Service providers must be able to make the services available under the TVPA accessible to victims of a severe form of trafficking. The Protection Project (TPP) provides a technical assistance and training program that assists victims of a severe form of trafficking in receiving the benefits under the TVPA, and trains service providers as to the most successful methodologies to accommodate the needs of victims of a severe form of trafficking. TPP is conducting a program of educational training. The educational training program includes Practical Training Sessions and a National Conference. Practical Training Sessions will be held in five cities in the first year.
Locations. The training sessions will be held in Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA. These five cities were chosen (a) to reflect all types of severe forms of trafficking, including sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor, (b) to cover all victims of a severe form of trafficking, including women and children, (c) to illustrate the status of victims of a severe form of trafficking whether victims from foreign countries or the United States, (d) to exemplify the profile of the trafficker which includes organized crime networks, (e) based upon significant numbers of victims of a severe form of trafficking, and (f) based upon court cases which have been prosecuted in these cities, which TPP has collected and analyzed.
TPP will hold training sessions in Boston, MA; Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Tucson, AZ; Miami, FL; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Washington, DC in the second year, and Detroit, MI; Honolulu, HI; Las Vegas, NV; New Orleans, LA; Newark, NJ; and San Diego, CA for the third year based on the same types of evidence. Duration of Sessions. Each practical training session will last for two days and will include two morning panels and three afternoon training workshops. Content of Sessions. Each practical training session will include an introductory panel that will discuss the requirements of eligibility for victims of a severe form of trafficking to receive benefits under the TVPA, a second explanatory panel that will address the specific types of benefits under the TVPA, a case management workshop that will illustrate the application of these specific benefits to particular cases of trafficking, a survivor story that will demonstrate the barriers experienced by victims of a severe form of trafficking in receiving benefits, and best practices of comparative models exemplified by service providers. Participants. The practical training sessions will be attended primarily by service providers, as well as by benefit-issuing agencies and law enforcement officials. TPP will also invite one victim of trafficking to participate in the sessions. Morning panels will be open for all attendees. The afternoon workshops will be divided according to the specific functional areas of the various service providers.
National Conference. TPP will host a National Conference, entitled "Enhanced Case Management by Service Providers for Victims of a Severe Form of Trafficking" in the summer of 2003. The National Conference will serve as a forum for feedback and follow-up with representatives from the service providers from the five cities, experts on trafficking issues, and victims of trafficking. Representatives from benefit-issuing agencies and law enforcement will also be invited. The National Conference is designed to (a) evaluate the training sessions which took place in the five cities, (b) assess all recommendations made during the course of the year, (c) create an action plan which will include the specific improvements that should be made to ensure the complete and efficient receipt of benefits under the TVPA, and (d) prepare a proposal of the activities, programs, and projects for the following years. TPP will publish a report that will detail all of these evaluations, recommendations, action plans, and various proposals.
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