WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?
Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, slavery or forced commercial sex acts.
The U.S. State Department estimates that currently 27 million people live in slavery as a condition of human trafficking, and that human trafficking generates $150 billion every year.
SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
RST's Survivors of Trafficking Empowerment Program (STEP) is designed to help survivors of trafficking throughout their transition to stable, independent lives. Serving in 6 cities across Texas, RST serves all survivors of human trafficking, labor and sex trafficking, adults and minors, foreign-born and domestic born. RST serves survivors regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status.
Refugee Services of Texas also provides services to victims of crime including sexual assault, dating violence, domestic abuse, child abuse & neglect, human smuggling, kidnapping, stalking, Visa/Identification fraud, and wage theft.
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WHAT WE DO
When a survivor is referred to or seeks to work with RST's STEP Program, our team will assess their basic needs. Once immediate safety and basic needs have been addressed, the STEP team works with survivors through a holistic approach to support their journey through recovery to independent, stable lives.
The following services are provided, among others:
- Human trafficking screenings
- Crisis management and safety support
- Basic needs assistance
- Employment assistance
- Counseling services
- Emotional support
- Applications for public benefits
- Community outreach and trainings
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Interested in serving survivors of trafficking in your community?! Take our Human Trafficking 101 Volunteer Training! Click on our link above to see available dates, or email our Survivors of Trafficking Empowerment Program (STEP) Coordinators at: sdobson@rstx.org (Austin) or erodriguez@rstx.org (Rio Grande Valley).
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Refugee Services of Texas has chaired and currently serves as a standing steering committee member for the Central Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking (CTCAHT) for fifteen years. CTCAHT brings together local government, non-profit and law enforcement professionals at all levels on a systematic basis to identify survivors, provide comprehensive services, and prevent trafficking through various means. RST STEP services are available across the state of Texas in the following cities: Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley.
For referrals, please email htreferrals@rstx.org and our STEP team will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Want to learn more about human trafficking?
RST has partnered with organizations across Texas to bring you incredible conversations with experts in the field to help YOU know more about the basics of human trafficking, how you can identify the signs and what you can do to make a difference in your community!
Dig deeper into serving survivors of trafficking in your community: learn more about RST's impact on the community here and sign up for RST's Human Trafficking 101 Volunteer Training to join the fight against human trafficking today!
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In honor of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the City of Dallas Office of Equity & Inclusion along with our community partners at New Friends, New Life and Mosaic Family Services hosted a panel to talk about human trafficking awareness.
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Our friends at The Office for Victim Advocacy & Violence Prevention and the University of Texas at the Rio Grande Valley Police Department hosted RST as part of their Water Cooler Discussions series to highlight the basics of human trafficking.
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This session, lead by Stacie Jonas with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, is just one from the Combatting Human Trafficking in the Valley Conference hosted by Refugee Services of Texas.
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This session, lead by Bria Cottle and Gloria Newton with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, is just one from the Combatting Human Trafficking in the Valley Conference hosted by Refugee Services of Texas.
