State officials, advocates report 'considerable' progress in fight against human trafficking

WORCESTER — While Massachusetts still has more work to do to fight human trafficking, state and county officials and trafficking advocates said Monday that the state has made considerable progress.

At an event held Monday morning at the Worcester Public Library, various speakers gave updates on the policies and measures taken up to fight trafficking under the Baker-Polito Administration.

More: Survivor-led nonprofit opens new Worcester shelter in support of victims of prostitution

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said the state has been a leader in the country on the issue, which she said victimizes tens of millions of people across the world, including thousands of people up to age 24 in Massachusetts.

Polito said that collaboration across state, county, municipal and law enforcement agencies has been key in responding to human trafficking and building a net to support victims and catch traffickers.

"When we collaborate, when we reach across agencies, when we reach across sectors, we can really build something that works," Polito said.

A survey conducted by the federal government found that Massachusetts was one of the so-called "stop states" in providing a multipronged response to human trafficking, Polito said.

Over the course of the event, various speakers said that Polito took the lead in the administration on addressing human trafficking and thanked the Lt. Governor, who will not be seeking re-election along with Gov. Charlie Baker this year.

$1M in assistance available

State Sec. of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said her department had done everything it could to provide services to survivors through its 12 agencies and not create barriers to care, and that listening to the words of survivors is important for structuring support.

HHS will roll out $1 million of emergency rental assistance over three years for survivors of sexual violence and trafficking through American Rescue Plan Act funds to help survivors retain safe housing, Sudders said.

"We're pleased today to discuss our progress, it's not a victory lap. It's a reminder that we have more work to do and it's a chance to redouble our collective energies," Sudders said.

State Sec. of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Terrence Reidy said the state wants to expand pilot programs tested in the offices of the District Attorneys of Worcester and Hampden Counties in the latest state budget proposal to connect the state police's High Risk Victims Unit with resources from district attorneys' offices.

Reidy said that success for the program is not necessarily gauged by convictions, but also by outreach to survivors and investigating the crimes.

"Just because somebody doesn't necessarily get convicted, doesn't take away from the outreach that we're doing everyday to survivors of this horrible crime," Reidy said.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said the funding that his office has received from the state has helped his office to focus on human trafficking.

Nicole Bell, CEO and founder of Living In Freedom Together, Inc. (LIFT), a Worcester-based support group for prostituted women, said that multiple partners within the county and the state have helped Worcester to become an example for providing resources to providers.

LIFT, My Life My Choice helps survivors

LIFT received a Major League Baseball grant last year to establish a mental health clinic for victims, survivors of sex trade in Worcester. Bell said Early's office has collaborated with LIFT to create a pre-arraignment diversion program for trafficking survivors.

Audrey Morrissey, co-executive director of the Needham-based trafficking survivor resources program My Life My Choice, said that awareness of combatting human trafficking has increased significantly over her two decades of advocacy, noting that addressing a packed room full of officials would not have been possible 20 years ago.

Nonwhite youths in the child welfare system and LGBTQIA youth are particularly vulnerable to child trafficking, Morrisey said.

"These are our children, I can't say it enough. It is our responsibility, all of us who are the folks that are the folks these young people run to first," Morrisey said. "It is our responsibility to come together and make a difference."

Morrisey also said the state needs to look at Equality Model, sometimes known as the Nordic Model, which would seek to end the sex trade by decriminalizing the sale of sex and creating resources to leave the sex trade while continuing to criminalize brothel ownership, pimping and buying sex.

"There's a lot of people with a lot of financial backing that are trying to convince people that prostitution should be legal, and what they mean is that brothels should be legal, buying people should be legal and pimping should be legal," Morrisey said. "Massachusetts is a state where we cannot stand for that. We do believe in the Equality Model that nobody, not a child or an adult, who's in the life should be arrested."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State officials, advocates report progress in fight against human trafficking during Worcester visit