Survivors of human trafficking often face a set of compounding obstacles that prevent them from accessing and sustaining safe employment opportunities with secure wages. To increase access to quality educational and employment opportunities for survivors of human trafficking, Futures Without Violence’s Promoting Employment Opportunities for Survivors of Trafficking (PEOST) Training and Technical Assistance Project, works to
- Develop and/or strengthen partnerships between and among victim service providers, local workforce development, and educational service providers; and
- Build the capacity of victim service providers and workforce development programs to enhance services in order to promote greater access to quality employment opportunities for survivors of human trafficking.
This guide provides an overview and explanation as to why collaborations are fundamental to survivor safety, economic stability, and healing and how to build successful partnerships with specifically workforce development agencies.
Partnerships and Pathways to Economic Opportunity for Survivors of Trafficking: A Guide
HOW TO USE THE GUIDE
This guide will go through a detailed process of forming a collaboration and partnership between victim services agencies and workforce development or education programs, and provides relevant examples, cases, and resources to promote success.
Visit the case study collection to see how organizations across the country are doing this work.
Where do you want to begin?
Chapter 1: Making the Case for Partnership
There are multiple opportunities to align common goals and values that exist between the victim services and workforce development fields in order to foster partnerships.
Chapter 2: Exploring Your Local Workforce Development System
This chapter is developed in partnership with the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute defines and explores the components and resources of the workforce development system.
Chapter 3: Vetting Programs and Understanding Expectations
Developed is in partnership with the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, this chapter provides considerations for finding a workforce partner that is best positioned to provide supportive services to survivors.
Chapter 4: Building Blocks for Survivor Success: Supported Employment Considerations
Developed in partnership with the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, this chapter explores various components of supported employment and wraparound services needed to successfully enroll in a workforce or education program. .
Chapter 5: Key Elements of Successful Collaborations
This chapter examines shared values and necessary elements in creating and maintaining strong and successful collaborations, as explored in FUTURES’ Building Collaborative Responses to Human Trafficking Project.
Chapter 6: Creating Economic Opportunity through Partnerships
This chapter will discuss key considerations in identifying potential partners from small businesses to training programs.
Chapter 7: Resources for Funding Your Collaborations
This chapter highlights different funding sources to consider to make the partnership sustainable as a long-term solution, and discusses opportunities available from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and private foundations.
This project is supported by Grant No. 2017-VT-BX-K001 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed on this site or in any materials on this site, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime.
Building Partnerships and Collaborations with Workforce and Education Systems 