March 2020 Update

Presented to the San Diego Regional HT and CSEC Advisory Council on March 11, 2020.

The practices of the HT-RADAR program at the Center for Justice & Reconciliation at PLNU include:

  1. Aggregating regional human trafficking related research;
  2. Convening and facilitating collaboration between human trafficking data analysts and researchers working in the region;
  3. Facilitating the networking between practitioners, data analysts, and researchers;
  4. Identifying potential human trafficking research funding for researchers studying human trafficking in the region;
  5. Improving public knowledge of the results of research related to human trafficking across multiple disciplines and sectors through regular research updates, and an annual research conference.

To be added to our email distribution, please email ht-radar@pointloma.edu

For questions about HT-RADAR, please email or call Ryana Contreras at (619) 849-3482, rcontrer@pointloma.edu or Kim Berry Jones at (619) 849-3224, kimberryjones@pointloma.edu

Next HT-RADAR Quarterly Meeting: June 2020

Details to follow

Update of work completed in February 2020

The HT-RADAR Research Conference

The annual HT-RADAR Research Conference was held on February 22, 2020 at Liberty Station Conference Center. The majority of our effort in February was directed toward conference planning.

HT-RADAR’s 2020 Human Trafficking Research Conference featured some of the most current national and regional research on human trafficking.  This one-day conference included:

An opening keynote from Ambassador John Cotton Richmond. Ambassador Richmond focused on the importance of measuring the impact of our work to fight trafficking, rather than a focus on measuring activities. He also discussed the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum, which recently held a call for proposals for a new project to document the robustness of various methodological approaches in human trafficking prevalence

research, and to identify and build the capacity of human trafficking teams in the design, testing, and dissemination of human trafficking prevalence data. This project is for trafficking hot spots outside of the United States, but is intended to inform work around the world. For more information click here.

  • 18 research presentations from organizations and universities across the nation were available for attendees to select during three break-out sessions periods. All abstracts are available here.
  • Three panel discussions were also presented including: Human Trafficking and Healthcare from a survivor perspective, a law enforcement panel on the shifting landscape around legislation and enforcement, and a presentation of the Community Resiliency Model. For more on the Conference presenters, please click here.
  • A closing keynote by Survivor Advocate Jessica Kim. Ms. Kim focused on brain healing for survivors, and the importance of mental health services and the critical issue of ensuring that the survivor perspective is considered in all of the work to fight trafficking.

The Conference was made possible by the County of San Diego and the District Attorney’s Office.  A photo gallery is available here.

 

HT-RADAR Program Director hiring process

The Center for Justice & Reconciliation accepted applications for the month of February for the Program Director position that leads the work for HT-RADAR. More than 25 candidates applied, and the top two candidates have been identified. An announcement and introduction of the new Program Director will take place at the April Advisory Council meeting. During the transition, Ryana Contreras from the Center was named Conference Coordinator and has been working with Dr. Jamie Gates (prior to January) and Kim Berry Jones on the deliverables of the HT-RADAR project.

HT-RADAR Website

The HT-RADAR website is undergoing an update, and the first phase will be completed in the month of March. This update will include new funding opportunities, upcoming conferences, information about the HT-RADAR Research Conference and access to the abstracts from all Conference speakers’ presentations. Phase Two of the website update will include building a directory of research articles and reports and evaluating the website to improve access to information for researchers and colleagues.

 

Opportunities & Resources (Listed here)

Conferences

Funding