The Colorado Human Trafficking Council was legislatively created by House Bill 14-1273 in 2015. The Council prioritizes recommendations for Colorado’s response to Human Trafficking guided by the legislative mandates enumerated in § 18-3-505 C.R.S., and the Federal “four P” framework: prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership.
The focus of the Council’s work at the task force level in 2017 was on the following activities:
- Collect data on the incidence of human trafficking and law enforcement efforts to
combat human trafficking, including additional data that provide insight on the
defendants who are charged and convicted of human trafficking. - Gather preliminary information on the current practices of law enforcement to collect and report on human trafficking incidents and arrests through Colorado’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
- Complete a two-year study of prosecution activities in the state’s 22 judicial districts
and the Attorney General’s office. - Create standards for two types of housing providers who choose to serve trafficking
survivors: adult housing providers and licensed 24-hour child care facilities and
Division of Youth Services (DYS) state-operated facilities.
The Council established three working groups that focused on public awareness,
grant funding, and training to accomplish the following objectives:
- To develop an implementation plan for a statewide public awareness campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking;
- To conduct an analysis of the funding landscape for organizations that serve human trafficking survivors; and
- To create a training program for individuals who provide services to survivors of human trafficking.
In 2017, the Council continued its work to develop standards for organizations that provide victim services to human trafficking survivors. The focus this year was on developing standards for housing providers. The intent of both sets of standards is to provide guidance to housing providers, not to replace or add new requirements to existing rules and regulations that govern housing providers in the state.
Despite these discussions and guiding standards, housing and restoration providers in Colorado failed. Excelsior Youth Center ceased operations, a significant loss to Colorado.
The Annual Report for 2017 can be found here:
https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ovp/Human_Trafficking/report/2017-Annual-Report-Full.pdf
And survivors continue to move forward. Colorado Human Trafficking Council member and human trafficking survivor Lester Bacani recently celebrated his graduation from the Denver College of Nursing, a long-held dream that initially brought him to the country. On behalf of Klein Frank Foundation, Congratulations and Thank you for being an Inspiration!
