RALEIGH, NC (News Release) – Robert J. Higdon, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announced today that more than $65 million in Department of Justice grants is available to help communities combat human trafficking and serve adults and children who are victimized in trafficking operations.

“Our nation is facing difficult challenges, none more pressing than the scourge of human trafficking. Human traffickers pose a dire threat to public safety and countering this threat remains one of the Administration’s top domestic priorities,” said Katharine T. Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. “The Department of Justice is front and center in the fight against this insidious crime. OJP is making historic amounts of grant funding available to ensure that our communities have access to innovative and diverse solutions.”

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“The trafficking of human beings is one of the most outrageous and shocking crimes committed. The victims are often terrorized day after day after day – manipulated through violence, drugs, emotional abuse, and by depriving them of any independent means of support. Sadly, there are many of these cases and we are committed to aggressive investigation and prosecution wherever we find them, but we need the public’s assistance. The funds made available through these OJP grants will greatly assist our communities in developing, continuing, and researching both new and proven means for addressing and preventing this horrendous crime,” stated United States Attorney Higdon.

The funding is available through OJP, the federal government’s leading source of public safety funding and crime victim assistance in state, local and tribal jurisdictions. OJP’s programs support a wide array of activities and services, including programs that support human trafficking task forces and services for human trafficking survivors.

A number of funding opportunities are currently open, with several more opening in the near future:

Missing and Exploited Children Training and Technical Assistance Program

https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/ojjdp-2020-17351

Total Available $1.8 million Deadline 4/6/2020 (Extended)

Multidisciplinary Task Force Program to Combat Human Trafficking

Total Available $22 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Preventing Trafficking of Girls

Total Available $1.7 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Research and Evaluation on Trafficking in Persons https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-17324

Total Available $2.5 million Deadline 4/20/2020

Services for Victims of Human Trafficking

Total Available $16.5 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Specialized Training and Technical Assistance on Housing for Victims of Human Trafficking

Total Available $2 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Program

Total Available $5 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking

Total Available $6 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

Integrated Services for Minor Victims of Labor Trafficking

Total Available $8 million Opens week of 3/16/2020

For more information regarding all OJP funding opportunities, visit https://www.ojp.gov/funding/explore/current-funding-opportunities

For more information regarding all OJP funding opportunities, visit https://www.ojp.gov/funding/explore/current-funding-opportunities