Multi-Site Evaluation of the Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking

In 2010, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) launched the ECM Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking Program with the goal of bringing together law enforcement and prosecutors at the local, state, and federal level, with service providers, in a coordinated and sustainable partnership. NORC, in partnership with THE WHY, proposes to conduct a 48-month process and outcome evaluation of ECM task forces to build understanding of the how the task forces are impacting the investigation and prosecution of sex and labor trafficking cases and the services provided to and outcomes of survivors of human trafficking. Tasks for this study include: 1) selecting 6 ECM task forces to partner with for a process and outcome evaluation, 2) conducting a process evaluation with each task force, including interviews with task force stakeholders, community members, and survivors of human trafficking who interact with the task forces, 3) conducting interviews with human trafficking survivors who have not interacted with task forces, 4) developing an ecological model with each ECM task force to identify determinants of risks and vulnerabilities to human trafficking at the local level, 5) conducting a study of the outcomes associated with each task force, including criminal justice and survivor outcomes, and 6) disseminating findings from the study, including briefs highlighting the voices of survivors and community members, and innovative, promising practices, and recommendations for improved ECM task force impact. This study is a being conducted in collaboration with ICF and Erin Albright, Aequitas, Survivor Alliance, National Survivor Network, Mike Posanka, and Emily Schwartz.