Pictured: Most of the Preble Street ATS team, in front of a portrait of dee Clarke, a trafficking survivor who became an inspirational advocate
As of October 1, Preble Street Anti-Trafficking Services (ATS) and many other anti-trafficking program providers across the country will be left without a large part of their funding. Since launching in 2013, Preble Street ATS has relied on funding from the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). The most recent three-year grant of $950,000 expires today, September 30. In just this past year, these funds have allowed ATS to support 157 survivors from 7 counties in Maine.
Though OVC grant applications usually open in April, with funds dispersing on October 1, the federal government has not announced any intention of opening the grants this year.
“This funding has impacted so many lives and created a path forward to healing, hope, and a better life for people in need,” says Hailey Virusso, Director of Preble Street Anti-Trafficking Services. “We’re talking about a loss of $315,000 each year. We’ve done a ton of brainstorming over the last six months about how we might be able to fill this gap, but the reality is that we are being left without the ability to serve adult survivors of sex and labor trafficking.”
Over the years, ATS has provided rental assistance and relocation fees to help countless survivors exit their trafficking situations, and brought food, clothing, and other basic needs to sustain them along the way. They’ve connected survivors to mental and physical health services, legal assistance, and helped they reunify with their families. They’ve welcomed survivors to the Preble Street Healing Center (which opened four years ago this month!) where individuals have reclaimed some comfort, safety, and dignity. ATS caseworkers walk alongside survivors as they take back their lives.
A former ATS client recently spoke with the Press Herald about her journey. Read more here.
Not only does ATS provide trafficking survivors with intensive case management and help with basic needs, but they have also trained over 1,900 other individuals in Maine on how to best support survivors. From medical staff to homeless service providers, to law enforcement officers, the ATS team equips community members to support the dynamic and complex needs of trafficking survivors, meaning that the impacts of the OVC funding stretch far beyond the casework it supports.
Sadly, all of these critical services will be severely limited without continued OVC funding. As Hailey recently shared with Maine Public, “We know that every moment is the right moment, and if we don’t pick up the phone what that could mean for a survivor that they potentially couldn’t exit a situation, couldn’t get connected to life-saving support.”
Brian’s Story
Sitting at a table at the Recuperative Care Program (RCP), Brian lays out pages of his art. “I’m working on making a children’s coloring book,” he says. Most of the pieces he has laid out are of captivating coastal scenes featuring birds, boats, and buoys. The longer you look at each page, the more you’ll
Breaking ground on Joe’s Place
“I think it says something when you provide a beautiful, calming, home-like space for youth who have experienced a lot of trauma. There’s something about building a beautiful new space, to serve all their needs, that says, ‘You deserve this, you are loved, you are worth fighting for.’” – Leah McDonald, Preble Street Senior Director
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