Trafficking survivors in Maine urgently need support. In the coming days, Maine’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee will consider whether to provide $317,000 in one-time funding to support human trafficking survivors in Maine. Due to an unexplained lapse in critical funding from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Preble Street Anti-Trafficking Services (ATS) has been forced … Read more
Hailey Virusso, Director of Preble Street Anti-Trafficking Services, spoke with News Center Maine about human trafficking in our state. Watch here. UPDATE MARCH 10, 2026: Please contact Maine’s Appropriations and Public Affairs Committee and tell them to include $317,000 in one-time funding to support human trafficking survivors in Maine! — ACTION ALERT: On Wednesday, February … Read more
Alicia Peters, Ph.D., is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of New England. Her most recent book, “Trafficking Trajectories: Vulnerability, Failed Systems, and the Case for Prevention” focuses on the experiences of trafficking survivors in Maine and New Hampshire. Prevention, survivors’ needs Since your focus most recently has been on Maine and New … Read more
From Hailey Virusso, Preble Street Director of Anti-Trafficking Services: Closing out a federal grant is both a tumultuous and grounding experience. In the flurry of contingency planning, documentation, and endings are also the stories of resilience, of healing, of love. At Preble Street, love is the difference – love for the journey, love during pain, … Read more
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 … Read more
“One of the biggest misconceptions, specifically here in Maine, is the mentality that it doesn’t happen here. It absolutely happens here, and that is why our program is in existence.” Hailey Virusso, Preble Street Director of Anti-Trafficking Services There’s no one face of human trafficking… a survivor can be someone who got pesticide poisoning, forced … Read more
Preble Street’s Healing Center, located at 55 Portland Street, Portland, ME, is the only dedicated space in Maine for trafficking survivors. Preble Street has provided more than 500 people with anti-trafficking-related services, since ATS began over a decade ago. Human trafficking happens everywhere, including right here in Maine. Children and adults of all genders, ages, … Read more
Human Trafficking Awareness & Prevention Month January is Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention month, a time to refocus our efforts to educate people about what trafficking looks like and who it impacts. Hailey Virusso, Director of Anti-Trafficking Services, shared in the Portland Press Herald this month, “While there is no singular picture or face of human … Read more
Human trafficking is not a new crime, but there has been heightened attention on this global issue in the media recently. Along with supporting survivors on their path toward recovery, healing, and justice, education about human trafficking and what it looks like can help prevent and end this tragedy. Worldwide, children and adults of all … Read more
By: Daniella Cameron (she/her), MSW, Deputy Director at Preble Street and Hanni Stoklosa (she/her), MD, MPH, Co-Founder of HEAL Trafficking and an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Human trafficking is happening in every state in New England. From the most rural towns of Maine and Vermont to the center of Boston, children and adults of all genders … Read more