According to a 2016 report from the Statewide Human Trafficking Mapping Project of Texas, there are more than 300,000 victims of human trafficking in Texas, including 79,000 minors and youth victims of sex trafficking and nearly 234,000 adult victims of labor trafficking.
Recently, Rotary Club of Dallas members spent a Saturday morning learning about the prevalence of human trafficking in DFW at the first local Not in My City event. Leaders from the DFW-based organization Experience Unbound, whose mission is to support survivors and resource the community to fight human trafficking, educated the audience on what it’s like to be trapped in human trafficking and the long-term impacts on those individuals. They also shared how to be more aware of signs of human trafficking in our own neighborhoods. After the morning education session, the audience was tasked with working in groups to canvas local businesses with posters offering local resources to trafficking victims. Volunteers visited 68 businesses around Dallas, creating awareness about the issue and asking to put up posters with local resource information in restrooms and business windows.