Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (Cast)

Cast and the Wellness Equity Alliance will bring human trafficking prevention and response to street-based medicine work. Cast will increase capacity to identify survivors of human trafficking experiencing homelessness, including through weekly 'ride-alongs' with Wellness Equity Alliance's street medicine team. This pilot will provide concrete recommendations for a public health approach to human trafficking prevention and response that will contribute to decreased criminalization and vulnerability to human trafficking for BIPOC communities.

Cast will improve access to mental health services for survivors of human trafficking in Los Angeles from specific communities, specifically those identifying as Latine/a/o/x or having affinity with this group. For the first time, we will offer survivors access to a dedicated therapist who is a Spanish-speaking Latina. Since many of Cast's clients share the therapist's gender, ethnicity, country of origin and language, and may be more likely to accept mental health and emotional wellness services while at Cast as a result.

Youth survivors of human trafficking in Los Angeles have experienced unimaginable trauma but many service organizations are not able to meet their unique needs. Cast's Emergency Response team responds to victims of all ages in crisis, ensuring their safety and stability with food, clothing and connection to housing and medical care. To better serve youth survivors, Cast wants to hire a Youth Emergency Response Case Manager who will support youth survivors at a very vulnerable stage of their recovery from their experience: the start.