Youthworks, a non-profit agency with 36 years of experience providing youth services in north dakota (ND), will implement a gender-responsive and community-based prevention program for…

Youthworks, a non-profit agency with 36 years of experience providing youth services in north dakota (ND), will implement a gender-responsive and community-based prevention program for female-identified youth who have risk factors that increase their vulnerability to human trafficking. Program staff includes a youth engagement specialist with lived experience, part-time youth mentors, a family interventionist, and a youth navigator. The proposed project, through modeling, psychoeducation, self-exploration and youth action, youth are supported in exploring their identities, the impact of adverse experiences and relationships, and their belief systems. Girls in justice program will have three tiers of service: community outreach and youth navigation, youth 11 empowerment, and family support. Project activities include coordination of multi-disciplinary response teams, outreach and training by the youth navigator and youth engagement specialist, engaging, identifying, and serving girls with identified vulnerabilities, community-based activities and mentoring, formal groups for youth, screening for trafficking, and family intervention. Expected outcomes included coordinated community responses for vulnerable girls, empowerment of youth so that the risk of trafficking is diminished, and parents ability to engage with and protect their girls strengthened. Youth who are female identified, between the ages of 11-18, who are vulnerable to human trafficking and their families are the intended beneficiaries of this project. There are no subrecipient activities included.