Aspire: Child and Youth Trafficking Assistance Demonstration Program

The Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is announcing funds for the Aspire: Child and Youth Trafficking Assistance Demonstration Program (Aspire). Aspire's goal is to provide national coverage of comprehensive case management and other supportive services to domestic and foreign national children and youth who have experienced severe forms of human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, as amended, and are not currently receiving, or able to receive, similar trafficking-specific services from another federally funded program. Aspire must also establish local regional presence to coordinate project activities and direct services. Case management services must be provided to qualified persons directly by the prime recipient and may also be provided through a network of subcontracted providers, that provide direct services and community referrals. For the purposes of this announcement, a child is defined as an individual who is under the age of 18, and a youth is defined as an individual between 18 and 24 years of age. A foreign national includes individuals who are not United States (U.S.) citizens or lawful permanent residents (LPR). Domestic includes individuals who are U.S. citizens or LPR. Under Aspire funding for the following activities are required to support children and youth across the nation who have experienced severe forms of human trafficking: 1) provision of comprehensive, culturally and linguistically responsive case management to children and youth who have experienced labor and/or sex trafficking; 2) development and maintaining of a nationwide network of community-based providers to conduct human trafficking outreach, and provide direct services and community referrals, and; 3) establishment of local presence within each of the 10 ACF geographic regions to coordinate project activities and support the delivery of services through the nationwide network of community-based providers. ACF Region 1 includes: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. ACF Region 2 includes: New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ACF Region 3 includes: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. ACF Region 4 includes: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. ACF Region 5 includes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. ACF Region 6 includes: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. ACF Region 7 includes: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. ACF Region 8 includes: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. ACF Region 9 includes: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. ACF Region 10 includes: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Bonus points will be awarded to organizations with demonstrated experience providing comprehensive, trafficking-specific services to domestic and foreign national children and youth who have experienced labor trafficking. Aspire is informed by a whole family approach that focuses equally and intentionally on services and opportunities for clients and their immediate family members living within their households. OTIP is encouraging the meaningful engagement of individuals with lived experience, and the hiring of qualified professionals that reflect the communities being served in all project implementation strategies under Aspire. Under Aspire there is a 12-month project implementation period for the prime recipient to facilitate partnerships, on-board new staff, develop a service protocol specific to serving foreign national and domestic children and youth who have experienced severe forms of sex and labor trafficking. However, clients must receive direct services and assistance through Aspire during the 12-month project implementation period. Aspire will be supported by funds connected by these two related areas of ACF programming, and all grant activities must be dedicated proportionately to reflect the purposes of the two funding streams supporting Aspire. 75 percent of project activities will be funded through foreign appropriations, and 25 percent of project activities will be funded through domestic appropriations. Under Aspire, there is a statutorily mandated 25 percent match (cash or in-kind) requirement for project activities that support domestic victims of human trafficking. There are no match requirements for activities that support foreign national victims of human trafficking.

The Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is announcing funds for the Aspire: Child and Youth Trafficking Assistance Demonstration Program (Aspire). Aspire's primary purpose is to provide national coverage of comprehensive case management and other supportive services to domestic and foreign national children and youth who have experienced severe forms of human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, as amended, and are not currently receiving, or able to receive, similar trafficking-specific services from another federally funded program. Under Aspire, the provision of trauma-informed, person-centered, child and youth-friendly, culturally responsive, and linguistically appropriate, and time-limited comprehensive case management services on a per capita basis is required. Services may be provided to qualified persons either directly or through a network of providers, that provide direct services and community referrals. For the purposes of this announcement, a child is defined as an individual who is under the age of 18, and a youth is defined as an individual between 18 and 24 years of age. Domestic includes individuals who are United States (U.S.) citizens and nationals, lawfully admitted permanent residents, refugees, asylees, parolees, and other immigrants authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Secretary's designee to work and live within the U.S. A foreign national includes individuals who are not U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, parolees, refugees, or asylees. Under Aspire funding for the following activities are required to support children and youth across the nation who have experienced severe forms of human trafficking: 1) delivery of time-limited comprehensive case management and other services on a per capita basis; 2) establishment and maintaining of a national network of providers that provide direct services and community referrals; 3) provision of advocacy and coordination for placement and other emergency needs; 4) outreach, screening, and identification of domestic and foreign national child and youth victims of sex and labor trafficking, and; 5) coordination with and provision of training and technical assistance to benefit issuing agencies, organizations and entities serving unaccompanied children, immigrants, and refugees, foster care, state and local child welfare, child protective services, schools, call centers, state, regional, and local entities, law enforcement, migrant education and migrant health programs, and other relevant organizations on responding to the needs of foreign and domestic children and youth who have or may have experienced sex and labor trafficking. Bonus points will be awarded to organizations with demonstrated experience providing comprehensive, trafficking-specific services to domestic and foreign national children and youth who have experienced labor trafficking. Aspire is informed by a whole family approach that focuses equally and intentionally on services and opportunities for clients and their immediate family members living within their households. OTIP is encouraging the meaningful engagement of individuals with lived experience, and the hiring of qualified professionals that reflect the communities being served in all project implementation strategies under Aspire. Under Aspire there is a 12-month project implementation period for the prime recipient to facilitate partnerships, on-board new staff, develop a service protocol specific to serving foreign national and domestic children and youth who have experienced severe forms of sex and labor trafficking. However, clients must receive direct services and assistance through Aspire during the 12-month project implementation period. Aspire will be supported by funds connected by these two related areas of ACF programming, and all grant activities must be dedicated proportionately to reflect the purposes of the two funding streams supporting Aspire. 75 percent of project activities will be funded through foreign appropriations, and 25 percent of project activities will be funded through domestic appropriations. Under Aspire, there is a statutorily mandated 25 percent match (cash or in-kind) requirement for project activities that support domestic victims of human trafficking. There are no match requirements for activities that support foreign national victims of human trafficking.