FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF)- Fort Worth ISD is one of only eight school districts nationwide to receive a new federal grant to develop and implement programs to prevent human trafficking victimization. FWISD is partnering with anti-human trafficking, non-profit organizations, Unbound North Texas and 3Strands Global Foundation.
The 3-year program will provide up to $600,000 annually to fund the District’s objectives of increasing teachers’ understanding of the complexities of human trafficking; increasing students’ understanding of protective factors; and training qualified student support services staff to implement and replicate the project activities District-wide.
Elementary students in grades 4 and 5 will learn foundational concepts and will be equipped with tools to develop personal boundaries to keep them physically and emotionally safe, both online and in-person.
Middle school students will learn about the different forms of child abuse, including exploitation and trafficking, and the importance of trusting their gut and how to be empowered to report when their boundaries are crossed.
High school students will learn about warning signs, recruitment through social media and video games, signs of grooming, laws about trafficking, and how media can influence and desensitize people toward exploitation.
The project kicks off this summer with a city-wide prevention campaign called “Don’t Get Tricked,” which was coined by local trafficking survivors and alerts individuals on how they might be approached by human traffickers online and via cell phone for the purpose of sex or labor trafficking.