Our Plan

Our Goals

AATOP has three specific goals:

1.       To increase identification of Asian American victims of trafficking in the Chicago  metropolitan area

2.       To build the capacity of Asian American-serving organizations to provide  appropriate mental health and other services to victims of trafficking in the Chicago  metropolitan area

3.       To increase participation of Asian American organizations in anti-trafficking  coalitions and task forces

Our Plan

IOFA will work in partnership with API-focused organizations in the metropolitan Chicago area to develop a membership-based network to achieve the goals above.

IOFA will draw on the following strengths:

·         Expertise in anti-trafficking work

·         Experience in developing training and outreach materials

·         Completed research on similar initiatives in other areas

·         Facilitator for the Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force

·         Key player with the Rescue and Restore Coalition

The Network

IOFA’s role in the network will be to:

·         Provide training and capacity building to member organizations on outreach to  and identification of potential victims of human trafficking

·         Provide technical assistance

·         Link member organizations with existing task forces and coalitions, such as the  Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force and the Rescue and Restore  Coalition.

·         Serve as coordinator/facilitator of AATOP

·         Recruit new members, regularly update members on progress, and manage the  AATOP website.

AATOP member organizations will draw on the following strengths:

·         Area expertise in related fields (e.g., workers’ rights, domestic violence, sexual  assault, community organizing)

·         Cultural competency

·         Linguistic skills

·         Diverse staff

·         Existing relationships with key players in API communities

·         Relationships of trust with community leaders and members

The role and responsibilities of AATOP member organizations will be to:

·         Designate point of contact for AATOP

·         Receive training on human trafficking, identification of victims, and strategies for  outreach

·         Adapt services to include identification of human trafficking

·         Conduct outreach to API victims of human trafficking

·         Share information on human trafficking with partner organizations

·         Participate in monitoring and evaluation of the project, to assess impact of  AATOP activities and to gather data about the scope of human trafficking within  API communities in metropolitan Chicago

Benefits of Participation in AATOP

                By joining AATOP, member organizations will:

·         Increase their capacity to identify and serve human trafficking victims

·         Connect with other organizations conducting outreach to or serving API human  trafficking victims

·         Expand service networks

·         Have opportunities to develop funding sources to support anti-trafficking work in API communities

Evaluating Our Work

AATOP will evaluate its success by collecting data from member organizations, in order to answer the following questions:

How many API trafficking victims have been identified through this project?

How many API-focused organizations are now providing mental health services, other services, or conducting outreach for API trafficking victims?

How many API-focused organizations are now represented on anti-trafficking coalitions and task forces?

For this reason, AATOP member organizations will be asked to track the data points above to evaluate progress in meeting our goals.  Additionally, AATOP will gather qualitative feedback about services and outreach work for evaluation.