{"id":507245,"date":"2026-01-10T23:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T23:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507245\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T23:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T23:42:09","slug":"heres-whats-happening-in-dallas-fort-worth-on-human-trafficking-awareness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/507245\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening in Dallas-Fort Worth on Human Trafficking Awareness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

As people nationwide wear blue to stand with the victims and survivors of human trafficking on Jan. 11 in light of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, organizations in North Texas are chipping in to show support. <\/p>\n

The month of January has been designated as Human Trafficking Awareness Month in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of State website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Human trafficking is a term used to define the crime where traffickers exploit and profit from forcing adults or children to provide labor or engage in commercial sex. More than 27 million people are subject to human trafficking worldwide, according to the government website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In 2010, former president Barack Obama declared January as the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and the tradition has been followed every year since. In 2012<\/a>, Obama signed an executive order to strengthen protections against trafficking in federal contracting. <\/p>\n

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The North Texas cluster of The Links, Incorporated, an international nonprofit organization, has partnered with New Friends New Life, a Dallas nonprofit serving survivors of trafficking, to spread awareness about human trafficking across the region on Jan. 11. <\/p>\n

As a part of this initiative, the organizations have partnered with several churches in the area to play a brief educational video clip during their church services, according to a news release from The Links, Incorporated. <\/p>\n

At least 18 churches are going to be a part of this region-wide initiative, including United Methodist Church, Friendship West Baptist Church and more, said Helen Giddings, co-chair of the Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign at The Links, Incorporated. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany people think that when we\u2019re talking about human trafficking, we\u2019re primarily talking about someone being brought into this country and forced to do free labor,\u201d Giddings said. \u201cThat is a part of it, but a larger part is the sex trafficking piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of this partnership is to make people aware of the resources available to those in need, Giddings said. <\/p>\n

She said aside from the educational side, another important aspect of this partnership is to honor the victims of human trafficking. Organizers are also asking everyone to wear blue to stand in solidarity with the survivors of human trafficking. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re encouraging everybody in the city of Dallas to pay attention to human trafficking,\u201d Giddings said. \u201cWorking together, we can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 12, the City of Dallas<\/a> is hosting a luncheon event in recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, according to a news release from the city. <\/p>\n

During the event hosted by Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Willis, the North Texas Coalition Against Human Trafficking presented its annual Champion of Freedom Award to Allies Against Slavery, an Austin-based nonprofit, for its commitment to combating human trafficking and supporting survivors.<\/p>\n

In a news release on Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety<\/a> also highlighted its Interdiction for the Protection of Children program that provides training to officers to recognize indicators that a child may be a victim, at risk of victimization or missing.<\/p>\n

The department taught 18 IPC basic courses and four Train-the-Trainer courses, training 695 students and certifying 38 new instructors, the release said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2025, 57 DPS Troopers reported calling in IPC-related traffic stops, resulting in 23 child rescues,\u201d the release said. <\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of State notes 20 ways<\/a> anybody can help fight human trafficking. This includes learning the indicators of human trafficking, calling the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to report, being an informed consumer, volunteering and supporting anti-trafficking efforts, encouraging schools or districts to include human trafficking in their curricula, using social media to raise awareness, and more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As people nationwide wear blue to stand with the victims and survivors of human trafficking on Jan. 11…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":507246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7712,50,358,8973,10928,79180,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-507245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-fortworth","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-education-agency","14":"tag-things-to-know","15":"tag-trafficking","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115873457402568033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}