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This Year's Project: Billboards
About Our Organization
The Siouxland Coalition Against Human Trafficking (SCAHT) works to abolish all forms of human trafficking through education, advocacy and collaboration. Our efforts extend to the three states (Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota) which comprise Siouxland. We work closely with law enforcement, social service agencies, mental health programs, schools, and medical personnel. We provide trainings, share information, and serve as a resource on human trafficking. Since 2015 SCAHT volunteers have given presentations to over 10,000 people.
This year (2024) we completed 10 years of serving Siouxland, still as an all volunteer organization. During that time, in addition to the presentations, we have brought in people to speak on human trafficking as it relates to things such as internet safety and pornography. We have had billboards, governmental proclamations, PSAs, interviews, a traveling exhibit, tables at various kinds of events, and more, with the goal of informing people, so that there are more people who are able to help prevent others, especially our youth, from becoming victims of human trafficking, and who know how to help people who are already victims.
Current Project: Billboards
Do you know that Human Trafficking happens here in Siouxland?
Do you know that a trafficking victim does NOT have to be transported anywhere? Some people are sold from their own homes!
Would you know what to do if you saw something that you thought was Human Trafficking?
For the past 10 years the Siouxland Coalition against Human Trafficking has shared this information and much more with over 10,000 people through our presentations and trainings. Our primary focus is to educate people about Human Trafficking so they can join us in working to prevent this heinous crime. One effective way to reach hundreds, if not thousands of people with some information on Human Trafficking is through the use of billboards. So our project this year is to raise enough money for two billboards, one in English and one in Spanish, to be strategically placed in Siousland. Each billboard costs $1,200 a month.
Our Outreach is Moving Outdoors!!
Project Details
The Siouxland Coalition against Human Trafficking (SCAHT)’s mission is to work toward abolishing all forms of human trafficking through education, collaboration and advocacy. Education has been a main focus over our 7 years. We have offered hundreds of presentations, trainings and conferences, and had tables at numerous events throughout Siouxland.
With the recent emphasis on outdoor events due to the pandemic, we have seen the need for a canopy ($84.83) and two folding chairs ($64.19). We are also experiencing more young people at these events and would like to purchase a “What Would you Do” wheel ($425.78) for our tables to encourage more interaction. This is a wheel that has questions related to human trafficking safety, prevention, etc. on it. People who come to the table spin the wheel and when they answer the question they are given a treat or prize. Also, SCAHT is an all volunteer group, and as such we have just borrowed members’ items for events, but this isn’t really sustainable any longer. As such, we will need a folding table - often needed for both indoor and outdoor events ($73.83) and a hand dolly to transport items to the events ($64.19). Also with this goal of sustainability, we should purchase a computer for SCAHT rather than using the Outreach Coordinator’s personal computer ($642).
End the Demand
Project Details
End the Demand is a campaign to combat human trafficking by reducing the demand that fuels it. End the Demand focuses on increasing awareness that it is individuals seeking to buy commercial sex (demand) that perpetuates the human trafficking industry. The Siouxland Coalition Against Human Trafficking (SCAHT) will increase awareness of demand by offering training to civic groups and other interested parties, and by sponsoring a billboard to be placed in a high traffic area in Siouxland. The End the Demand campaign's goal is to protect children and other victims from being exploited by human traffickers.
End the Demand
Project Details
End the Demand is a campaign to combat human trafficking by reducing the demand that fuels it. End the Demand focuses on two major initiatives: (1) Increase awareness that it is individuals seeking to buy commercial sex (demand) that perpetuates the human trafficking industry and (2) Expose Internet pornography as a driving force for human trafficking. The Siouxland Coalition Against Human Trafficking (SCAHT) will increase awareness of demand by participating in the soon-to-be released Iowa Attorney General's "End the Demand" effort, including purchasing billboards on major traffic routes in Siouxland in January, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention month. In addition, SCAHT is hosting a multi-day pornography conference featuring internationally known speaker and author Dr. Josh McDowell on April 25 and 27, 2020. Dr. McDowell will address the impact Internet pornography is having on society, families, and individuals, especially children. The Coalition is alarmed that children are exposed every day to unwanted, unsolicited and unavoidable porn through on-line video games, social media, Kids YouTube, and simply by inadvertently mistyping a word while on their smart phone. Children may not be looking for porn, but porn is looking for them. Viewing pornography fuels the demand for sex trafficking in several ways. Nearly all men who buy sex from prostituted and trafficked women are pornography users. Users often seek out what they have viewed in pornography. Porn users demand a constant stream of new and increasingly violent content and new and younger porn “stars.” Traffickers have capitalized on this demand by luring increasingly younger children into being trafficked. The End the Demand campaign’s goal is to protect children and other victims from being exploited by human traffickers.