Protect All Children From Trafficking (PACT) Expands Campaign In Partnership With Public Transit Leaders

Protect All Children from Trafficking (PACT), a national anti-child trafficking organization, has announced the expansion of their research-based and behavioral change campaign aimed at disrupting child sex trafficking in Austin, TX, and Alexandria, VA.

“Given that many child sex trafficking victims have a touchpoint in public transit as part of their journey, public transit staff and riders are in a unique position to be alert, identify, and safely report potential instances of child sex trafficking,” according to a press release. “The campaign, Transit Against Child Trafficking (TACT), which was created in collaboration with survivors of child sex trafficking, provides practical resources to educate public transportation staff and riders about how to identify potential instances of child sex trafficking and how to safely report.

“In partnership with Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) in Austin, and Alexandria Transit Company (DASH) in Alexandria, the campaign will be amplified through social media channels, advertisements in and around public transit locations, and signage in buses and trains. CapMetro, DASH, and PACT are signatories of the Department of Transportation’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) Pledge, which serves as a commitment to staff education, raising public awareness, and measuring their collective impact on human trafficking by collecting and sharing key data points.”

“Traffickers can be right in your face,” said a member of PACT Survivors’ Council. “They’re so bold about it that people get blinded.”

Within the federally-funded project, PACT — together with a team of researchers and in collaboration with the public transit agency partners — is leading ongoing conversations with essential frontline transit staff, management teams, and survivors of child sex trafficking to learn from their experiences. Based on these findings, TACT is creating educational material that empowers public transit staff and riders on how to respond safely, increase the chances of identifying potential instances of child sex trafficking, and developing recommendations for training modules and reporting protocols that are specifically designed for transit staff.

“TACT is a public awareness and prevention behavioral change campaign that is not only informed by research but, significantly, drawn from the lived experiences of child sex trafficking survivors,” PACT Chief Executive Officer Lori L. Cohen said. “We are committed to partnering with local public transit agencies to help public transit staff and riders recognize signs of child sex trafficking and safely report them.”

To learn more about the TACT campaign, visit wearepact.org/tact-campaign.