London,
18
October
2017
|
15:30
Europe/London

Charity project to empower Londoners to tackle human trafficking in their community

A national charity has received nearly £100,000 to help London residents tackle human trafficking in their communities.

The City of London Corporation’s charitable funder and London’s largest independent grant giver, City Bridge Trust, has awarded Stop the Traffik £98,400.

Stop the Traffik, based in Lambeth, is a charity working to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking. The grant will be used for community projects in West London which will educate and empower residents to take action to prevent trafficking in their local area.

The project will involve awareness and training to councils, police, victim support charities, housing, health and community groups. Communities will be invited to awareness raising workshops in their area and there will be volunteering opportunities to get involved in campaigns to raise public awareness and empower individuals to know what modern slavery looks like in their community and who to report it to. An example includes the Drive for Freedom Campaign which raises awareness amongst the transport community to be aware of the signs of the movement of victims across London.

It will also support vulnerable individuals in the area by equipping them to identify trafficking and resist being trafficked. Vulnerable victims will be identified both through services such as the police, social care and charities and through increased community awareness and reporting. Those first responder organisations will refer individuals into safe accommodation and support managed by the Salvation Army and children’s services.

The project will also help organisations to work together to increase awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking, spot and stop it where it does exist, report potential victims, prevent it from occurring and identify gaps for victim support.

The charity works with local communities to prevent trafficking, campaigning globally to inform customers on how trafficking impacts the supply chains of businesses world-wide and it gathers and shares knowledge through its Centre for Intelligence Led Prevention. This project collects global stories, data and reports of trafficking, analyses them and identifies human trafficking hotspots and trends in order to inform prevention work in communities on the ground.

Alison Gowman, Chairman of City Bridge Trust, commented:

“This charity is going from strength to strength and doing it’s upmost to put an end to human trafficking.

“This project is already working very successfully in Manchester so I’m sure will make just as much of an impact in London. The more that can be done in the fight against such terrible exploitation the better, especially in London.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage across the capital and making London a fairer and better place to live.”

Wendy Adams, UK Projects Co-ordinator of Stop the Traffik, added:

“This initiative will empower communities to become more resilient against modern slavery and contribute to increased identification of this crime.

We are really excited to see the impact this will have in protecting people who are most at risk of being exploited.”

City Bridge Trust makes grants totalling around £20 million per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London.

The charitable funder has awarded more than 7,700 grants totalling over £370 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Kristina.Drake@cityoflondon.gov.uk

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125