My City May 2023

MYCOMMUNITY

“It’s an amazing home,” states Chandler. “The land is beautiful and we are working to expand and enhance the grounds to make it even better. The children here deserve a beautiful environment.” Prism Project also works with other organizations such as Voices for Children to educate the community and provide services for victims in their care. As mentioned, community education is a big piece of Prism Project, as they visit schools and organizations to provide factual in formation about human trafficking.

“It’s a subject not many people like to talk about; it makes for an awkward conversation,” explains Chandler, “but the best thing people can do to help Prism Project is to be better informed.” It begins with acknowledging that the problem exists, being aware of and identi fying the signs, and knowing who to contact if you feel a trafficking situation is ongoing or has taken place. “You can call a local police department, Office of the Genesee County Sheriff, or Michigan Child Protective Services. They will open an investigation and then deter mine whether or not trafficking has occurred,” Chandler states. In the future, Prism Project hopes to expand their safehouse capacity with additional housing and to begin duplicating the program for boys. “We would like to provide transitional housing for those who leave the program and also expand mentorship programming,” Chan dler adds. If you would like to help Prism Project directly, visit prismprojectmi. org and click on the “get involved” tab or the “donate” button. Gift cards to Target or Amazon are great ways to support the kids in the program with clothing and other essentials.

CHILD HUMAN TRAFFICKING RED FLAGS ▸ Child not regularly attending school (missing Mondays/ Fridays) ▸ Accompanied by a con trolling adult who doesn’t appear to be a parent/ guardian ▸ Having an older boyfriend ▸ Has a large amount of un explained cash or receives expensive gifts ▸ New hair, nails, or fancy clothes ▸ Multiple cell phones, hotel room keys ▸ Demeanor change, head down, quiet

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