UNA-USA members play a key role in the continuing efforts to combat human trafficking in Kentucky and around the world. UNA-USA Kentucky Division board members and members joined the Kentucky Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force at their event in observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Friday January 11, 2019. Overall membership of the task force includes nearly fifty agencies. Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear was the keynote speaker at the event, where over eighty representatives from organizations across the state of Kentucky met to discuss progress and paths forward to combat human trafficking. The event also features a screening of Project Starr, featuring the art and voices of survivors of human trafficking.

At the event, which is free and open to the public, UNA-USA KY will have a table and resources for the community. The logo for the task forces’ Human Trafficking Awareness Day was chosen through an essay and art contest. Its creator is Nicholas T. Porritt, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Teena Halbig of the Kentucky Division Chapter is a former UNA-USA delegate to the Commission on Status of Women, former UNA-USA National Council Regional Mid-East representative, and current member of the Kentucky Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force. She has been part of planning this annual event for years.

“There is always excitement within the community for this event with people wanting to join, wanting to help,” Teena said.

She described the continued growth in attendance at both the Human Trafficking Task Force event annually and significant improvements in services for victims implemented statewide, including the prominent display of the human trafficking hotline number in every city bus and training requirements for hotel staff and employees to look for signs of human trafficking. UNA-USA members play a key role in the continuing efforts to combat human trafficking in Kentucky and around the world.

Through their efforts and community participation, UNA Kentucky Division members have made an impact on efforts to stop and prevent human trafficking and their state.

Nicholas T. Porritt, a second-year marriage and family therapy masters student at Asbury, won a competition hosted by Beshear to raise awareness of human trafficking by creating a logo for the task force. Porritt’s design uses a dove to symbolize freedom, peace and hope. The bird is made to look like green leaves to symbolize growth, endurance and nourishment. The olive branch symbolizes freedom as well as a place to find stability. The yellow background is symbolic of the sun and evokes growth and life.