By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) is preparing to deploy funding to organizations striving to tackle sex and labor trafficking. The agency recently released a request for proposal (RFP) for Fiscal Year 2025 Anti-Human Trafficking Grants.
Photo courtesy of MONSE
Selected organizations will receive $50,000 or $25,000 grants to support trauma-informed services and programs that confront human trafficking and assist survivors of the crime in conjunction with the Baltimore City Human Trafficking Collaborative.
“Baltimore’s comprehensive approach to public safety relies on strong relationships and community collaborators,” said Stefanie Mavronis, director of MONSE, in a Aug. 16 statement. “MONSE is proud to again make these grants available in fiscal year 2025 for organizations working to combat human trafficking. We are encouraging anti-human trafficking organizations to apply for this opportunity and serve as a co-producer of public safety.”
Baltimore’s proximity to interstate highways and airports along with its prominent shipping and trucking industry heightens its risk for human trafficking. Across Maryland, the National Human Trafficking Hotline was contacted 501 times in 2023—153 of the signals came from victims or survivors of the crime.
Under Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan (CVPP), broadening anti-human trafficking efforts has been identified as a priority for the city. MONSE’s grant opportunity for fiscal year 2025 builds on this endeavor.
Interested organizations are required to have three letters of community support to qualify for the funding. Their proposals should address the impact of current initiatives, demographics on the populations they serve and their level of preparedness to take on referrals.
MONSE will announce the grantees by early October.
The post MONSE seeks proposals for anti-human trafficking efforts appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
