(AJB); America’s Career InfoNet (ACINet); America’s Service Locator (ASL); Toll-FreeHelp Line (TFHL); and Occupati<strong>on</strong>al Informati<strong>on</strong> Network (O*NET).B. Job Corps: The Job Corps program assists eligible youths in achieving a High SchoolDiploma or GED and/or learn a vocati<strong>on</strong>al trade and an array <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> life success skills tobecome employable, independent and help secure meaningful jobs or opportunities forfur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r educati<strong>on</strong>. (Must have signed c<strong>on</strong>sent from a parent or guardian.)58
APPENDIX II: INPUT FROM NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSIn an effort to learn about <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> differences in how domestic and internati<strong>on</strong>al victims <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>trafficking are treated in practice, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Subcommittee</str<strong>on</strong>g> solicited <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> input <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> n<strong>on</strong>governmentalorganizati<strong>on</strong>s that have experience providing services to victims. Thefollowing are <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> resp<strong>on</strong>ses that were received (<strong>on</strong> a voluntary basis):NGO INPUT 1: Rachel Lloyd, GEMSI am <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> founder and executive director <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> Girls Educati<strong>on</strong>al and Mentoring Services,(GEMS), <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong>ly n<strong>on</strong>-pr<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>it agency within New York State designed specifically toprovide counseling, support, case management, emergency housing, and viableeducati<strong>on</strong>al and vocati<strong>on</strong>al opportunities to sexually exploited girls and young women,ages 12-21. GEMS was founded in January 1999, out <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> an overwhelming need forservices for adolescent girls that I observed while working with adult women exitingprostituti<strong>on</strong>. GEMS is located in Central Harlem, but serves girls from all five boroughs<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> New York City. GEMS provides crisis and transiti<strong>on</strong>al services to over 170 sexuallyexploited girls and young women each year and also provides preventive educati<strong>on</strong> andtraining to over 2,000 youth and adults each year. The majority <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> girls that come toGEMS are ei<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r mandated or referred through <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir experiences with criminal or juvenilejustice system. Over 90 percent <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> GEMS members are Black, approximately 5 percentare Latino and 5 percent are White.<strong>Domestic</strong> girls are trafficked from area to area, State to State although this is rarelyrecognized as trafficking per se. A well established trafficking route from Bost<strong>on</strong> to NewYork to Washingt<strong>on</strong>, D.C., to Atlanta to Miami brings girls up and down <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> East Coast,<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>ten depending <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> warm wea<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r in various locati<strong>on</strong>s. Whilst <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re has been adramatic increase in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> attenti<strong>on</strong> and funding given to trafficking programs nati<strong>on</strong>ally,domestic youth c<strong>on</strong>tinue to be largely ignored in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> legislati<strong>on</strong>, funding and servicescovered by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>Trafficking</strong> Victims Protecti<strong>on</strong> Act. C<strong>on</strong>trary to being viewed as victims,sexually-exploited young women are seen as criminals or delinquents and as willingparticipants in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir own abuse. It is indicative <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> double standards inherent in currentattitudes towards domestic sexually exploited youth that in New York a young pers<strong>on</strong>under <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> age <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> 17 cannot legally give informed c<strong>on</strong>sent to sexual c<strong>on</strong>tact, yet if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>young pers<strong>on</strong> is deemed as a “prostitute” <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>n not <strong>on</strong>ly is she/he believed able to givec<strong>on</strong>sent, but will also be charged with a violati<strong>on</strong> or misdemeanor. Therefore, under <strong>on</strong>epart <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> penal code a young woman is a victim <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> statutory rape protected from adultexploiters, under ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r she is a “prostitute” automatically mature enough to giveinformed c<strong>on</strong>sent to her own exploitati<strong>on</strong>Current policies towards, and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> depicti<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> sexually exploited young women in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>U.S., are reflective <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> societal attitudes towards class and race and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> impact <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y have<strong>on</strong> a collective understanding <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> childhood/youth and adolescence. Distincti<strong>on</strong>s are madebetween poor “children” abroad and poor “youth” in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> U.S., and even at home betweenmiddle-class “victims” and low-income, predominately young women <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> color who are59
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