January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Monday January 10^th, 2011 - Statewide Event held in Raleigh, NC

The two statewide coalitions to fight human trafficking - NC Stop Human Trafficking (community members) and NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking (direct service providers) - are planning a joint statewide event on January 10th to inform the public of the issue of human trafficking in NC and what is currently being done to fight it. We would love to have this event at NC State because it is a great central location and we have students in our coalition who attend NC State. The event will be on January 10th from 12-1pm. We need seating for about 100-150 people set up theater-style and about 5-6 table set up in the back of the room for literature and information.

The statewide event on January 10th that we are proposing to have at NC State between NC Stop Human Trafficking and and the NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking will be used to raise awareness and gain media coverage as a platform for the events happening the next day, on January 11th for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day events across the state.
There are local events happening in Greenville, Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, NC State, and UNC.
Agenda:
12pm – Event opens, networking and sign in – White Ribbon handouts
12:15 – Detective Tommy Sluder will speak on the issue of human trafficking
12:25 – Reading of Governor Beverly Perdue’s proclamation designating January 2011 to be NC Human Trafficking Awareness Month
12:30 – Charity Magnuson, Director of NC Stop Human Trafficking, will speak about coalition mission, successes, and future plans for the organization
12:35 – Danielle Mitchell, Executive Committee of NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking, will speak about coalition mission, successes and future plans
12:40 – Recognition of events occurring across North Carolina during January 2011 to commemorate Human Trafficking Awareness Month and introduction of booths
12:45 – Break for Q&A and networking
Media coverage is expected for this event.

Some info on NC Stop Human Trafficking:
http://ncstophumantrafficking.wordpress.com

NC Stop Human Trafficking is a statewide organization whose mission is to eradicate modern day slavery in all its forms. NC Stop Human Trafficking works to fight human trafficking on multiple levels following the P.A.V.E. model: Prevention, Advocacy, Victim Services and Education/awareness. NC Stop works through connecting and supporting individuals, community-based and faith-based organizations, non-governmental and governmental organizations. We focus on collaboration and communication between all groups to be efficient and effective. NC Stop strives to create opportunities for community members to become involved in the fight to stop human trafficking that are fulfilling and appropriate for each member.

Some info on NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking:
http://humantrafficking.unc.edu/nccaht.html
Established in 2004 as a collaboration between the NC Attorney General's Office, the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and several other organizations, the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking is a group of professionals from multiple fields (including law enforcement, legal services, social services, legislative, etc.) that works to raise awareness about Human Trafficking across North Carolina, to support efforts to prosecute traffickers, and to identify and assist victims. In 2007, the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking published a manual with more information about the taskforce and trafficking in general, which can be found here; a second edition is in process.

As the primary first responder, law enforcement is key to identifying victims. By working together, we will be better able to confront trafficking in North Carolina, arrest and prosecute traffickers, and identify victims and connect them to appropriate services.
In addition to working statewide, the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking is also involved in helping to develop local Rapid Response Teams (RRTs). These RRTs will be made up of direct services providers, law enforcement agencies, and faith based groups at the local level who will identify and assist victims of trafficking.

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STATEWIDE – Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 – National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

NC Stop Human Trafficking is proud to partner with Tennessee’s Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking on an event happening across 24 -and counting - states.

In observance of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, we join together with Abolitionist across the US to be the light in the darkness for victims of human trafficking. We vow to shed the light on this heinous crime and to be beacons of hope and healing to the estimated 27 million people who are in slavery in the world today.

Please join us in wearing something WHITE on January 11^th, 2011 to signify this commitment. Please email ncstophumantrafficking@gmail.com with your name and city if you will be joining us on this day. Please also post your name, city and state on BOTH OUR facebook page and on the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking facebook page.

Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking Website:
http://www.ccaht.org/january11.html

White ribbons will be passed out at all NC Stop Human Trafficking sponsored events throughout January 2011. If you are attending an NC Stop Human Trafficking event this month, please wear something white and feel free to bring something with an anti-trafficking statement on it. We will take pictures as a group. If you are not comfortable taking pictures, you will certainly have the opportunity to opt out.

We want to get a clear “picture” of what North Carolina looks like in the anti-trafficking movement. Take a picture of yourself and anyone else commemorating with you wearing white. Somewhere in the picture have your name, city, state, and a statement against human trafficking. We are looking for individual and group pictures. Be creative and show why North Carolina is the best state united to fight against human trafficking!

Email pictures to ncstoppictures@gmail.com. We will post on our website and forward to the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

This is a great way to commemorate Human Trafficking Awareness Day, especially if you are unable to attend any events.Lets be the state with the most participants and pictures!

Further questions can be directed to ncstophumantrafficking@gmail.com

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Tuesday, January 11^th, 2011 · Greenville, NC
11:00am - 2:00pm
Proclamation Against Human Trafficking Reading
Council Chambers on the third floor of City Hall
200 West Fifth Street, Greenville, NC
Sponsored by Eastern North Carolina Stop Human Trafficking

Mayor Patricia Dunn will sign the Proclamation. Detective Chauncey Congleton (Human Trafficking Investigator for the Pitt County Sheriff's Office) has been invited to share information about Human Trafficking in the area. Please come and wear WHITE!!!

For more information contact Pam Strickland: encstophumantrafficking@gmail.com

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Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 – Charlotte, NC – WEAR SOMETHING WHITE

NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS DAY

KICKS OFF WITH PRESS CONFERENCE AND EMERGENCY BAG SUPPLY DRIVE

Press Conference in Honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center
600 East Fourth St., Charlotte, NC 28202
The press conference will be held in the building's lobby.

Charlotte, NC - On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the Charlotte Human Trafficking Task Force will hold a local press conference to help raise community awareness regarding various issues related to human trafficking. The press conference will begin at 12:15 p.m. in the lobby of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center.

The task force will also sponsor an Emergency Bag Supply Drive designed to provide emergency supplies to victims of human trafficking in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. The Emergency Bag Supply Drive will run from January 11, 2011 through January 31, 2011. A list of designated drop-off locations, as well as list of suggested items for donations can be found at www.charlottehumantrafficking.org.

The press conference is open to the public, as its goal is to raise community awareness for issues related to human trafficking. Printed information will be available as well as white ribbons to commemorate the day in coordination with 24 states in the US. Below is the list of speakers and topics:

John Price

Special Agent, FBI

Welcome, definition of human trafficking, tips on identifying victims of human trafficking, the Charlotte Human Trafficking Task Force's mission

Delbert Richburg

Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Local statistics on human trafficking in our area, ICE's role in investigation of human trafficking cases and their collaboration with other agencies

Rona Karacaova

Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc.'s Battered Immigrant Project

Immigration assistance for victims of human trafficking

Karen Parker Thompson

Chief of Strategic Initiatives, United Family Services (UFS)

Housing for victims of human trafficking, fund drive for new shelter and how to make donations UFS' participation in the local human trafficking task force

Anne M. Tompkins

United States Attorney, Western District of North Carolina

The US Attorney's office's role in combating human trafficking and protecting victims, successes in human trafficking cases, introduction of Mayor

Mayor Anthony Foxx – waiting for confirmation

City of Charlotte

Issue proclamation in honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Charity Magnuson

Director, NC Stop Human Trafficking

NC Stop's role in combating human trafficking, information on emergency bag supply drive

Parking is available in the Davidson Street parking deck between Third and Fourth Streets. Hourly and daily rates do apply.

Emergency Bag Supply Drive
Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - Monday, January 31, 2011

Please visit www.charlottehumantrafficking.org for a list of designated drop-off locations for the emergency bag supplies, as well as list of suggested items for donation.

The Charlotte Human Trafficking Task Force is a rapid response team created to help identify and assist victims of human trafficking, create a law enforcement system to investigate and prosecute these crimes, and deliver social, legal and immigration services to human trafficking victims in the Charlotte area. The task force's members include the following organizations: United States Attorney's Office- Western District of North Carolina; FBI; Department of Homeland Security- Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Legal Aid of North Carolina Inc.'s Battered Immigrant Project; Legal Services of Southern Piedmont's Immigrant Justice Project; No Longer Captive; Charlotte Community Health Clinic; United Family Services; Charlotte AHEC- Mental Health Education; Catholic Social Services; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department; Council for Children's Rights; The Salvation Army; World Relief NC; NC Stop Human Trafficking

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Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 – Greensboro, NC – WEAR SOMETHING WHITE
Prayer Vigil for Human Trafficking
6:30 – 7:30pm
Westover Church, 505 Muirs Chapel Road, Greensboro, NC 27410

Come join Abolition Ministries in a prayer vigil on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day at Westover Church. For more information contact abolitionministry@yahoo.com.

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Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 – Raleigh, NC
Soroptimist January Meeting
Tuesday January 11^th, 2011
6:15 PM to 8:30 PM
Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church
4921 Six Forks Road Raleigh, NC 27609

January 11 was designated in 2007 as the National Day for Human Trafficking Awarness. Our monthly meeting that evening will showcase Hope House in Asheville. Donna Stewart, Development Director for Hope House, will share the story of this safe-haven for domestic minor victims of sex trafficking. Please come to learn more about this residence and its needs, and learn more about Soroptimist initiatives to create human trafficking awareness across the community.

We'll be collecting donated items that night for the shelter. Click on the link to see the list of items currently sought in order to address educational and other needs of the residents.

Following the speaker, we'll proceed with our monthly business meeting. Whether you're a member, an interested party, or someone considering joining Soroptimist, this will be a meeting not to miss.

For more information contact Soroptimist Raleigh at 919-386-9910

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Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 –UNC Chapel Hill – WEAR SOMETHING WHITE
Demonstration on the Quad
Noon to 4pm
UNC student organization CAST – Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking – will be demonstrating on campus with a long paper chain signifying the people in slavery around the world. NC Stop Human Trafficking members will be joining them. Information will be passed out about the issue as well as flyers for the human trafficking documentary screening that evening at the School of Social Work. White ribbons will be passed out and pictures taken for the United As One campaign with 24 other states.

For more information, contact ncstophumantrafficking@gmail.com

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Tuesday January 11^th, 2011 - UNC- Chapel Hill - WEAR SOMETHING WHITE

Human Trafficking: Slavery Still Exists
Documentary Screening: Cargo: Innocence Lost
Tuesday January 11th, 2011
UNC -Chapel Hill School of Social Work
Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building Auditorium
6:30pm - 8:30pm
cost: free

Event Summary:
A compelling documentary, Cargo: Innocence Lost, unveils the dark underworld of sex trafficking through compelling interviews with some of the country's top officials on the subject, victims' advocates and victims themselves, who were rescued in Texas. Award-winning director and writer, Michael Cory Davis (Svetlana's Journey, Hollywood Film Festival 2005 winner, best short), makes his second directorial foray into this must-see, thought-provoking film that is interwoven with a raw, intense narrative based on numerous true stories from victims of the sex trade.

Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today. The US Department of Justice estimates 14,500 to 17,500 foreign born victims are trafficked into the United States each year while 300,000 American children are at risk for human trafficking here in the United States every year.

Information on the $32 Billion human trafficking industry will be presented as well as information on how to get involved.

Directions and parking instructions can be found here: http://ssw.unc.edu/about/directions
Presented by NC Stop Human Trafficking - http://ncstophumantrafficking.wordpress.com
For more information or to RSVP, contact: ncstophumantrafficking@gmail.com
Many thanks to the UNC School of Social Work for allowing us to screen the documentary.

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Thursday January 13^th - NC State - Raleigh, NC:

Human Trafficking: Slavery Still Exists
Documentary Screening: Cargo: Innocence Lost
Thursday January 13th, 2011
NC State University, South Gallery - 2nd Floor Talley Student Center
6:30pm - 8:30pm
cost: free

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Monday January 17^th, 2011- Charlotte, NC - WEAR SOMETHING WHITE

Human Trafficking: Slavery Still Exists
Documentary Screening: Cargo: Innocence Lost
Monday January 17th, 2011
Dharma Lounge
http://www.dharmacharlotte.com/index.html
1440 South Tryon Street, Suite 105, Charlotte, NC 28203
6:30pm - 8:30pm
cost: free

Basnight leaving NC Senate for health reasons

By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina's most powerful state senator for the past 18 years is resigning from the chamber, rather than remaining in the Senate for one more term as he previously announced.

Outgoing Senate leader Marc Basnight of Dare County told reporters Tuesday that he is leaving for health reasons. Basnight has been struggling for a few years with a degenerative nerve disease that affects his balance and speech.

His decision comes two months after the Republicans won a majority in the chamber for the first time in a century. The GOP majority means Basnight wouldn't have kept the president pro tempore's job he's held since 1993.

Basnight said earlier he would serve in the Senate through 2012, then retire. Now Democrats in Basnight's northeastern district will choose his successor immediately.

Cuts alone won’t fix our budget crisis

Cuts alone won’t fix our budget crisis

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
By Edwin McLenaghan

North Carolina has a revenue problem. Falling revenues created by an outdated tax system and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression have created a much-publicized budget shortfall - and some shortsighted parties want to try to cut our way out of the problem.

Most people know that cutting vital public investments will cause great pain throughout North Carolina's communities and imperil our economic future. But what many don't know is that even the most drastic cuts-only approaches currently being explored by Governor Beverly Perdue will not close the state's budget gap.

There is just one possible conclusion: raising revenue is the only way to preserve critical investments in North Carolina's future.

The numbers are clear. The most recent estimates by the General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division show that anticipated revenues will fall $3.7 billion short of what is necessary to maintain this year's already-inadequate level of investments in public structures in next year's budget.

To assess potential solutions, Governor Perdue asked state agencies to examine what budget cuts would look like. Even the worst-case budget cut scenarios of 10 percent for public schools, community colleges, and universities and 15 percent for all other state agencies will come up $1.1 billion short of closing the state's $3.7 billion estimated revenue shortfall next year.

That's right: in order to "fix" the budget problem, we'd have to slash the crucial investments that create prosperity in North Carolina to a worse-than-worst-case level.

What if we went that extra step, and tried to close the budget gap with a cuts-only approach? Closing the shortfall with additional cuts to non-education agencies would force across-the-board cuts of 27 percent compared to this year and more than one-third compared to pre-recession levels.

If those sound like just numbers, think of those numbers as thousands of fired teachers, mental health workers, and gutted public safety infrastructure. Think of people with special needs who will be separated from their families, seniors and people with disabilities who can't get health care, and children with swollen class sizes and shrinking learning opportunities.

Cuts of this magnitude would jeopardize long-term investments in North Carolina's public structures and would compromise public safety, environmental protection, and the health of communities across the state.

This would not only be cruel, it would be counter-productive to the state's long-term health - fiscal and otherwise. Creating thousands of unemployed schoolteachers and public safety workers is a precisely backwards way to fix our state's revenue problem, now or in the long term.

Fortunately, there is another way. We need to take a balanced approach that recognizes the need to reform our outdated revenue system.

Comprehensive revenue reform could raise even more revenue and preserve many of the public investments in initiatives like Smart Start, More At Four, smaller class sizes, and community-based care that North Carolinians overwhelmingly support and that save the state money in the long run.

It would also make future budget crises easier to manage, because reform could modernize a system that hasn't been updated since the 1930s. What better time to make these long-overdue reforms then a time when they could help our state the most?

A cuts-only budget approach isn't just harmful to North Carolina's people in the short-term, it's also undermines North Carolina's fragile economic recovery in the long run. If we want a prosperous North Carolina, we have to start by acknowledging this simple reality.

Edwin McLenaghan is a Policy Analyst at the N.C. Budget & Tax Center

Disaster Network Training

The Red Cross course for mental health volunteers, Foundations of Disaster Mental Health, is being offered in 2 locations in the near future:

• Saturday January 22, 2011 at the Central North Carolina Chapter in Durham, NC. The course is being taught by Jane Finch & Geoff Zeger.
• Saturday, Feb 5, 2011at Triangle ARC in Raleigh, NC. This course is being taught by Robert L. Conder, Jr., PsyD.

NC DRN Training - Our on-line training continues to be available to all, whether for new volunteers or for experienced volunteers needing a refresher. Go to http://www.ncpsychology.org/general-public/disaster-resources for more information. More live workshops to be taught at different locations around the state in 2011.

Op-Ed Piece posted from Selena Childs, UNC School of Social Work

From Selena Childs, project director for the N.C. Child Welfare Workforce Collaborative Project at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work and former executive director of the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force:

When I hear about a child's death, my chest tightens and my stomach clenches. I hold my children close and give thanks for their safety. I tear up thinking about the fear and pain the child might have experienced and think about loved ones left behind, who are hurting beyond my comprehension. When I learn that the Department of Social Services was involved with the family, my compassion extends to the workers and agency leaders who I know are experiencing a heartfelt loss themselves.

As the public tries to make sense of an inconceivable loss, inevitably blame is sought. As a parent I understand that, because when I hear of a child death I am desperate to find a reason that helps me do away with the anxiety I experience as I hope nothing bad will ever happen to my children. And there is no better target for blame when a child dies than the social service agency charged with protecting children, or so the public seems to believe. I understand that reaction, and I might share it if I didn't know what Child Protective Services workers actually do. If I only knew the negative stereotypes of social workers from TV, I would be on the front lines of attack - "Where were you? Why didn't you do more to prevent this tragedy?"

But I know better. About 80 percent of the families that Child Protective Services/DSS workers serve are families who are unable to meet some of their kids' basic needs. In those cases CPS workers assess the family's needs and work with the family to connect them to resources. Most of those families are helped to help themselves and most importantly, helped to take care of their kids on their own. In the other 20 percent, the caretakers are unable to keep their children safe and may be the source of physical/sexual/emotional abuse. In those instances, CPS workers have the charge and the authority to remove children from those unsafe situations and place them in a safe home.

Most of the time the system works. Most of the time kids are protected. Most of the time the good work of CPS goes unnoticed, unheralded, un-reported in the news. But when a child is a victim of a violent crime and CPS has a history with the family, CPS is blamed, almost as if the workers and agency had committed the crime themselves.

On behalf of the families and children who have been well-served by DSS/CPS, I suggest that the public would benefit if the media and DSS partnered to paint a more complete picture. Reporters might attend a Child and Family Team meeting; shadow a DSS director through the day; and talk to the kids and parents who are better off as a result of the service they received.

I understand the temptation to blame DSS when a child dies - the alternative, that we as a society have failed, is almost too big to comprehend. If there's a worker or agency to blame, then you and I can worry less that it could be us who someday experiences such a devastating loss. But I know better. And you, the public, should have accurate information about the good work of our departments of social services so you know better, too.

For The Record offers commentaries from various sources. The views are the writer's, and not necessarily those of the Observer editorial board.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/12/02/1879758/blaming-dss-for-childs-death-is.html#ixzz17LE2sTKt

Dorothea Dix property debate resurfaces

Raleigh, N.C. — As the state moved forward with plans on Friday to begin closing North Carolina’s oldest state-run mental institution, discussion is resurfacing on what to do with the 306 acres that make up the Dorothea Dix Hospital Campus.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced in September that it was closing Dorothea Dix Hospital to help cut approximately $17 million of $28 million in operating costs that weren’t allocated in the 2010-11 state budget. The hospital on Friday stopped admitting most adult patients, with the exception of those who committed a crime and are ordered there by a judge.Eventually all patients will be treated at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro and Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

According to a DHHS timeline, the hospital could close its doors as early as next fall.When that happens, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker wants to turn the 306-acre Dix property, which overlooks downtown, into an urban park similar to New York’s Central Park.He said he expects to discuss his vision with the governor's office in the next few weeks.

DHHS wants to keep the property, which is the headquarters for the department.More than 1,400 employees work on the Dix campus, and approximately 20 of the buildings on the property are on the National Historic Registry, including the hospital.“This is the heartbeat of the operation,” DHHS spokeswoman Renee McCoy said. Meeker said that buildings on the property that require renovation and aren’t part of the historic registry should come down, at some point.The state should build a new headquarters for DHHS in downtown, he said, where several other state agencies are housed.

Another 1,700 other DHHS employees work in leased space around downtown at a cost of $7 million to $8 million each year.“That's where the employees would go,” he said. “Having your employees spread out over different buildings is not efficient and, over time, the renovation costs will be substantial.”McCoy said DHHS has no plans to relocate.“Fourteen hundred employees would be a lot of people to find additional space for,” she said. “This is where they’ve been housed. This is where work is being done.”

Talk about what to do with the Dix property has been going on for years.In 2007, the city offered to buy the campus and use the historical buildings for purposes compatible for a destination park.It would be up to the General Assembly, however, to approve a land deal were the state willing to sell the property.

* Reporter: Bruce Mildwurf, WRAL News December 3rd