Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

Dr. Dean, Akeila, and I attended the Liberator Awards in Columbus, Ohio the last weekend in March. The Lab was a finalist in the student organization category. At the ceremony, we were seated next to two survivors and a woman who ran the resource housing for survivors for the HerSong organization. The survivors were very enthusiastic to share some of their stories with us. Currently, they are both pursuing degrees in social work. We asked about their opinion of criminalization of sex work. They both agreed that their arrests and time spent in jail and prison was the leading factor in getting them away from their traffickers. Additionally, there is a program specifically in Ohio that serves in rehabilitation and services for individuals with substance abuse disorder and may be facing trafficking. More information on the program can be found here .  Maggie Schrage

Our new Human Trafficking Research Lab Impact Report for 2025 is here! We updated a lot of the information with over 55,000 visits to our blog (as of today), lots of trainings with local community members, and more money raised to support my students' salaries. We added a section on our research awards and then updated findings from our current research projects. I always enjoy compiling these numbers and updates because it shows just how much we do every year and with small incremental changes it is often difficult to see all of our accomplishments. Thanks to everyone for their support of the HTRL over the years, we couldn't do it without you!  

Human Trafficking Search Aligned with Freedom United picked up my article " USAID Cuts Detrimental to Combatting Human Trafficking Around the World " originally published on SlaveFree Today the blog for the Journal of Modern Slavery. I was able to get permission to repost it on the Human Trafficking Search and I am thankful that more people will read about the impact of these cuts to programs sponsored by USAID, programs which have contributed to and shaped my research in Ukraine immensely. I wrote this article based on my personal experience working with and seeing the effects of these counter trafficking programs in source countries for human trafficking. 

At the Liberator Awards I was able to learn about different products made by survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Since we were Liberator finalists we got a VIP goodie bag with lots of different products and a few of those products were made by survivors. The soap pictured above was made by survivors in Columbus. We also spoke with a few survivors that worked at Freedom a la Cart a local cafe and catering company that hired trafficking survivors. The website says the company "aims to empower survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation to build lives of freedom and self-sufficiency." It is difficult for many survivors to get a job after they leave exploitation so this company breaks down "employment barriers is vital for creating a pathway to freedom." We only had one day in Columbus but when I am in the area again I will definitely grad a coffee and lunch at their cafe with an amazing mural of freedom outside. They are located on ...

My students and I drove over to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Liberator Awards sponsored by the SOAP Project. We enjoyed getting dressed up and it was such an honor to be a Liberator Finalist for Student Group of the year! We got to meet many survivors and social service providers combatting human trafficking and it was an inspirational and educational night. We are able to hear from and meet people from around the United States working on human trafficking.  Two of the people at our table worked at the Tim Tebow Foundation. They worked in a Her Song Safehouse in Columbus and it was very interesting to talk to them about their work and the foundation. The foundation supports eight safe houses in four cities in Tennessee, Florida, and Ohio. The safe houses provide "long-term residential care and trauma-informed programming to help survivors heal and become self-sufficient. While Her Song helps survivors coming out of trafficking situations with immediate physical needs like a home,...

The first article from our NSF funded study (National Science Foundation D-ISN/RAPID #2330311: Data Collection for Human Trafficking Recruitment and Responses in Forced Migration, Operations Engineering grant) was just published! Monday was publication day for my article " Safety is an Illusion: Conducting Feminist Research in War Zones " in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. After going to Ukraine to conduct interviews on human trafficking recruitment during the war I often contemplated the ethics of conducting interviews with people during air raid sirens and bombings. I found little published before I went to prepare me for the realities of conducting research in war so I wanted to offer my advice to other scholars. I originally thought I would just write a blog post but then I remembered that more journals today are offering more diverse publication options with short perspectives pieces so I decided to pitch that to a few journals and thankfull...

Yesterday I presented along with my former student Diana who currently works at Growing Strong Sexual Assault Center on the "Intersection of Human Trafficking and Healthcare: Opportunities for Identification and Disruption" to Carle Health SANE Seminar 2025. This healthcare system has clinics around Central Illinois and we presented at the Sexual Assault Multidisciplinary Response Conference "Intervention within Special Populations." The training taught attendees about human trafficking in Central Illinois, how to recognize it in healthcare settings, and reporting/responding strategies. We discussed both sex and labor trafficking and provide warning signs for healthcare workers on human trafficking especially in emergency room settings. We provided resources for the disruption of trafficking supply chains and information and strategies for including human trafficking in different healthcare department trainings and protocol development for hospitals. We were also ab...