What makes the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking different from other nonprofits committed to eliminating this crime is our focus on research to drive action and policy change. We believe that community-based, data-driven insights will drive a more comprehensive response to Colorado’s anti-trafficking movement. That’s why research is one of our core program areas (you may have heard us talk a lot lately about our research initiative, The Colorado Project 2023).
We recently sat down for a conversation with Annjanette Alejano-Steele (AJ), Research Director and Co-Founder at LCHT. Keep reading to hear AJ’s perspective on why research is critical to creating effective strategies that address the underlying causes of this complex issue—and what keeps her motivated to do this work.
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What comes next for The Colorado Project and LCHT’s research efforts?
AJ: “Since The Colorado Project 2013, participants have consistently noted the need for addressing larger community ‘root causes’—the preexisting social, cultural, and family conditions that create vulnerability for people to be trafficked. Several examples include poverty, homelessness, addiction, violence in the home or local community, lack of education, lack of citizenship status, and marginalization due to identities.
By the end of 2024, LCHT plans to conduct statewide Root Cause Conversations to explore risk and resilience factors for human trafficking across different communities in Colorado. These conversations focus on understanding how systemic and community structures contribute to trafficking risks and identifying actionable recommendations to enhance resilience.
We plan to deepen collaboration between the Colorado anti-trafficking movement and other parallel movements focusing on these root causes by learning from and with individuals with lived experience, discussing systems structures that need to change, and proposing actionable recommendations for communities to reduce the risk of human trafficking.”
What were the outcomes and early learnings from this year’s Root Cause Conversations?
AJ: “The four Root Cause Conversations we plan to host are centered on housing systems and homelessness, immigration systems, and oppression toward Native/Indigenous and LGBTQ+ identities. Someone’s identity alone is not a root cause of exploitation; it is the racism/bigotry/transphobia/oppression that impacts individuals who hold these identities and makes them vulnerable. Data gathered from this first set of Root Cause Conversations will allow us to refine conversations for other root cause areas and inform the conduct of the next Colorado Project report and action plan, which will be released in 2028.
Housing insecurity is both a cause and consequence of human trafficking in Colorado. Our research in The Colorado Project 2023 found that access to affordable housing is one of the areas of greatest need for trafficking survivors. Of the factors contributing to exploitation, lack of stable housing—and the underlying role of poverty—is a major contributor to vulnerability.
In regard to trafficking specifically, Polaris reported that 64% of respondents to a survivor survey were homeless or experiencing unstable housing when they were recruited into a trafficking situation. Furthermore, another study found that 41% of youth who were sex trafficked were approached for sex on their first night of homelessness. Similarly, 91% of respondents in a different study were approached by someone with an income opportunity that seemed too good to be true.”
Emerging Themes from Root Cause Conversations
1. People are trading sex or other forms of labor for housing
People are undocumented or particularly vulnerable in our community for varying reasons. Mainly because it’s hard to find employment. That can make them more vulnerable to being pushed into labor trafficking and/or sex trafficking.” — Root Cause Conversation participant
2. People experiencing homelessness are targeted
“There is a lot of targeting towards youth who are homeless or in housing instability [who don’t] have that social capital to depend on. That loss of social capital and that arena of substance use was one of the commonalities of the targeted approach to myself as a youth, as well as others that I was around.” — Root Cause Conversation participant
3. Shelter beds are full
“Everybody knows we don’t have enough housing across the spectrum. In the shelter world in particular, we can see folks because there is no option, no alternative for housing. They’ll go back to their abuser or whoever their sex trafficker is because there isn’t anywhere for them to go.” — Root Cause Conversation participant
4. People have co-occurring, complex needs
“A lot of the people, individuals or families I work with, have had multiple victimizations throughout their lifetime and significant trauma. Which I think just makes them more vulnerable in general. Because their normalized experience is that. Sometimes what they are unaware of is an unhealthy relationship dynamic.” — Root Cause Conversation participant
5. There are policy shifts that need to happen
“Putting somebody just in a house and calling them housed and saying we’re doing something doesn’t fix any of the emotional and mental health issues that come along with it.” — Root Cause Conversation participant
What are the Regional Community Profiles that were recently released?
AJ: “The Regional Community Profiles draw from The Colorado Project 2023 Report and Action Plan to offer guidance in understanding regional-specific factors that may create risk for human trafficking. These Regional Community Profiles provide tailored summaries of the characteristics and challenges to addressing human trafficking in seven Colorado regions.
In each profile, you’ll find a review of region-specific characteristics and population vulnerabilities, industries where trafficking is possible, regional statistics, and existing anti-trafficking partnerships in the region, along with regional resources and recommendations to support community-level actions.
In my opinion, most importantly, you’ll have quotes by study participants that give voice to what they are seeing in their region, not only the challenges, but also successes in doing this difficult work. Whether you are new to the anti-trafficking effort or a veteran, these shorter profiles compliment the larger Colorado Project 2023 Report and Action Plan, and can help guide where the greatest needs are in your part of the state and how to plug in.”
CHECK OUT THE REGIONAL PROFILES
What best practices does LCHT follow when conducting research?
AJ: “The most important goal of our Research & Action program is to produce actionable data to support our Colorado communities. While we have had professional opportunities to publish in the Journal of Human Trafficking and share at national and international conferences, having anti-trafficking partners and communities use the data to advance their own community efforts matter.
The way in which we conduct community-based research is a reflection of LCHT’s organizational values and ensures that we also proceed in trauma-informed and survivor-centered ways. Community-based research allows us to partner with and follow the lead of community advocates and community members, ask better geographically tailored questions, and collaborate to take on interlocking issues for system change.”
What keeps you motivated and invested in anti-trafficking research?
AJ: “At this time in history, we are navigating so many uncertainties locally, globally, and everywhere in between. Like others, I am overwhelmed by the weight of thinking about gun violence, racism, elections, climate change, migration…the list feels endless and hopeless because of the interlocking systems and the need to organize and stay the course while ensuring that we take up multiple issues.
Our current efforts to address the root causes that create vulnerability to human trafficking allow us to begin taking up various issues systematically and with integrity. This is where I hold hope going forward as a researcher.
Collaboration in its highest form and taking up for one another in times of uncertainty, moving well beyond the focus on an already overwhelming issue like human trafficking. Like so many social issues that call our attention to system gaps, we need to take up other ‘parallel movements’ because of the ways in which exploitation and violence and resilience happen in our home communities.
AJ (center with some of the research leadership for The Colorado Project 2023, pictured at our Colorado Gives Day event in 2022.
As an anti-trafficking nonprofit that conducts research, we are actively engaged knowledge producers. We work to deeply understand the complex dynamics of human trafficking while supporting coordinated anti-trafficking action with our community partners. We connect dots between multiple issue areas, think critically and ask informed questions, and stay current on what’s happening in research and actions in other states and countries.
I’ve had the opportunity this summer to reflect on the sum of The Colorado Projects, starting all the way back to 2010. Looking back allows us to look at the paths paved from a new angle and to see the incremental changes we’ve made toward social change. Progress may feel like it’s moving at a glacial pace, but that’s exactly why taking periodic measurements over time helps to see what has changed (resources to support anti-trafficking partnerships) and what remains a priority (housing insecurity and homelessness).
Research allows measurement, and action ensures that we’re gathering the data to advance advocacy, provide a little more certainty in what we do so, help us to course correct, and invite others to build upon the work going forward.”
Research plays a pivotal role in uncovering the underlying root causes of human trafficking, evaluating what’s working, and informing solutions tailored to specific regional needs. Grounded in research, communities, policymakers, and anti-trafficking advocates can create lasting solutions to end this crime.
Want to see a current assessment of Colorado’s response to human trafficking? Check out our latest research initiative, The Colorado Project 2023. Learn who is most vulnerable to exploitation, what about the biggest challenge survivors are facing, and what anti-trafficking partnerships need more of.