Human trafficking has been in the headlines this year. It’s getting more attention in national conversations. News stories and social media posts have raised difficult questions about exploitation, power, justice, and accountability. Across communities and kitchen tables, more people are asking how trafficking happens and whether the systems designed to protect people are doing enough.
These conversations matter. Many people are understandably upset by the stories of exploitation they read in the news and on social media. It is bringing more awareness to an issue that too often goes unseen.
But awareness and outrage alone don’t create change. While public attention may rise and fall, the need for action is urgent. The question is: How can we turn this moment of attention into action?
This November and December, LCHT has set its most ambitious fundraising goal yet: $300,000. Why now? Because the need for a strong response to human trafficking continues to grow while available funding at the state, federal, and foundation levels has declined significantly.
This shortfall limits our ability to expand, improve, and respond to emerging challenges. Yet across Colorado, more survivors, professionals, and community members than ever are turning to LCHT for help.
You can help close that gap, sustaining the work today while meeting the needs of tomorrow. Make a gift today to Meet the Moment with us.
Awareness and outrage alone won’t end human trafficking
When human trafficking makes the news, the stories can be shocking. They can leave us feeling enraged at traffickers, concerned about survivors, and overwhelmed by the scale of the problem.
But headlines don’t always tell the full story.
Human trafficking is complex. It can happen to people of any gender or age in homes, workplaces, and communities across Colorado. People experiencing challenges like housing instability, poverty, and discrimination face a greater risk of exploitation.
And while awareness is important, it doesn’t always lead to understanding. In fact, incomplete stories, misinformation, and assumptions about trafficking can make it harder to identify when someone needs help.
Real change requires more than public attention. It takes reliable research that reveals what’s really happening in Colorado communities. It takes training on how to recognize and respond to exploitation. It takes connecting survivors with resources. And it takes leaders and partners working together to address the conditions that allow exploitation to persist.
This is how we meet the current moment: not with fear or sensationalism about human trafficking, but with knowledge, collaboration, and action.
That’s what we mean by Meet the Moment, the theme of the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking’s (LCHT) upcoming giving campaign. It’s a call to move beyond the headlines and turn today’s increased awareness of human trafficking into meaningful action.
Beyond the headlines, meaningful work continues
The attention may be new, but the response to human trafficking is not. As one of Colorado’s leading anti-trafficking organizations, LCHT works alongside survivors, communities, and partners to do the work that meaningful change requires.
We’ve been doing this work for more than 20 years. The work continued in 2026, and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together:
- Colorado’s 24/7 Human Trafficking Hotline: Our 24/7 Hotline has received more than 1,000 calls and texts so far this year, nearly half from survivors. That’s an unprecedented level of activity.
- Training and Education: So far this year, LCHT delivered 214 trainings to more than 9,000 professionals and community members. That makes 2026 our busiest year yet for anti-trafficking training.
- Leadership Development Program: 14 professionals at every stage of their career completed projects, with 7 receiving scholarships to participate.
- Research and Action: Our fourth Colorado Project research initiative is set to launch in January 2027, bringing research and survivor expertise together to study the root causes that can lead to trafficking in Colorado and identify ways to prevent it.
These efforts don’t always make headlines. But they do make a difference. They give people a trusted place to ask for help. They equip professionals to recognize possible signs of trafficking in their everyday work. And they help communities make informed decisions about how to prevent exploitation.
The future is up to all of us to shape
As we look toward 2027, we know the work is far from finished. More people need support and resources. More professionals need training. More human rights leaders need mentorship. And more communities need data on the conditions that allow trafficking to happen in the first place.
But we’re hopeful about what comes next. We’ve seen what happens when survivors, advocates, community members, and professionals bring their knowledge and skills together. And we’ve seen how supporters like you make that work possible.
On November 10, we’ll launch our Meet the Moment giving campaign, inviting you to build on more than two decades of progress. Your support will help survivors, strengthen prevention efforts, and make our Colorado communities safer.
We can’t control when human trafficking makes the headlines. But together, we can shape what happens next.
Meet the Moment with us on December 8, 2026
As human trafficking commands greater public attention, this moment calls for more than awareness. On December 8, Colorado Gives Day, we’re bringing our community together at Upper Larimer in Denver for Meet the Moment Live Event.
We’ll explore the gaps that let sex and labor exploitation continue, the systems meant to protect people that too often fall short, and the power each of us holds to change them. You’ll find out how to help turn awareness into action and power the work that closes the gaps.
Enjoy food and drinks, a silent auction (that you can participate in even if you can’t join us in person!), a keynote from survivor-researcher Rhonelle Bruder, and live music by Denver art-soul band DOGTAGS.
Human trafficking counts on people looking away and on the gaps in our systems. Change starts when communities pay attention and do something about it. Join us in challenging the conditions exploitation relies on and shifting power back to the people and communities long denied it.
Get Your Tickets to Meet the Moment on 12/8
The spotlight is on human trafficking right now, and what we do with this moment matters. Together, we can meet it.
