Sharan Dhanoa J.D. ’12, standing, moderates SBCEHT panel presentation during the Building Capacity Through Collaboration conference on September 18, 2015, at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, in San Jose. Left to right: Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Paola Estanislao J.D. ’07, SJPD Sgt. Eric Quan, Community Solutions Director Erin O’Brien, Lynette Parker, Ruth Silver Taube and Santa Clara County Sheriff Office Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup.
As football fans across the nation anxiously await the Super Bowl, to be hosted in the city of Santa Clara on February 7, 2016, a network of organizations spanning seven counties is taking advantage of the increased awareness and resources during the Super Bowl to combat a problem that is pervasive in our community: human trafficking. Through its collaborative efforts, the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center continues to play an important role in this response to a problem that is prevalent in the Bay Area but which may be amplified by the flurry of activity surrounding the Super Bowl.
The projected influx of fans and visitors to the Bay Area is already causing hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and other businesses to hire temporary workers for renovations or upgrades, and the need for extra labor will only increase during and after the game. Unknowingly, many establishments will rely on vendors, contractors, and subcontractors whose crews may be exploited or forced to work against their will. “While this is a big problem, labor trafficking is virtually ignored by people and the media in favor of the more sensationalist stories about sex trafficking, which is equally important,” says Sharan Dhanoa J.D. ’12, Coordinator for the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking (SBCEHT).
Formed in 2005 by several organizations including the Alexander Community Law Center, SBCEHT has been at the core of this Super Bowl effort whose planning phase started in May, 2014. With the assistance of Stanford University’s case studies on previous Super Bowls, the South African Soccer World Cup, and the London Olympics, the group sought to learn how law enforcement and human services providers interacted to address cases of human trafficking during those events. What emerged was a set of lessons learned and guiding principles that presented a compelling case for other organizations to join SBCEHT in what has become a grassroots movement that now includes over 57 organizations across Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Monterey, Alameda and San Francisco counties. The larger, regional group, now known as No Traffick Ahead, meets monthly and continues to engage new organizations wishing to join in regional efforts.
There are overlapping issues when a given organization or agency encounters a case of human trafficking. For instance, “a foreign-born survivor may attend one of our immigration clinics, and we may discover that she or he has been forced to work against her or his will for little or no compensation. The person may be a victim or a witness in a criminal investigation, may be threatened by the trafficker and may not have money to pay for food or other basic necessities. As a result, there are immigration, employment, law enforcement, victim services and other concerns such as eligibility for public benefits, housing and other legal needs. The collaboration among all agencies and organizations makes a significant difference for survivors by providing them comprehensive assistance,” says Law Center Immigration Supervising Attorney Lynette Parker, who also conducts training on human trafficking. Law Center Workers’ Rights Clinic Supervising Attorney Ruth Silver Taube, whose Clinic also screens for human trafficking cases and who is Legal Services Chair of the SBCEHT, has been leading outreach on wage theft and human trafficking through panels, workshops, presentations, and training sessions in the South Bay. In fact, the bus driver who was hailed as a hero last summer for spotting an abducted child credited the human trafficking training to Valley Transportation Agency (VTA) employees that Silver Taube conducted under the auspices of the Santa Clara County Office of Women’s Policy, Santa Clara County Human Trafficking Commission, and the SBCEHT. “We utilize a collaborative, victim-centered, trauma-informed approach to better serve our clients, who are supported every step of the way once they are identified,” says Silver Taube.
The No Traffick Ahead workgroup sees the Super Bowl as an opportunity to proactively involve organizations and individuals that haven’t been engaging in efforts to combat human trafficking. “We’re planting seeds that will bear fruit even after the Super Bowl. From getting four counties to conduct a coordinated billboard campaign during this coming January (Human Trafficking Awareness Month), to passing a resolution in San Francisco giving preference to vendors who are informed on the issue (which has now been replicated in over 20 cities around the Bay Area), to rallying more than 57 organizations, we are doing things we did not think were possible. To us, this is already a victory against human trafficking, yet the fight continues,” says Dhanoa.
