San Mateo Looking for Volunteers for 'Day of Action' to Help End Human Trafficking

San Mateo County is seeking volunteers to help raise awareness of a new hotline number for victims of labor and commercial sex trafficking.

On May 10, volunteers led by the San Mateo County Manager’s Office will participate in a “Community Day of Action.” Similar efforts have already begun in Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Marin counties.

The group will fan out across the county to distribute posters to certain bars, transit stations, farm labor contractors, urgent care centers and other establishments required by State law to post the hotline number.

To make this Cross-Bay Community Day of Action a success, San Mateo County is looking for team leaders and volunteers to help organize their city and inspire others to get involved.

Anyone interested in helping victims of human trafficking victims should contact the volunteer coordinator, Rose Mukhar, atstoptrafficking@smcgov.org or 650-363-4184.

This promises to be a huge event that will send a national message that the Bay Area does not tolerate human trafficking. Please join us in taking a stand against modern-day slavery in our community.

Trafficking can take many forms. It involves controlling a person through force, fraud, or coercion to exploit the victim for forced labor, sexual exploitation, or both.

California is one of the nation’s top four destination states for trafficked persons, and the Bay Area is a particular national hot spot for human trafficking. Most of the reporting calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline come from California.

State Senate Bill 1193 now requires certain businesses and other establishments to post the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline number: 1-888-373-7888.

To read more about this law and to download San Mateo County’s human trafficking hotline resource poster, go to http://www.heat-watch.org/bahc2freedom, which is a webpage dedicated to raising awareness about SB 1193.