What We Do
In collaboration with our partners, we equip organizations and individuals with the knowledge, tools, and resources to address human trafficking.
Education
Understanding the complexities of human trafficking is the first step to combating it. Learn about the basics, facts, myths and more.
Training
Trauma-informed training programs for service providers, businesses and organizations that are tailored for your industry.
Survivor Leadership
Survivors are experts offering valuable insights in prevention and anti-human trafficking efforts by advising the community.
Community Engagement
Everyone plays a role in combatting human trafficking and there are numerous ways to effect change.
Education
Education Is Prevention
Understanding the complexities of human trafficking is the first step to ending it.
Human trafficking is often a misunderstood issue—it impacts vulnerable individuals across every community and thrives when systems fail. That’s why education is essential. When people know the realities of trafficking—beyond the myths and headlines—they’re more prepared to recognize signs, respond appropriately, and advocate for change.
At the Collaborative, we believe in the power of community learning. Through trainings, resources, and conversations, we help equip individuals and organizations with the knowledge to make a difference. Whether you’re a teacher, student, employer, faith leader, or simply someone who wants to understand more, you have a role to play in building a safer, more informed region.
Start now with our resource: Humans Over Human Trafficking »
Explore facts, myths, and how trafficking shows up in everyday spaces.
Learn the Fundamentals
Our Fundamentals of Human Trafficking training is a great next step. This 90-minute introductory session provides an overview of sex and labor trafficking, with a focus on how it impacts marginalized and vulnerable populations, what it looks like in local communities, and how systems and demand intersect to sustain it.
The presentation includes:
- Common myths vs. facts
- Types and stages of trafficking
- Legal context and survivor-centered responses
- Prevention strategies and practical ways to get involved
Led by Carolyn Arny, Director of Education & Training and member of the Survivor Advisory Council, this session combines professional expertise and lived experience—grounding each training in both research and reality.
We train in person or virtually. To schedule a custom session for your workplace, school, organization, or congregation, contact Carolyn at carny@collabtoendht.org.
Free Virtual Training: Fundamentals of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking happens here—and awareness is the first step to prevention.
Join us for a free, 1.5 CEU-accredited virtual training that equips individuals, teams, and communities with the tools to recognize, respond to, and prevent human trafficking.
Nearly 3,000 people across Northeast Ohio have already participated this year—don’t miss your chance to join this growing movement for safety and change.
Upcoming Sessions:
FREE July Fundamentals via ZOOM
Tuesday, July 15 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
RSVP Now
FREE August Fundamentals via ZOOM
Tuesday, August 16 | 11:30 PM – 1:00 PM
FREE September Fundamentals via ZOOM
Tuesday, September 16 5:30 PM – 7:00PM
Ethical Storytelling: The Power & Responsibility of Stories via ZOOM
August 6, 2025 via ZOOM
11: 30 AM – 12: 30 PM
Join Us for a FREE Learning Session
In the anti-trafficking movement, stories are often used to raise awareness, shift public opinion, and influence policy. But when storytelling is not done ethically, it can cause real harm. This session will introduce the core principles of ethical storytelling and explore the historical patterns of re-exploitation and revictimization that have occurred when lived experiences are used without incorporating practices of ethical storytelling. Participants will gain practical tools for implementing ethical storytelling practices within their organizations, campaigns, and communications. The session will also address media and imaging considerations, including how to responsibly represent survivors in photographs, videos, and digital platforms. Through voices of lived experiences and interactive reflection, we will explore how to shift from extractive narratives toward storytelling that honors dignity, agency, and the complexity of lived experience.
Session leader ALICIA LEY wears many hats within the anti-trafficking sector, where she has worked for the last decade. She is currently the Senior Programs Officer at Survivor Alliance, a global organization dedicated to equipping and empowering survivors to be leaders in the anti-trafficking movement. There, she provides leadership training to survivors and manages their Fellowship programs. This employment pathway enhances survivor representation in the anti-trafficking sector while equipping organizations to create a trauma-informed and inclusive workplace. Alicia has spent the last decade advocating and building holistic, healing-centered spaces to support survivors as they journey toward becoming their whole, healthy selves. She has the privilege of connecting and collaborating with survivor leaders worldwide who are leading grassroots anti trafficking efforts in their communities. It is these face-to-face relationships that fuel her fiery passion to address systemic injustices and bring survivors and allies together in the fight for economic equity and meaningful survivor inclusion within the global anti- tracking movement.
Specialized Training for Organizations
The Collaborative to End Human Trafficking provides practitioner-driven, survivor-informed content that is responsive to the particular needs of victim service providers, businesses and system stakeholders, their communities, and the victims they serve.
Our trainings strengthen the victim assistance responses to human trafficking, give training participants tools they can use in their work, support multidisciplinary task forces and cross-sector collaboration, and build stakeholder capacity and leadership in identifying human trafficking victims and connecting them to services.
Take action now to deepen your organization’s knowledge and employees’ skills for responding to human trafficking.
Topics include:
- Trauma Informed Care & Survivor Centered Programming
- Building a Trauma Informed Organization
- The Role of Collaboration in Anti-Human Trafficking Work
- Vicarious Trauma & Resiliency Building
- Ethics
- And many more
The Collaborative offers educational programs on human trafficking for organizations large and small. Contact Carolyn at carny@collabtoendht.org for more information.
Survivor Leadership
Anti-trafficking efforts can only be successful with comprehensive inclusion of diverse professionals, including survivor leaders. Our Survivor Advisory Council members offer insight into the anti-trafficking field through application, adaptation and validation. Their insights gained through lived experiences and professional endeavors will highly impact the fight against human trafficking within Northeast Ohio and beyond.
Community Engagement
We work collaboratively with individuals and groups of people to bring about change. Our goal is to empower volunteers to become ambassadors of the Collaborative’s mission. We provide comprehensive training and opportunities to raise awareness about the reality of human trafficking and to help shape a future free of trafficking in our community.
Everyone has a role to play in the fight against human trafficking. You can use your voice to raise awareness and initiate action.
- Social Media
Engage people via social media who are also willing to spread the word about Human Trafficking. We make it easy for Ambassadors to quickly share information with followers. We create images for you to share or hashtags that will prompt engagement.
- Fundraise
Start a fundraiser to support the mission of the Collaborative and other anti-human trafficking efforts in NE Ohio. We can help you find the fundraising strategy that works best for you.
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Greater Cleveland's Coordinated Response to Human Trafficking
“It is impossible for any single agency or organization to respond comprehensively to the problem of human trafficking.”
Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
The Collaborative to End Human Trafficking leads the efforts of Greater Cleveland’s Coordinated Response to Human Trafficking, Northeast Ohio’s 70+ member anti-human trafficking coalition made up of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses.
Together we are working to:
- Develop and sustain a coordinated and consistent response to human trafficking in our community
- Harness the collective power of the multidisciplinary membership to substantially improve the capacity of our community to impact the problem
As the backbone organization for these efforts, the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking maintains overall strategic coherence, coordinates the day-to-day operations, and implementation of the work, including stakeholder engagement, communications, data collection and analysis, and other responsibilities.
