Pilot Sites

On May 24, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., Project NO REST held a meeting at the North Carolina Judicial Center, home of the Administrative Office of the Courts, at 901 Corporate Center Drive in Raleigh.

At the meeting, we discussed  human trafficking in North Carolina, Project NO REST, the comprehensive plan adopted last year to address the trafficking of youth in North Carolina, and the process for recruiting pilot sites to implement the plan.

Project NO REST is a five-year effort funded by the U.S. Children’s Bureau to address the trafficking of youth in North Carolina, especially those youth who have been involved in the child welfare system.

During the first year of the project, a large group of stakeholders from a variety of state and local agencies, non-profits, and other organizations, as well as a number of advocates, came together to develop a comprehensive plan to address trafficking. The plan addresses the trafficking of youth age 25 and under. It provides recommendations on prevention, youth engagement and outreach, screening and intake of youth who have been trafficked, services and practices for providing assistance to these youth, funding, and data and evaluation.

You can find a copy of that plan here.

The May 24 meeting discussed the process for selecting up to five communities across the state to implement efforts to address human trafficking. These efforts will include developing a collaborative network of agencies, individuals, and organizations.

Funding: We have applied for funding to support infrastructure and implementation of these projects. We hope to be able to provide up to $100,000 per year for each site for two years.  We expect to hear by early June. The applications to become a pilot site will not be due until June 17, allowing time for applicants to be notified of funding receipt and budget instructions and submission. We will provide updates about funding on the Project NO REST website on this page for the pilot sites.

You can find the Request for Applications here and the application form here.

For those of you interested in applying to become a pilot site but who were unable to attend the meeting on May 24, we plan to record the meeting and post it to this website or to provide a webinar to discuss the application process. We will provide information about the webinar on this page.

If you have questions, please contact D. F. Duncan at dfduncan@email.unc.edu or submit them in the comments sections below.