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International Center In Bowling Green Expanding Services To Help Human Trafficking Victims

Becca Schimmel
/
WKYU

A new program to help human trafficking victims is now underway in southern Kentucky. The effort is taking place at the International Center of Kentucky

A grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement will allow the Bowling Green-based resettlement agency to help certified victims of human trafficking. 

The agency will provide education and job skills training, legal services, housing and other assistance. Executive Director Albert Mbanfu said the agency has started the program by helping a teenager in Ohio County.

“So we are providing services to that individual. The child just got his Medicaid to make sure he’s screened medically and we’re working on filing his documents to get him his green card and to make sure that he goes to work. He’s been enrolled in school,” he said. 

The 17-year-old boy in Beaver Dam is from Guatemala and was certified by the Office of Refugee Resettlement as a victim of human trafficking. That certification is required in order for the resettlement agency to assist the victims.

The program is not available to refugees or U.S. citizens. 

© 2019 WKU Public Radio

Becca Schimmel is a Becca Schimmel is a multimedia journalist with the Ohio Valley ReSource a collaborative of public radio stations in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio. She's based out of the WKU Public Radio newsroom in Bowling Green.
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