Article archive / February 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 6.
The Louisiana Coalition Against Human Trafficking will host “Fight Human Trafficking: The Northshore Human Trafficking Conference,” at the First Baptist Church of Mandeville on Saturday, February 8, 2014.
The conference is free and open to the public and will feature leaders from various community organizations including law enforcement. First-hand accounts from former victims are to be highlighted.
Psychologist Dr. Rafael Salcedo is the co-founder of the Louisiana Coalition Against Human Trafficking, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting this crime. The Coalition was created to develop awareness and understanding about the tragedy of human trafficking and in particular child sex trafficking, also called Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST).
One of the main goals of the conference is to inform the community about the prevalence of child sex trafficking. “This seems timely given the fact that January has been designated by President Obama as Human Trafficking Awareness Month,” said Salcedo.
“Part of our mission includes establishing a therapeutic group home to treat victims of DMST,” said Salcedo. “To that end, we have acquired a large home in the greater New Orleans area, and are in the process of completing permits, licensure requirements, etc. to make the home operational.”
Dr. Rafael Salcedo and wife Beth told the Times that they invite all those in the community to attend this free conference. To register go to lacaht.org. (See ad next page.)
The couple received the Times’ 2013 Community Award for Altruism, honoring their efforts to stop child sex trafficking and to offer genuine help to these young victims.
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