Formative Evaluation of Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities (VHT-NC) Program
Creators: name: Tibaduiza, Elizabeth
name: Melander, Christina
name: Pfeffer, Rebecca
name: Latzman, Natasha
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Community-based Research
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Other Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Human Trafficking
subject: Native or Indigenous Communities

description: The purpose of this study is to conduct a formative evaluation of the Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities (VHT-NC) Program. The VHT-NC Program funds organizations that will build, expand, and sustain organizational and community capacity to deliver services to American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander individuals who have experienced severe forms of human trafficking (as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000) through the provision of direct services, assistance, and referrals. Six VHT-NC Program cooperative agreements were awarded in September 2020 (with a period of performance of 36 months). The VHT-NC Program projects vary in scope and strategy but are consistent in overarching goals, which include a focus on outreach to and identification of individuals who have experienced human trafficking, comprehensive case management and service provision, and service provider and community partner training. The multi-site formative evaluation of the VHT-NC Program is being conducted by RTI International and RTI’s partner, American Indian Development Associates (AIDA), through a contract from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with ACF’s Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). This study is being conducted as part of the Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses project. OPRE’s webpage about the project is located here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/human-trafficking-policy-and-research-analyses-project-2019-2024 RTI will be conducting a formative evaluation of the VHT-NC Program. Overall, this formative evaluation will develop an understanding of the context in which the VHT-NC projects are implemented, the projects’ goals, and the paths they take to achieve those goals. A primary aim is to conduct a participatory and culturally responsive formative evaluation that is informed by and respects the knowledge, values, and traditions of the communities implementing the VHT-NC projects. The formative evaluation of the VHT-NC Program will: • Investigate and document how projects approach and accomplish the goals of the VHT-NC Program; • Inform ACF’s efforts to address human trafficking in Native communities; • Inform future evaluation; and • Engage with and solicit input from local American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander communities and people with lived experience with human trafficking through the creation of a Community Expert Group. More specifically, the formative evaluation will address several research questions: 1. What is important to know about the community context (e.g., geographical, historical, cultural, governance, legal) in which projects are being implemented? How does this affect the planning and development of VHT-NC projects? 2. What are the projects’ VHT-NC goals? How do projects define successful achievement of those goals? 3. What values, philosophies, or traditions guide the VHT-NC projects? 4. What are the characteristics of the VHT-NC grant recipients, primary partners, and project clients? 5. How do VHT-NC projects develop and maintain partnerships and intergovernmental relationships? 6. What are the outreach approaches VHT-NC projects use to identify American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander individuals who have experienced human trafficking? 7. How do VHT-NC projects provide comprehensive case management services and other supportive services to clients? 8. How do VHT-NC projects involve American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander individuals who have experienced human trafficking in project design and implementation? 9. How is community training provided? Primary data collection will include three video or telephone semi-structured interviews with six project directors. Additional virtual interviews will be conducted with a case manager or advocate and a primary partner from each VHT-NC project. Site visits will be conducted in Year 3 in which additional interviews will take place, including with project leadership, case managers/advocates, survivor leaders, key partner staff, project clients, and other key grant recipient staff. All primary data collection activities will be informed by the Community Expert Group, which will be composed of 1 to 2 community expert consultants for each VHT-NC project. These groups will meet approximately three times per year for the duration of the evaluation. The evaluation will also utilize the reports and performance measures the projects submit to ACF as part of their grant requirements. Publicly available secondary data, from sources such as the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, will also be gathered. Analysis of the formative evaluation data has the potential to inform federal, state, Tribal, and community policymakers, funders, and practitioners to make decisions about future efforts to address human trafficking in Native communities, as well as to inform the refinement of future implementation and evaluation strategies.