The SAFE Center is an initiative of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State – a collaboration between the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). Our office is located in College Park, and we are administratively housed at UMB. Through MPower, the SAFE Center is able to leverage the intellectual and clinical expertise of schools across both campuses to enhance the services we provide and our research. Each year, the SAFE Center offers experiential learning opportunities through internships and fellowships for University System of Maryland students.
Partnerships
Public and private partnerships are crucial to the SAFE Center’s mission. Our partners provide important expertise and services on legal matters and in other professional capacities, enabling us to scale the impact of our work. The SAFE Center holds leadership roles on state and local task forces and among our communities, bringing together a mix of stakeholders to prevent human trafficking and support survivors. Our partners also facilitate survivors’ professional development by offering apprenticeships, internships, and job training opportunities. Students engage in this critical work alongside SAFE Center staff through participation in hands-on volunteer and internship experiences.
University of Maryland MPowering the State
Private Partnerships and Collaborations
Private partners play a vital role in supporting the SAFE Center’s mission, providing expertise, services, financial support and in-kind donations to help trafficking survivors. They support survivors’ professional development through apprenticeships, internships, training, and job opportunities. They assist in raising awareness and developing best practices for preventing and responding to human trafficking.
Marriott International
Since 2019, Marriott International has been a key supporter of the SAFE Center’s flagship Economic Empowerment program. In collaboration with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS), Marriott selected the SAFE Center to pilot an innovative hospitality training program, which has since trained 40 clients. Building on this success, the SAFE Center and Marriott have partnered to expand hospitality training for survivors nationwide, with critical support from the American Hotel and Lodging Association Foundation (AHLA). Additionally, Marriott has also donated clothing and essential items to support survivors. More recently the SAFE Center joined a partnership between UK based HotelSwaps and Marriott, providing free hotel stays for human trafficking survivors in need of emergency shelter.
American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) Foundation
The American Hotel and Lodging Association Foundation’s No Room for Trafficking Survivor Fund awarded a grant to the SAFE Center to expand hospitality training for survivors across the U.S. In the program’s first year, the SAFE Center, in partnership with Marriott and national partner agencies, trained 200 survivors, equipping them with the skills to begin careers in the hospitality industry. Now entering its second year, the SAFE Center will train 15 non-profit agencies nationwide to implement the hospitality training within their own programs, with a goal of reaching 225 survivors of human trafficking.
TISTA Science and Technology Corp
To address the digital divide often experienced by survivors and provide workforce readiness, TISTA Science and Technology Corporation has partnered with the SAFE Center since 2019 in many ways. TISTA has provided education scholarships, internships, and jobs for SAFE Center clients, focusing on teaching software testing, automation skills, and business analysis. TISTA has also donated laptops, food, and family essentials to survivors.
Steptoe LLP
The Washington, D.C.-based international law firm, Steptoe LLP, has been a foundational partner to the SAFE Center since our launch in 2016 and through every stage of the Center’s development. The Steptoe team has provided financial support and pro bono legal assistance, securing humanitarian visas, assisting on policy issues, and working on civil litigation matters. The firm also offers apprenticeship opportunities for survivors.
Maryland Hospital Association/UMD Capital Region Medical Center
The Maryland Hospital Association partnered with the SAFE Center (with support from forensic nurse examiners and child abuse experts from hospitals across the state) to develop guidelines and best practices for Maryland hospitals to better identify, support, and care for survivors of human trafficking. The guidelines offer a trauma-informed, step-by-step guide for meeting the needs of and empowering survivors.
The SAFE Center is implementing this model at the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in the Emergency Room; the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center; OB/GYN; Behavioral Health; and the Outpatient Clinic. This project will serve as a pilot program with the aim of adopting this approach to other hospitals in Maryland.
Public Partners
Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force (MHTTF)
The Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force (MHTTF) is comprised of government agencies and nonprofit organizations who are committed to taking a victim-centered approach to combatting human trafficking in Maryland. The SAFE Center sits on the Task Force Steering Committee and serves as the co-chair of the Medical and Labor Trafficking Subcommittees. We also participate in meetings of the Victim Services Subcommittee.
Montgomery County Human Trafficking Prevention Committee
The SAFE Center co-chairs the Montgomery County Human Trafficking Prevention Committee which aims to increase awareness of trafficking and develop inter-agency coordination of strategies for response and prevention. Committee members include government agencies and non-government organizations, as well as a host of individual community members.
As past co-chair of the Victim Services Subcommittee, the SAFE Center facilitated county-wide collaboration between service providers and law enforcement, creating an assessment-based response protocol for trafficking survivors.
Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force
The Prince George’s County Human Trafficking Task Force brings together law enforcement, social services, government agencies, and community organizations to build capacity for identifying trafficking survivors, investigating and prosecuting sex and labor trafficking cases, and educating community members about the issue. The SAFE Center is chair of the Task Force’s Victim Services and Labor Trafficking Committees.
