The Rotary Club of Strongsville and the Cleveland based Collaborative to End Human Trafficking hosted a forum on November 14th to raise awareness of human trafficking in NEO.
 
The forum was recorded, and you can watch the recording at https://livestream.com/strongsville/humantrafficking
 
The first speaker was Theresa Flores, who, as a 15-year-old student in an affluent family in an upper class Detroit suburb, was trafficked under coercion for two years while maintaining an otherwise normal life. It happens in plain sight.

Next was a local sheriff's detective who specializes in trafficking. He talked about the scope of the problem at the local level.

Third was a speaker from the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center who spoke about programs and advocacy for victims.

Finally a panel of local experts who fielded questions from the audience. They included: Law enforcement (local police, fire and state Highway Patrol), education (superintendent of local schools); medical (sexual assault nurse examiners from local hospital Emergency Rooms), plus the featured speakers.

Turnout and audience participation was excellent.