The Women’s Fund of Omaha recently commissioned UNMC to conduct a study on sex trafficking in Nebraska.
Michelle Zych, Executive Director for the Women’s Fund of Omaha, says everything the Women’s Fund does is rooted in research and best practices.
She says researchers connected with service agencies in Omaha and Lincoln and reached out to them to ask if there was anyone who was available to talk to them who had this experience.
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board through UNMC to protect the participants’ confidentiality.
Zych says because of this, researchers were able to have thoughtful conversations with the survivors.
"From those conversations, the researchers developed themes that came through and that’s what you see in the findings is these themes the survivors talked about. So while everybody has an individual story, you could definitely pick up on some commonalities around things they were suggesting to address especially around awareness and services.”
The key findings and recommendations can be summed up in the “3Ps” paradigm: identify strategies to prevent sex trafficking, provide protection and support for survivors and prosecute perpetrators to reduce the demand for sex trafficking.
To view the full report, the website is omahawomensfund.org.
There is a panel discussion at UNO’s Thompson Alumni center on August 17th called "Human Trafficking: Yes, it happens in Nebraska." The discussion takes place from 11:30 to 1 and is sponsored by the Women's Leadership Council of the United Way of the Midlands in partnership with the Women's Fund of Omaha.
You can RSVP by email to Events@UWMidlands.org.