Raise Awareness:
At Your School
Education is prevention.
Our school awareness programs help students and educators at all grade levels learn and understand the risk factors and warning signs of human trafficking.
Lesson Plan Website.
Free Lesson Plans for Health & PE Teachers (6th-12th Grade) to help meet current NJ Learning Standards on Human Trafficking.
Guidelines for Schools
Following legislation that the NJCAHT advocated for, the NJ Department of Education in conjunction with the NJ Department of Children and Families and the Office of the Attorney General, and with the input of many stakeholders, has published the Guidelines for Schools on the Prevention of Human Trafficking of Students.
Read the press release HERE
LOCKER SLAM!
Locker Slam! was created to raise awareness during Human Trafficking Prevention Month which takes place each January. Starting in January 2019, we invited schools across New Jersey to engage in conversations about human trafficking, how to prevent it, and how to ensure the health and safety of every student in the state and beyond. We gave students magnets to place on their lockers and encourage them to speak out online using the hashtag #studentsforfreedom.
LOCKER SLAM! Reach Edition
Starting in 2022, our objective has been the same, but with some new updates. As our society continues down the digital path, a new goal for Locker Slam! is to reach more and more students. We are doing this with our usual bundle of magnets and stickers and online presence. In addition, we are appreciating that human trafficking awareness should not only happen in January, so Locker Slam! is expanding to the school year.
WE ARE IN PROCESS OF REDESIGNING OUR MATERIALS - please email Education@SaferNJ.org to express interest in receiving a box of free materials when they are ready.
Across the nation, students are participating in virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, increased screen time and feelings of isolation during virtual learning greatly raises the risk of online exploitation of students by predators who are prowling the Internet seeking to establish connections with young people through online games, social media, and messaging apps.
Between March 1 and May 23, 2020, the NJ Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received 2,380 reports from the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children—up from 760 reports in 2019 during the same time period—marking more than a 200% increase. Nationally, the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children experienced a shocking 126% increase in Cyber Tipline reports— from 745,391 in May 2019 to 1,688,109 in May 2020.
Locker Slam 2.0 was designed to provide students and teachers with the opportunity to raise awareness in their school or college communities of online grooming and exploitation—especially during January’s Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Participants will share virtual stickers on social media, attach them to email signatures, and post them on the Internet. They can also share the virtual stickers on systems such as Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology, and more with their learning community. We encourage students and teachers to post their images under #studentsforfreedom on social media to further raise awareness as a collective group of individuals dedicated to making a difference. The Locker Slam! 2.0 digital toolkit was released on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021.
Pre-K and Elementary School
Our Safe Saturdays program for pre-K and elementary school children is based around a multi-lingual coloring book and song, focusing on how to stay safe. It's an ideal program for your local library, and grants are available to help libraries afford the books.
Apply for the Safe Saturdays program HERE.
Contact INFO@SAFERNJ.ORG for more information.
Other Resources
Access NJCAHT’s resources on how to talk about human trafficking with students.
15 Ways to Engage Your School in Human Trafficking Awareness
Inspiring Student Activism
Human Trafficking Lesson Plan
