Olive Crest launches drop-in centers to support young sex trafficking survivors
Olive Crest Chief Executive Officer Donald Verleur knows that building a relationship with underage sex trafficking survivors can be tenuous at best.
They have been lied to in the past, after all.
“Even inviting one of these children to go to lunch is complicated,” Verleur said. “They’re thinking, ‘OK, why do you want to take me to lunch? Do you want something back from me, a transaction?’”
Building a relationship is important. Youth who visit one of Olive Crest’s new drop-in centers will receive a place for basic needs, such as meals and clothing, but also access to other vital services.
The nonprofit, which is headquartered in Santa Ana, held a press conference Tuesday morning in Bellflower, where one of the drop-in centers is located.
Olive Crest is also opening drop-in centers in Anaheim and San Diego, as part of a cross-county effort to provide services and safety for minors in crisis. The nonprofit plans to launch another drop-in center in Los Angeles County, two more in the Inland Empire and one in Las Vegas.
Children and teens can access the centers on their own or be referred by law enforcement agencies, human trafficking task forces or partner nonprofits. The centers are supported by private and public funding, as well as a $10-million grant from the state of California over a three-year period.
“It’s a safe environment, no strings attached at the drop-in center,” Verleur said. “They can say, ‘You know what? I want to go back.’ We’ll be here whenever you need some food or to do your laundry. We also have opportunities for other types of living, if you choose, but this is a safe place for you.”
Michelle Heater is the victim assistance program director for Irvine-based Waymakers and works with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, a program operated by Waymakers and the Anaheim Police Department.
She said that the work of the drop-in centers across Southern California counties, unveiled during National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, is significant. The region overall is seen as a hub for youth sex trafficking, with attractions like Hollywood and Disneyland; Heater refers to Orange County as “the land of the mouse.”
“Many of the youth that we encounter through our task force work are not from Orange County,” Heater said. “Some are, for sure, but not all. When we are helping connect them to resources back in their county of origin, it can be a struggle, even though we have pretty good relationships with service providers. This Olive Crest initiative, where Olive Crest can really help to connect to their own offices in other counties, it really helps to improve how effective and efficient we are in ensuring these young victims are engaged and stay engaged with the trauma-informed service providers and services.”
Each drop-in center will operate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and also provide services including mental health support, education resources, vocational training and medical aid. Rapid response teams will also be at the ready — operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week — to provide support for both youth and caregivers.
Tuesday’s news conference also featured thoughts from Anaheim Police Chief Rick Armendariz, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, among others. The Sheriff’s Department is the lead law enforcement agency for the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force.
“These are girls and boys for the most part, and they’re mostly girls,” Hochman said. “We need to have places like this. I am so impressed by what Olive Crest has come up with, drop-in centers that provide safety and stability. People that don’t have that in their lives can come here and begin the process to recognize their own self-esteem, to break from the traffickers who so exploited them and gave them the notion that only the traffickers can provide that safety to them. Now they’re going to get reintegrated, and it starts with places like Olive Crest.”
Since its creation in 2004, the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force has assisted more than 1,000 victims from 43 countries, including the U.S. But Heater knows the number of victims out there is likely much higher.
“The reality is that for all of the task forces and all of the victim service providers, yes in Southern California but throughout the state, we’re really just beginning to scratch the surface of how many victims there really are out there,” Heater said. “We believe that there are so many more victims that are needing assistance and support than we are able to identify at the current time, especially children and teens.”
Alia Azariah, who also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference, is a survivor of underage sex trafficking. Azariah now works as director of aftercare development for nonprofit Safe House Project, which seeks to combat domestic sex trafficking and support survivors. She’s also a member of the California Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children [CSEC] Advisory Board.
Azariah said she talked to a female teenager last weekend who has been trafficked up and down Southern California. She described to her the drop-in centers that will be available when she leaves the program that she’s currently in.
The excitement on the teenager’s face said it all.
“I utilized drop-in centers when I was a minor,” Azariah said. “We didn’t talk about CSEC, we didn’t talk about trafficking at that time. But I came in, I used the phone, got a bowl of cereal and I sat with someone who cared about me. Those were the most positive experiences in the time that I was being exploited.
“I was told the lie and belief that no one cared, that the people outside of my trafficking experience saw me as worthless. When we do things like invest in our communities, open drop-in centers, form task forces, we show that this is important to us.”
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