In the News

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Today, Assemblymember Tim Grayson (D-Concord) introduced AB 2553, sponsored by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, which would establish the California Multidisciplinary Alliance to Stop Trafficking Act (California MAST). This bill aims to examine and evaluate existing programs and outreach for survivors and victims of human...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iJV21y55bc Human trafficking awareness should happen every day of the year so we are ending Human Trafficking Prevention Month with this important PSA in partnership with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Performer and Cast Ambassador Nicole Scherzinger. Survivors need and deserve our help, not just in January, but all...

Dear Friends, When I think about the holidays, I think about home--about that feeling of security and trust, of knowing that the people around you love you unconditionally. I think about how Cast creates a feeling of home for survivors that opens the door to their journey to freedom and...

Every year, more than a thousand domestic workers are brought to the U.S. by diplomats and other foreign officials. What happens when those workers face abuse? Sri Yatun in California. She remembers wearing the baby around her like a shield. Taking care of him was part of her job: Sri...

Aisha shares her story of resilience this Labor Day.  Dear Friend, I will never forget the moment I entered Cast’s transitional shelter, Mariposa Haven. After years of being cut off from my family, denied control over my time, deprived of privacy and rest, I knew that this new place, a...

Farm workers in a California strawberry field. (Photo: F Armstrong Photography, via Shutterstock) The California Senate will vote soon on AB 364 by Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez. The Foreign Labor Contractor Registration bill is a quiet piece of legislation with the potential to speak loudly to our values and commitment to human...

Featured image by AP Photo/Marco Ugarte. In June 2002, Germania boarded a plane from Quito, Ecuador, to Washington, D.C. She was traveling to work for Verónica Peña, an Ecuadorian diplomat, caring for her home and her two children. Prior to her arrival in the U.S., Germania had been presented with...

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (Cast) was awarded $3.54 million from the City of Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department (HCID) to purchase additional housing for survivors of human trafficking.   “We are fortunate to have a leader on human trafficking like CAST in our city, where we...

The California Legislature has passed Cast’s $30 million request to fund human trafficking victim service providers over the next three years. This $30 million will provide emergency funding for survivors of human trafficking amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath to ensure survivors in every part of the state have...

PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY: The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking will Join California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, and UNICEF Ambassador Alyssa Milano to Discuss the Importance of Budget Funding for Human Trafficking Victim Service Providers  Los Angeles, California - Kay Buck, CEO for the Coalition to Abolish...

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a terrible toll on all Californians. While Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recently announced California Comeback Plan allocates billions of emergency aid funding to those hurt by the pandemic, one group hit harder than most has been left out of the budget proposal: human trafficking victims. I...

Long before they were Mayor and First Lady, Eric Garcetti and Amy Elaine Wakeland were simply Amy and Eric, friends of Cast. Along with eleven other couples belonging to Liberty Hill Foundation’s Pobladores Fund, they rallied together to help create community spaces for survivors of human trafficking to develop leadership...

During the height of the pandemic, Cast received a call from a young mother, Laila, with 3 children ages 5, 3 and 2 months, who were fleeing their trafficker. Cast’s shelter was full and so were the hotel rooms we had allocated for the COVID-19 overflow of survivors needing emergency...

For Dr. John Jain, Chief Fertility Specialist at the Santa Monica Fertility Clinic, advocating for the rights of others runs in the family. His sister, the late celebrated human rights activist Sunita Jain, has been his inspiration to support Cast. Dr. Jain takes a humble and entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy....

Emergency Response Case Manager, Alex Mayugba is used to late-night calls. Within 30 minutes of receiving a call, our Emergency Response staff meet victims where they are, no matter the time of day. When stay-at-home orders, economic instability, and disruption of social services forced survivors into increasingly vulnerable and unsafe...

Human trafficking festers amid injustice and chaos, and the past year has brought plenty of both. Between the health, racial and economic crises of the pandemic, escalating hate violence, social and political upheaval, and a persistent homelessness crisis, Cast saw an 185% increase in urgent trafficking cases from the same...

On March 16th, a 21-year-old white man killed eight human beings, six of whom were Asian women. We are heartbroken for the families of the victims and outraged by these increasing acts of violence targeting Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are urgent public health issues...

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) introduced the bipartisan Emergency Family Stabilization Act. This legislation would create a new emergency funding stream overseen by the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to...

LOS ANGELES -- As COVID-19 cases surge, another hidden issue is taking its toll on our country's most vulnerable. Human trafficking cases have risen 185% compared to this time last year, one human rights organization says. Human trafficking "involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type...

Photo by Paulo Murillo for WEHO TIMES The City of West Hollywood recognizes National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January. Advocates, organizations, and individuals will unite this month to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking. The lanterns on Santa Monica Boulevard between N. Robertson Boulevard and...