In the News

Labor trafficking victim Renuka Zellars of San Diego, center, testifies in front of the Little Hoover Commission panel on Nov. 21 at the San Diego Central Library. The other witnesses are Angela Guanzon, left, who was trafficked as a caregiver, and Jamie Beck, right, an attorney with Free to Thrive.(PhotoArt...

Labor trafficking survivors have long made up a significant number of people trafficked in California and the U.S. As a hidden epidemic, labor trafficking is prevalent in our neighborhoods, cities and rural communities, and economies. Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (Cast) has joined forces with the Little Hoover Commission...

California’s Governor Newsom has signed a groundbreaking bill into law enabling human trafficking survivors to receive lost income from California’s Crime Victim Compensation Fund (VCP). A first of its kind bill, AB 629 ensures that survivors will be empowered with resources to rebuild their lives.  “Cast applauds Governor Newsom for...

The Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (Cast) has been named the 2019 National Award Winner of the Mutual of America Community Partnership Award. The Mutual of America Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with...

SACRAMENTO, CA — Assemblywoman Christy Smith (D-Santa Clarita) is pleased to announce that her Assembly Bill (AB) 629 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom this week as part of the package of bills he signed addressing public safety and supporting victims of crime. The bill creates parity within California’s Victim Compensation Program (VCP)...

To claim lost income, they need a note from their employer—also known as their trafficker. Deborah Pembrook doesn’t remember exactly when she was first sex-trafficked, but she knows it was early—the images of abuse collide in her brain with images of childhood crayons and stuffed animals. When she finally escaped,...

SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Christy Smith (D-Santa Clarita) and joint-author Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) moved forward AB 629 to help human trafficking victims rebuild their lives. The bill is cosponsored by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) and Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Assembly Bill 629 would make human...

CAST coordinates a continuum of compassionate, whole-person care to help victims of human trafficking access the care they need to recover and thrive for a lifetime. Integrated services range from medical, mental health, and dental, to housing, legal, education, and leadership training. CAST also offers access to healing arts such...

In 1997, Ima Matul, a seventeen-year-old living in rural Indonesia, was offered a job as a live-in housekeeper in Los Angeles. The person who recruited her promised that, if she worked for a few years, she could leave with enough money to help her family build a new house and start...

At Courtney’s House, a Washington, DC, center for young sex trafficking survivors, founder Tina Frundthas been seeing kids every day who are afraid of the government shutdown. They’re worried, she says, that it is affecting the many services they sorely need. She spoke of one 19-year-old she works with who is still in school and...

The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) and the Freedom Network USA, with a combined membership of 80 leading U.S.-based anti-trafficking organizations, advocates and service providers, strongly condemn President Trump’s continued rhetoric attempting to justify a southern border wall in order to stop human trafficking. This misinformation is dangerous...

Every three years CAST and its national advocacy partners, The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) and The Freedom Network, USA, work to reauthorize the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). The TVPRA, first enacted in 2000, is the most important piece of federal anti-trafficking legislation designed to...

Cast is set to announce that we have identified a legislator to author our 2019 $12.5M budget proposal! This funding is critical to sustaining programs and services for California’s human trafficking victims trafficking seeking safety and a path to freedom in 2020, keeping the doors open at Cast and California’s...

Read about the impact that Cast has made in 2018.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to take a moment to give thanks to our partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, as they prioritize support for organizations like Cast that are working in the trenches to liberate and empower survivors of human trafficking. Our partnership reflects our mutual...

Local advocates are struggling with a new immigration memo that makes it more difficult to support these survivors. Rita (not her real name) had gone looking for help. She’s 29, living in Northern California, an immigrant from Honduras, who graduated as a professional makeup artist. “I’m not scared of driving,...

2018 Cast Courage Award — Lorena Barrios shares her story from slavery to freedom.

Friday, June 8, 2018, was truly a disappointing day in California for survivors of human trafficking, as the final California budget deal excludes any funding for victims of this modern form of slavery to escape and seek the help they need to be safe and healthy. The 10 million dollar...

A huge thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our milestone 20th anniversary last Thursday- 20 strong years of empowering survivors of human trafficking! Check out the amazing honorees and festivities: 20th AnniversaryCelebration Photos Survivors celebrating freedom at CAST's 20th Anniversary Gala (LEFT). CAST's CEO and Executive Director, Kay...

Kay Buck, CEO of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, sheds light on the fight against human trafficking. In Focus California: SoCal airs Sundays at 8 a.m., and two new episodes of In Focus California: In Your Community will air weekly, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 12 Noon, on...