May 15, 2023 – FLITE Center West Palm Beach has opened a new emergency “landing space” (Falcon’s Ridge) to provide immediate housing for survivors of human trafficking and youth in need. The program provides survivors with a team of professionals including survivor mentors, victims service coordinators, clinicians and regional advocates that work together to provide emergency stabilization, wellness plans and ongoing support to help victims heal. They will also have access to online education (GED), employment workshops and health and wellness workshops.
“We’re thrilled to open our first Palm Beach emergency home as an extension of our much-needed program for survivors of human trafficking,” said Christine Frederick, president and CEO of FLITE Center. “As a community, we recognize the alarming prevalence of human trafficking in Florida and Palm Beach County. By working together, we can create a brighter future for survivors and combat these devastating and demoralizing occurrences in our community.”
Already working in South Florida as a respected nonprofit organization, FLITE Center will extend its professional team and services to address the growing human trafficking crisis. FLITE Center West Palm Beach’s programming is supported by a grant from Voices for Florida’s Open Doors Outreach Network, the state’s leading trauma-informed 24/7 network for helping sex trafficked children and young adults.
The spread of human trafficking around the country is growing. Polaris reports that in 2020 alone, almost 11,000 situations of human trafficking were reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline involving close to 17,000 individual victims.
According to the National Foster Youth Institute, 60 percent of all sex trafficking victims have a history in the child welfare system, making them twice as likely to be trafficked. For fiscal year 2020-2021, The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) reported 2,289 intake case of suspected human trafficking involving children in the state. Of these, 373 were in the southeast region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties (77 intake cases were in Palm Beach County, alone). Based on the State of Florida DCF data, just five years ago for fiscal year 2016-2017 where intake cases were 1,892 jumping to 2,289 in 2020 – 2021 (representing growth of 21%), in the next five years the yearly number of new intake cases of suspected human trafficking in fiscal year 2027-2028 is projected to be close to 2,800.
ABOUT FLITE Center
FLITE Center (Fort Lauderdale Independence, Training & Education) Center was created in 2009 through a partnership of the Community Foundation of Broward, the United Way of Broward and the Junior League of Greater Fort Lauderdale, with the intent of offering comprehensive access to services for youth aging out of foster care. A not-for-profit organization, FLITE Center has become the hub of all support services for transitioning youth to become successful adults within a safe, nurturing environment that promotes personal growth while developing practical life skills. Based on community need, FLITE Center recently expanded its reach to serve Palm Beach County at 816 Ninth Street, West Palm Beach, FL For more information, visit https://flitecenter.org.
