The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking’s (LCHT) Root Cause Community Conversations research project examines structural inequities that increase trafficking risk in Colorado. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR), this project integrates lived expertise with data to identify systemic barriers and conditions that heighten vulnerability. Accurately measuring human trafficking remains a persistent challenge due to incomplete data, systemic turnover, funding instability, and societal bias. LCHT’s research initiatives move beyond prosecution and system-based counts by applying a public health framework to better understand who is counted, who is overrepresented, and who is missing. Central is the recognition of lived experience as essential expertise, ensuring that survivors and marginalized communities—including Indigenous, immigrant, 2SLGBTQ+, and housing-insecure populations—help shape both analysis and solutions. Focusing on the intersection of human trafficking and the child welfare system, LCHT partnered with three community leaders to co-define “system involvement” and co-design the research, reflecting how youth move between systems. Findings reveal that trafficking vulnerability is intensified by system instability, including frequent placement disruptions, gaps in supportive relationships, and disconnection across agencies. Participants identified that legal status and criminalization create barriers to trust, while limited awareness of mandated reporting responsibilities—despite recent legislative changes—reduces early identification. Bureaucratic barriers and turnover further compound these risks, and a lack of lived expertise in decision- making perpetuates harmful practices. These findings highlight that vulnerability is structurally produced through fragmented systems and unmet needs. This session will equip attendees with actionable strategies to integrate lived expertise, strengthen cross-system collaboration, and advance prevention-oriented, community-led responses to trafficking.
Trigger Warning: This presentation contains information (written, spoken, or visual) that may be triggering or (re)traumatizing to attendees.
Dr. Annjanette Alejano-Steele is the co-founder of the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking and a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her health psychology expertise has focused on reproductive health equity and community responses to human trafficking. She has supported over 70 survivors of human trafficking to attend college.
Marla Sutherland is the Research Manager at the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking based in Denver. She has held a range of leadership and service-oriented roles in the homeless response system, including housing counselor, property manager, and the first-ever Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Database Administrator in Northern Colorado.