CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS March 8, 2018
Governor Kim Reynolds helped the Iowa NAHT to kick off the statewide Iowa Hotel/Motel Employee Training Project last September. Since then, three “Training of Trainers” sessions have been held in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. Seventy-five volunteers have completed the training, and are now providing hotel/motel employee training. However, more volunteer trainers are needed and training will take place on Thursday, March 8th, 6:00pm-9:00pm at Plymouth Church, 4126 Ingersoll Ave, Des Moines, Iowa 50312.
Certificates of Recognition were recently given to three of the earliest hotels to participate and complete employee training. The photo below shows Governor Kim Reynolds presenting certificates to the Baymont Inn & Suites located in Boone, the DeLux Hotel in Des Moines, and the Courtyard by Marriott in Ankeny. Certificates of completion have already been distributed to 22 hotels in central Iowa.
Today the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery is putting out a call for new volunteers to be trained to conduct an educational program for hotel/motel employees. Each volunteer will be provided with a 50-page training manual and a PowerPoint to utilize when training hotel employees. These training materials were developed by the Nebraska Coalition on Human Trafficking. The Nebraska Coalition has partnered with the Iowa NAHT to carry out this hotel training initiative.
A volunteer job description is linked (PDF) for volunteer hotel/motel trainers and ambassadors. Each hotel on-site training is always carried out by a pair of volunteers. Please review the job description before you register for the March 8th training. Each trained volunteer must agree to provide a minimum of three trainings either as an ambassador or trainer. Take note that this training is for those who reside in central Iowa.
To register for the March 8th Central Iowa Hotel/Motel Training Project, contact Shirlee Reding at shirlee5@q.com and be sure to send all of your contact information.
Why focus on hotels and motels? Hotels and motels are a primary location for sex trafficking, often unbeknownst to managers and staff. The victims are advertised on the dark underbelly of the internet. Victims are moved daily from one hotel and city to another. Traffickers bring in women, many who are minors, to these hotels and motels. The traffickers view the hotel location as an opportunity for huge profits with very little risk of discovery or punishment.
The goal of the Hotel/Motel Training Project is to promote meaningful intervention and prevention of sex trafficking. By educating hotel employees to both recognize and report sex trafficking, the project is discouraging and limiting sex trafficking locally.
The root causes of sex trafficking are greed and a subculture that accepts treating people, especially women and children, as sex objects that can be bought or sold. Poverty, child abuse and neglected at home, drug dependency, and desperation lead to maintaining
a pool of vulnerable victims.
Each participating hotel will receive a certificate of recognition to display in their lobby. This is an example.