YES: WoodmenLife Tower to ‘Wear Blue’ for Slavery, Trafficking Awareness January 11
Youth Emergency Services (YES, yesomaha.org) is excited to announce that the WoodmenLife Tower in downtown Omaha will ‘Wear Blue’ on Monday, January 11, in recognition of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. January 11, #WearBlueDay, is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s annual Blue Campaign, designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other industry partners to recognize the indicators of human trafficking and respond appropriately to suspected cases. Toward raising awareness, the public is encouraged to take photos of themselves, friends, family, and colleagues wearing blue clothing on January 11 and share them on social media with the #WearBlueDay hashtag.
Creighton University researchers estimate that 900 individuals are sold for sex in Nebraska—often multiple times—each month. Homeless youth and runaways are among the most heavily targeted populations for human slavery and trafficking, experiencing everything from physical violence, torture, and starvation to rape and other sexual abuse, psychological abuse, coercion, blackmail, drug addiction, and other horrors.
Youth Emergency Services is the only nonprofit in Omaha with the sole mission of helping youth who are experiencing homelessness and near-homelessness in our community. YES offers a full continuum of care to ensure all youth receive the support they need, no matter their situation. That includes a street outreach center, emergency shelter, transitional living, maternity group home, and rapid rehousing program. For more information, visit yesomaha.org or email Michael Watkins at mwatkins@yesomaha.org.