CLEVELAND, Tenn (WDEF) – A Cleveland non profit that works to combat human trafficking has been awarded a grant from the Department of Justice.

Willowbend Farms has been awarded over $700 hundred thousand dollars to continue to fight against sex trafficking in our area.

The organization is planning on opening a Human Trafficking Emergency Response Center, the first of its kind in our area. 

“This is going to allow us to have a more responsive behavior towards helping someone instead of a reactive behavior where we need to contact someone to see if a domestic violence shelter has something open. This takes us completely out of reactive mode, allows us to respond so we will be able to take someone to a secure location immediately,” says Sarah McKinnis, Founder of Willowbend Farms.

If you suspect human trafficking report it to the police immediately. If you see something say something. 

National Human Trafficking Hotline