Yes. Our prevention education is designed to be trauma-informed, survivor-informed, developmentally appropriate, and non-fear-based.

We don't believe we have to scare people to keep them safe.

Instead, we focus on intrinsic value, healthy relationships, boundaries, online safety, protective factors, recognizing vulnerabilities, and knowing when and how to seek help.

Our curriculum is evidence-informed, and portions of our youth human trafficking prevention curriculum are undergoing rigorous evaluation with the goal of establishing an evidence base.

Becoming an evidence-based curriculum takes years of research, implementation, evaluation, and replication. At the same time, human trafficking and the ways people are exploited continue to change, particularly as technology, social media, gaming, online grooming, and other digital risks evolve. We believe prevention education must be grounded in research while also being responsive to the realities young people are facing today.

That is why our curriculum is continually reviewed and updated using current research, evaluation data, emerging trends, best practices, and what we learn from the communities we serve.

Our youth human trafficking prevention curriculum is being rigorously evaluated, and we anticipate having an evidence-based youth curriculum as that research is completed.

We are committed to both: building the evidence for what works and ensuring our prevention education never becomes outdated while we wait for the research to catch up.

Intervention and survivor services are critical. But we also have to work upstream.

We believe young people deserve education and tools before exploitation happens. Prevention helps strengthen protective factors, reduce vulnerabilities, and equip people to recognize unhealthy situations, grooming, coercion, and exploitation earlier.

We don't want to simply respond to trafficking. We want to help prevent it.

Survivor services are absolutely essential, and we need organizations doing that work. The Set Me Free Project focuses on another part of the solution: preventing exploitation before it happens. We believe we need both. If we can equip young people to recognize grooming, understand healthy relationships, navigate online risks, and know when and how to ask for help, we can reduce vulnerability before exploitation occurs.

Creating high-quality prevention education takes more than developing a presentation. Funding supports curriculum development and updates, research and evaluation, technology, facilitator training, youth leadership, community access, and expansion into communities that may not otherwise be able to afford prevention education. Philanthropy helps us make prevention accessible while building something sustainable.

Depending on the donor's interests, gifts can help provide prevention education to youth, train facilitators, expand the READY To Stand Curriculum®, build the Empower Toolkit, support Students Against Trafficking chapters, strengthen research and evaluation, or bring prevention resources into underserved communities. We want donors to see a clear connection between their investment and the impact they are helping create.

We don't believe it has to be either/or. There are incredible organizations providing intervention, recovery, housing, law enforcement support, and survivor services. Our specific lane is prevention. We are working upstream to stop trafficking before it starts through evidence-informed, trauma-informed, survivor-informed education.

We take evaluation seriously because good intentions aren't enough. Our work has included rigorous research and evaluation partnerships, and we continue measuring knowledge, behavior change, protective factors, and outcomes. One of our long-term priorities is helping build the evidence base for trafficking prevention.

Because high-quality prevention isn't free to create, maintain, evaluate, train, and deliver. We continually update curriculum as technology, grooming tactics, research, and best practices change. Charging for curriculum helps ensure the work remains high quality and sustainable.

At the same time, we never want cost to be the reason a community can't access prevention. That's why philanthropic support, grants, partnerships, and sponsorships are so important.

There absolutely are, and some are very good. Our curriculum isn't simply trafficking awareness. It is a comprehensive prevention approach addressing vulnerabilities and protective factors such as healthy relationships, boundaries, social media safety, online grooming, exploitation, bystander intervention, and help-seeking.

Nonprofit doesn't mean there is no cost to providing a service. It means the revenue we generate supports our mission rather than being distributed to owners or shareholders.

Our earned revenue helps us create sustainable prevention programming, while donations and grants allow us to subsidize or provide access for communities with fewer resources.

Sometimes donated or sponsored presentations make sense, particularly when they align with our mission and strategic goals. But our educators' expertise, preparation, travel, curriculum, and time all have value.

A great response is: “Let's talk about what you need and what resources you have available. If cost is a barrier, let's see what options or funding opportunities might exist.”

That's great! Our first question would be what that education includes. Human trafficking prevention should go beyond defining trafficking or teaching warning signs. Effective prevention also addresses the vulnerabilities traffickers exploit, including unhealthy relationships, boundaries, online behavior, grooming, coercion, and help-seeking.

We may complement what you're already doing rather than replace it.

We hope you don't, and prevention is most effective before there is a known problem. Our goal isn't to convince communities that trafficking is everywhere. It is to equip young people with skills that protect them from exploitation, unhealthy relationships, online grooming, and other forms of harm.

We agree that young children don't need frightening or developmentally inappropriate information about trafficking. That's why our younger curriculum focuses on foundational protective skills such as intrinsic value, healthy relationships, boundaries, safe adults, social-emotional learning, and online safety.

It shouldn't. Fear is not our prevention strategy. Our curriculum is trauma-informed, age-appropriate, and designed to empower rather than frighten. We want young people leaving our programs thinking, “I have value. I can recognize unhealthy situations. I know what to do. I know who I can talk to.”

Trafficking intersects with workplaces, customers, communities, technology, travel, financial systems, hospitality, healthcare, and supply chains in different ways. But our conversation doesn't have to begin with trafficking. It can begin with protecting people, recognizing vulnerabilities, responding appropriately, and creating safer communities.

That's helpful to know. Rather than immediately ending the conversation, we'd want to understand whether the barrier is timing, budget cycle, price, or priority. There may be opportunities to adjust implementation, begin with a smaller group, identify sponsorship, or plan for a future budget cycle.

Whether you're looking for prevention education, curriculum, training, a partnership opportunity, or a way to invest in the mission, we'd love to hear from you.

Tell us what you're looking for, and we'll help you determine the best next step.

You can reach us at info@setmefreeproject.net or call us at (402) 521-3080.

Together, we can stop human trafficking before it starts.