Polaris Project's local and national offices incorporate some or all of the strategies at different times based on community needs and local resources at a given time.  The comprehensive approach of eight strategies is implemented through in-house programs and through partnerships with other stakeholders in the field.  

Direct Services

Strategy 1 - Victim Outreach and Identification 
In order for trafficking victims to be served and cared for, they must first be identified and supported in leaving their trafficking situations.  This strategy of our work focuses on victim identification through a combination of community education and awareness-raising as well as implementing innovative direct outreach strategies.  We have a number of outreach materials that we utilize during direct outreach to victims in adult jails, juvenile detention facilities, courts, and other safe intervention points identified through Polaris Project's field research.  We also operate 24-hour multi-lingual crisis hotlines in multiple cities and provide an on-call emergency response team of victim advocates who are available to conduct crisis intervention immediately after a victim is identified by law enforcement or community member referrals.

Strategy 2 - Victim Services and Protection
Once victims are identified and out of their trafficking situations, they immediately present a wide variety of diverse service needs as they begin to rebuild their lives.  To respond to these needs, Polaris Project offers a comprehensive service program for victims of all forms of human trafficking, including sex trafficking and labor trafficking, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, men and women, and adults and children.  We serve clients through in-house social and legal services as well as referrals to partner agencies.  We began providing victim services to trafficking victims in our local Washington, DC office in 2003.  Since then, we have opened the Nightingale Center, a specialized transitional housing program for victims of trafficking, and we have expanded our client service capacity to other local offices.  

Systemic and Social Change

Strategy 3 - Policy Advocacy
In the anti-trafficking field, the on-the-ground experiences of service organizations working with victims help to inform policy-makers who are considering broader legislative initiatives.  Polaris Project's policy advocacy efforts seek to provide a bridge between research and policy efforts and concrete lessons learned from outreach and service programs in the field.  Policy advocacy also helps to work towards a longer-term institutionalization of policies that will protect victims and support the field.  We work to protect all victims of human trafficking by advocating for stronger federal and state laws and supporting legislators with research, training, and technical assistance.  

Strategy 4 - Prevention and Youth Empowerment
Because human trafficking is a market-based crime that functions based on the principles of supply and demand, Polaris Project recognizes the role that prevention can play in reducing future victimization and diminishing the growth of human trafficking over time.  Many activities of Polaris Project have built-in prevention components including survivor empowerment, awareness-raising and community education, helping communities to create sustainable anti-trafficking efforts, demand reduction, and working with youth.  We also conduct prevention-focused presentations to targeted audiences with the goal of empowering others to be resilient to trafficking risk factors.  These audiences include youth, individuals in vulnerable migration situations, and certain ethnic communities.  

Strategy 5 - Task Force, Coalition, and Infrastructure-Building
Cooperation, collaboration, and building partnerships are essential in the fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery.  Polaris Project works to build and strengthen anti-trafficking task forces and coalitions, and to help these collaborative bodies to work well together.  We also strive to unify efforts within and between government and non-government agencies to better coordinate effective regional trafficking suppression.  Our work within collaborations of service providers and law enforcement helps to build a sustainable anti-trafficking infrastructure and to foster community-wide responses within communities that take ownership and responsibility for a sustainable fight against human trafficking.   

Movement-Building

Strategy 6 - Training, Technical Assistance, and Strategic Planning
Knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning throughout the anti-trafficking movement helps advocates and service providers in the field to learn from each other, to coordinate efforts, and to work smarter over time.  In order to facilitate these important developments, Polaris Project engages in training, technical assistance, and strategic planning with a wide variety of audiences.  We provide agency-specific strategic consultation with a number of government bodies, and we conduct training on best practices and counter-trafficking strategies with audiences such as legislators, federal agencies, philanthropic organizations, key local leaders, foreign delegations, and service providers in related fields.   

Strategy 7 - Leadership Development
Polaris Project views investing in future leaders as an investment in the future success of the anti-trafficking movement.  As a result, Polaris Project considers leadership development as an important endeavor in our work and important strategic support for the field.  New leaders infuse the field with fresh ideas, new approaches, and sustainable energy.  We offer leadership development training through Polaris Project's Fellowship program, a 10-13 week apprenticeship program where Fellows are given significant programmatic responsibility and avenues to offer their strengths to the movement.  We also offer internships and volunteer opportunities in all of our local offices, and we strive to grow a student movement against trafficking in schools and college campuses. 

Strategy 8 - Grassroots Community Mobilization
Many social movements do not only involve professionals or government actors - they involve everyday people.  In the spirit of a modern-day Underground Railroad, Polaris Project seeks to mobilize community members to harness their passion and take action against the injustice of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.  We strive to find ways that community members can play important roles in anti-trafficking initiatives and short-term campaigns.  We also support grassroots community organizing and empower community members, survivors, and local organizations to join the frontlines of the anti-trafficking movement.  These efforts involve community presentations, events, and organizing initiatives, such as the creation of local Stop Modern Slavery Meetups and the launch of local campaigns.