Polaris Project Colorado (PPC) was launched first as a Polaris Project chapter in February 2005.  Since then, the grassroots activism and community mobilization efforts of the chapter evolved into a more concrete local office with local staff that was launched in October 2006.

Polaris Project Colorado is committed to advancing the statewide citizen movement against human trafficking through public awareness, information gathering, policy advocacy, and partnerships with local organizations and institutions.  The vision for the office is to develop sustainable efforts to end human trafficking by establishing community support mechanisms and serving as a catalyst for social change in Colorado.  Based in Denver, the Colorado office also operates the local implementation of multiple Federal and State programs, including the Denver site of the CSEC Community Intervention Project (CCIP), funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).  

Victim Outreach and Identification: Polaris Project Colorado contributes to victim identification efforts throughout Colorado in numerous ways, such as helping to establish and launch a Statewide hotline for victims to call, as well as engaging in numerous training activities to teach audiences about indicators and red flags to look for to identify human trafficking in their local communities.  The office identifies target areas for community outreach and has developed relationships with Statewide colleges and universities to engage students in this community outreach effort.  

Task Force, Coalition, and Infrastructure-Building: The Denver site of the CCIP Initiative is dedicated to combating child sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.  PPC plays a local coordination role in this effort by helping to build a local infrastructure and community response that addresses the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Denver.  PPC also has a key role in many anti-trafficking coalition and task force efforts throughout the state, including chairing the Public Awareness and Victim Services subcommittees of the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CO NEHT), working with legislative and law enforcement task force efforts to respond to human trafficking, and participating on the statewide law enforcement training team and task force created through a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grant managed by the Colorado Regional Community Policing Institute.  With the presence of multiple Federally-funded anti-trafficking task force and coalition initiatives in Denver and in Colorado, Polaris Project Colorado serves in the capacity of bridging many diverse efforts and functioning as a liaison between them.

Training, Technical Assistance, and Strategic Planning: Local Polaris Project staff engage in a wide variety of training and technical assistance efforts for multiple audiences throughout Colorado.  These efforts include co-sponsoring various training conferences on the issue of human trafficking, partnering with law enforcement representatives to train local law enforcement throughout the State, and offering presentations on human trafficking to universities, students, businesses, government officials, service providers, and advocacy groups.  PPC also conducts research, including leading a two-phase Community Needs Assessment to gauge services available statewide to assist victims of trafficking.  This research has included over 50 service providers.

Policy Advocacy:  Polaris Project Colorado has trained and provided technical assistance to state legislators and collaborates with community partners to strengthen local statutes and institutional policies throughout Colorado.  These efforts include serving on a Statewide task force to combat human trafficking in the State created through legislation.  In the years since PPC has been launched, Colorado has improved its State policies regarding human trafficking through the passage of new laws and the increased enforcement of existing laws.

Leadership Development: Of its many activities and initiatives, leadership development is one of PPC's strongest areas of focus.  The local Polaris office in Colorado provides quarterly internship opportunities for a team of undergraduate and graduate students that attend the multiple local universities that are based in Denver and throughout the State.  All interns receive intensive training on human trafficking and are provided with concrete opportunities to get involved in the anti-trafficking movement in Colorado in meaningful ways.  

Grassroots Community Mobilization: Polaris Project Colorado has launched a local Meetup on trafficking in the Denver area, and also holds local grassroots community meetings where community members can come to learn more about trafficking and how to get involved in the fight against it.  The Colorado office has also held large local "Slavery Still Exists" events in the community, and grassroots mobilization efforts at local concerts, fairs, and university fairs.  Hundreds of community members have contributed to these community engagement events, and thousands have been reached.  Lastly, PPC is a community partner to the University of Denver Task Force on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

Prevention and Youth Empowerment: Polaris Project Colorado has developed a local Human Trafficking 101 curriculum that is presented to at-risk youth through group workshops and partnerships with local youth service providers, such as Excelsior Youth Center, Urban Peak, and Prax(us).

For volunteer and internship opportunities with Polaris Project Colorado, to join the mailing list, and for other inquiries, please contact our local Coordinator, Amanda Finger, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .