Spreading awareness about the commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Humboldt County to prevent victimization and inform the community as to influence policies to protect those who go unseen

I chose to distribute a needs assessment to administrators at local community organizations because I believed they would be the ones who knew if there was or was not a problem of commercial sexual exploitation in the community. From speaking with a member of a non-profit organization, who worked with victims of sexual assault, I learned that there had been a previous attempt to inform community professionals about the problem of sexual exploitation and sexual assault within the community, but not many community members had shown up to the informational session. Therefore, I decided to give the presentation to a group of social work students who were preparing to work in this community, Humboldt County, so they would be able to recognize signs of exploitation, advocate for survivors, change policy, and spread information as well as change the perception of colleagues in the profession who may be unaware of the issue.