Harvard University has received $775,000 from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assess an effort that aims to spread awareness of human trafficking. The university will look into the impact of DHS' Blue Campaign, which educates the masses on how to spot human trafficking instances, the department said Friday.
Harvard will review scientific literature and help DHS' Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) deliver research-based best practices. Government agencies on the federal, state and local levels may use the effort's results to inform programs against human trafficking and terrorism.
The Blue Campaign launched in 2010 to address human trafficking by boosting the public's and law enforcement personnel's awareness on the matter.
“Our objective in partnering with Harvard University in this research is to understand the impact of the campaign on public officials and general public’s ability to respond, with an ultimate goal of preventing and stopping human trafficking,” said Michael Wilbur, program manager at S&T.