In September, Hoʻōla Nā Pua Founder and President Jessica Munoz along, Program Director Dr. Shantae Williams and Advocate Tammy Bitanga, were contracted by the Department of Health and Human services to provide intensive training on the identification, intervention, and response to children who have been exploited here in Hawaiʻi.
Over a two week time span, the team engaged in six intensive training sessions involving law enforcement, probation, and social service advocates across all Hawaiian Islands. They had the opportunity to train over 700 professionals. This training provided us with the opportunity to share the mission and vision of Hoʻōla Nā Pua with teams of advocates from the neighbor islands. Through the training, providers and law enforcement were equipped with tools to use to better identification and intervention on behalf of sexually exploited children.
We were honored to be able to provide this service to our state. Here are a few pictures from the trip.
