minnesota department of health

Grant from Howard G. Buffett Foundation will strengthen statewide response to labor trafficking

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has awarded Minnesota a nearly $9 million grant that will help strengthen Minnesota’s response to labor trafficking. Minnesota was invited to apply for this grant by the foundation in recognition of the state’s commitment to stopping labor trafficking through innovative coordination with public health, public safety, human services and human rights agencies.  

The funding will transform Minnesota’s ability to respond to this hidden crime through the development of a comprehensive strategy informed by data and survivor experience. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation’s emphasis on supporting a broad-based, coordinated response to labor trafficking helps to ensure the grant activities will have lasting impacts in Minnesota by enhancing the bond between public health and criminal justice partners as well as services, programs and subject matter experts committed to addressing this harm.

Labor trafficking includes forced labor or services accomplished through physical harm or restraint, abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process, withholding of identification documents or use of blackmail. It may also include debt bondage, meaning a person is under another’s control and cannot repay a debt through a reasonable amount of work due to fraud by the trafficker. Labor trafficking occurs in a range of sectors in Minnesota, including agriculture, construction, caregiving, hospitality and other labor-intensive settings. Immigrant communities, refugees and people facing economic instability are at an increased risk.

Over the next five years, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and its project partners will use this funding to:

  • Create a multidisciplinary team and statewide labor trafficking navigator to streamline case identification and management as well as resource allocation.
  • Increase staffing capacity to investigate and prosecute labor trafficking cases.
  • Expand victim services to provide comprehensive and culturally relevant support.
  • Establish a rapid response fund to assist local communities handling complex multi-victim cases.

“For more than a decade, Minnesota has led with innovative policy, strong partnerships, and dedicated resources to address sex trafficking,” said Dr. Robsan Halkeno Tura, assistant commissioner of health at MDH. “This investment enables us to extend that foundation and enhance our capacity to prevent, identify and respond to labor trafficking statewide.”

Project partners include the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force, The Advocates for Human Rights, and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office as well as community-based service programs, state and local government agencies, Tribal nations, researchers and labor trafficking survivors with subject matter expertise.

“Labor trafficking is a violent, predatory crime that too often goes unseen in communities across our state,” said Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans. “This collaboration gives Minnesota the coordinated, multiagency response needed to bring traffickers to justice and ensure our most vulnerable neighbors receive the support and protection they deserve.”

“The Advocates for Human Rights is ready to work on the next chapter in Minnesota’s response to labor trafficking,” said Executive Director Michele Garnett McKenzie. “This funding will be a catalyst for transformative change, ensuring victims of labor trafficking in our state receive justice, find safety and can build new lives in freedom.”  

“The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office is proud to be part of this innovative, multi-jurisdictional model to tackle some of the most complex labor trafficking cases in our communities,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. “This collaborative approach brings hope, resources and accountability where they’re needed most. We are at our strongest when we work together — pulling in the same direction to protect vulnerable Minnesotans and disrupt the systems that allow labor trafficking to persist.”

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, established in 1999, has a mission to catalyze transformational change to improve the standard of living and quality of life, particularly for the world’s most impoverished and marginalized populations. The foundation invests in three main areas: food security, conflict mitigation and combatting human trafficking.  

See MDH’s website for additional information about labor trafficking and exploitation. To report suspected human trafficking, visit the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Human Trafficking webpage.  

-MDH-

Editor’s note: Human Trafficking and Exploitation Informational Guide for Media (PDF) is an additional resource on MDH’s website that may be helpful to reporters covering this story. 

Media inquiries:
Amy Barrett
MDH Communications 
651-201-4993
[email protected]

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