The Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RRCAHT) was formed by citizens and stakeholders who couldn’t tolerate the idea of human trafficking in their community. In 2012, the Sisters of St. Joseph had several community-wide conversations that culminated in a showing of the documentary "Not My Life" at the Little Theatre. It ended with a commitment by attendees to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders, as well as everyone in the community who could support them, should meet regularly to understand what everyone was doing, what no one was doing, and what more needed to be done. Two of the biggest gaps that were identified were a lack of training in the community and a lack of legislative advocacy.

RRCAHT then committed itself to fill those gaps, educating thousands of people a year through free training, member meetings and distribution of educational materials. We have supported important pieces of legislation such as the Child Victims Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act, and currently support legislation for Equality-model implementation and for K-12 sexuality education. After RRCAHT became a registered 501c3 in 2018, we were able to receive grant funds to hold our first-ever conference and also started providing direct cash assistance to survivors whose needs weren’t covered by any other community agency.

Today RRCAHT provides education to stakeholders and community members through educational membership meetings, we provide direct support for people in Monroe County’s SAFE court (formerly known as the Human Trafficking court, which is based on the original model established in NYC), as well as support for survivors being helped by member organizations, and we educate hundreds of community members each year.