Past Meetings & Resources

The CSEC Action Team regularly offers trainings and learning opportunities on a wide range of issues impacting youth and families affected by CSE. Topics have included peer-to-peer recruitment, immigration, hiring and supporting lived experience experts, among many others. Past sessions, recordings, and related resources are available below:

2025

  • On December 3, the CSEC Action Team held a virtual meeting on Supporting Youth and Families in Courtroom Settings, led by Maria Contreras, Manager of Community & Policy, and Mae Ackerman-Brimberg, Directing Attorney, from the National Center for Youth Law. The session offered an exclusive look at upcoming guidance set for release in 2026, created in partnership with Advisory Board members, judges, attorneys, advocates, and lived experience experts. Key topics included practical tips grounded in harm reduction, insights into navigating the common challenges youth and families face across multiple systems, and strategies for improving accessibility and strengthening collaboration between judicial officers, attorneys, providers, and system partners. CLE and CEU credits were available for judges and lawyers attending the session.

    Key Resources:

  • On Tuesday, October 22, 2025, the CSEC Action Team held an interactive workshop on Lessons Learned: Implementing Harm Reduction Strategies to Support Youth and Families Impacted by Trafficking. The session provided attendees with practical approaches to supporting youth and families affected by commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and trafficking, guided by a panel of field experts.

    Participants engaged with core principles of harm reduction, received live consultation on real cases, and explored actionable strategies to incorporate into daily practice. The workshop also addressed common barriers to implementing harm reduction and included a Q&A session to support practical application.

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  • On September 3, 2025, the CSEC Action Team held a critical training on Understanding and Responding to Peer-to-Peer Recruitment, led by Dr. Dawn Blacker, Dr. Brandi D. Liles from the UC Davis CAARE Center, and informed by the expertise of Advisory Board member Faith Fabiani. The session explored the dynamics of peer recruitment, providing a trauma-informed, youth-centered approach for providers to recognize, differentiate, and respond thoughtfully to recruitment behaviors. Key topics included distinguishing peer recruitment from trafficking, understanding peer recruitment as a survival response, behavioral anchors such as intent vs. impact and passive vs. active recruitment, communication strategies, and real examples to guide intervention.

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  • On June 4, 2025, the CSEC Action Team held an important training on Understanding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) of LGBTQIA2S+ Youth, focused on helping providers create inclusive and affirming services and offering practical strategies to support youth impacted by CSE. The session explored the intersection of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (SOGIE) and exploitation, covering key topics such as the unique risks and needs of LGBTQIA2S+ youth, emerging data and trends, vulnerabilities and pathways that lead to exploitation, barriers to timely identification and support, and actionable recommendations for providers.

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  • On March 5, 2025 the CSEC Action Team held a powerful panel discussion led by experts with lived experience, focused on recognizing the signs of peer-to-peer recruitment, applying harm reduction practices, how biases impact responses to youth, and reframing approaches to supporting both youth who are recruiting and those vulnerable to recruitment. Alongside the panel, important legislative updates were shared, including overviews of new laws related to CSE and child sexual abuse material, with key insights on AB 1394 and AB 1831.

    Key resources:

    Additional Tools:

2024

  • The December 4, 2024 meeting focused on supporting unaccompanied minors at risk of and experiencing commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). The meeting highlighted the way government agencies and community-based organizations providing legal representation and other forms of aid can assist youth. The panelists discussed the different considerations and strategies services providers need to take when serving youth in this intersection of experience. The meeting also featured a presentation from the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) where presenters Stephanie Marroquin, Child Protection Specialist and Cali MaCeachen, Child Welfare and Protection Specialist, provided an overview the of the process to refer a youth to obtain a letter from OTIP that allows them access to benefits that immigrants with asylum status have access to. This meeting built on the September and November CSEC Action Team meetings focused on immigration.

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  • On November 13, 2024 the CSEC Action Team held a training focused on exploring the complex migration journey of unaccompanied immigrant children seeking safety in the United States. Attendees gained insight into, the realities these children face in federal immigration custody while detained in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities. ORR’s vetting process for sponsors, and the difficulties unaccompanied children experience when transitioning into life with sponsors living in the community, and the legal protections that apply to unaccompanied children. Attendees also heard about ongoing advocacy from the National Center for Youth Law, working to improve the treatment and release of unaccompanied children in federal custody.

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  • On September 4, 2024, the CSEC Action Team delved into the critical intersection of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and immigration with a presentation from Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project. This session explored the complex factors driving children and youth to migrate to the U.S, the trauma they endure, and why immigrant youth—especially unaccompanied minors—are at increased vulnerability to CSE. The discussion also covered victimization dynamics, available resources, and ways providers can offer support.

    Key Resources:

    Note: Recording for this meeting not available.

  • The June 5, 2024 CSEC Action Meeting focused on the role of law enforcement in supporting youth who are experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, and specifically the partnership between law enforcement and community based organizations. Jason Collins, Detective for the Sacramento Police Department, and Kristie Keifer, Senior Case Manager at Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH) in Sacramento, discussed the importance of community and law enforcement partnerships and their impact on youth and adults impacted by CSE. They talked about how their partnership enables them to support people experiencing CSE in the ways they deserve–treating them with dignity, recognizing their victimization, shifting agency back to the survivor, and promoting their healing. As part of the discussion, Kristie provided an overview of CASH’s program model and the array of services provided to individuals in the Sacramento community. In addition, Mae Ackerman–Brimberg, Directing Attorney for the National Center for Youth Law’s Collaborative Responses to Commercial Sexual Exploitation Initiative presented data on the prevalence of continued criminalization of youth experiencing CSE. She was joined by Sarah Derrigan, Program Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice Ending Girls’ Incarceration initiative, who provided a national overview of efforts to decarcerate girls across various states.

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  • On April 29, 2024 the CSEC Action Team held a training focused on applying harm reduction in the courtroom. Panelists, Hon. Lawrence C. King, Chief Judge, Morongo Band of Mission Indians Tribal Court, California Magistrate, Town of Paradise Valley, Arizona, Hon. Annabelle Cortez, Judge, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, April Grayson, Senior Policy Manager, Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, and Sawan Vaden, Executive Director, Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH), provided an overview of harm reduction as well as discussed how harm reduction practices can be used in the courtroom with youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation (CSE).

    Key Resources:

    Note: Recording not available.

  • On March 6, 2024 the CSEC Action Team held an in-depth training about hiring and supporting lived experience experts in the workplace. The three-hour online event was led by lived experience experts — featuring former members of the CSEC Action Team Advisory Board and consultants from the Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking (PACT) Project. They discussed the barriers lived experience experts face in the workplace, organizational readiness and culture, beneficial supports, and the hiring process.

    Key Resources:

    Additional Tools: 2017 Human Trafficking Leadership Academy Resources

2023

  • The December 6, 2023 meeting focused on the intersection of technology and CSE. Executive Committee member Maria Contreras provided an overview of existing data of online harassment, reports of online exploitation, instagram and other social media platforms’ data and response to incidences of potential exploitation, mental health impacts, and importance of utilizing harm reduction when addressing this issue. In addition, the Action Team meeting featured presenters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) who provided tips on how to discuss online safety with youth, use harm reduction practices to help youth navigate online spaces, and provide resources to help participants provide support for youth who may be impacted by or vulnerable to online sexual exploitation.

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    Note: This meeting was not recorded due to privacy requirements.

  • During the CSEC Action meeting on Monday, October 16, 2023 presenters from the California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP), a collaboration between the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and the Urban Institute discussed the findings and recommendations from an evaluation of California’s CSEC Program— a program established by Senate Bill 855 in 2015 that requires counties to develop a multidisciplinary approach to identify and support youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation. Participants also heard representatives from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) discuss efforts currently underway aimed at better supporting counties and meeting the needs of youth impacted by CSE through multidisciplinary teaming. Lastly, CSEC Action Team Advisory Board members provided feedback and guidance on the next steps the state can take to strengthen responses to CSE in California.

    Key Resources:

    • Recording -Password: SB855Oct16!

    • Meeting Slides - These slides are the property of the presenters and should only be used for learning purposes. Please contact the presenters before sharing or repurposing materials

    • SB 855 Evaluation Report

  • During the September 13, 2023 CSEC Action Team meeting Dr. Blacker and Dr. Liles from the University of California Davis Children’s Hospital provided a training on how to utilize harm reduction practices and discussed the impacts of using this approach when supporting youth and families impacted by and vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation (CSE).

    Key Resources:

    Note: Recording not available.

  • The June 14, 2023 meeting elevated the intersection of substance use and CSE. Co-Chair Leslie Heimov and Executive Committee member Maria Contreras presented data on the prevalence of substance use among youth and the vulnerabilities, stigmas and challenges youth face when dealing with substance use and CSE. For more information refer to the associated slide deck. The Action Team meeting featured the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Youth for Change, La Familia in Alameda County.

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  • The March 1, 2023 meeting elevated the collaboration between several community based organizations and the county of Santa Clara to provide services for youth at risk of and confirmed to have experienced CSE. The Action Team meeting featured Young Women’s Freedom Center, Starlight Community Services, and Community Solutions. 

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  • On January 12, 2023, the CSEC Action Team held a special event for Human Trafficking Prevention Month, featuring a candid conversation with lived experience experts from the Action Team’s Advisory Board about the realities of exploitation for youth and young adults and the Board’s vision for the future.

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