Allies Against Slavery began a partnership with the University of South Florida Trafficking in Persons Risk to Resilience Research Lab (USF TIP Lab) in 2024 to establish a statewide repository for human trafficking data in Florida. Senate Bill 7064, passed by the Florida legislature in 2023, authorized USF to collect human trafficking data and report key trends and actionable insights to the Florida legislature annually.

USF is collecting and analyzing anonymous data to better understand the magnitude and trends in human trafficking across the state and over time, to support law enforcement with human trafficking investigations, and to address gaps in victim services to provide essential resources and develop prevention programs. The USF TIP Lab is also tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of state-funded initiatives to combat trafficking and work with law enforcement and state agencies to report data on human trafficking investigations and prosecutions.

Florida’s legislation offers a model for other states to improve human trafficking data collection efforts. Novel provisions of Florida’s law point to the power of valid and reliable data in evidence-based policy decisions. This comes at a critical time when laws designed to combat human trafficking are increasingly attacked on constitutional grounds.

The Power of an Academic Partnership to Drive Impact

USF selected Allies to assist with the aggregation and visualization of data in Florida using Lighthouse, based on Allies’ experience collecting and reporting on human trafficking data for Texas and Louisiana. As USF helped policy makers make the case for a statewide data repository, they referenced Lighthouse as a “proof of concept” to show that what seemed impossible - collecting and analyzing data on human trafficking from multiple entities across a state as vast and diverse as Florida - was actually possible.

“Partnering with Allies to bring Lighthouse to Florida catalyzes our work with TIPSTR,” said Joan Reid, USF professor of criminology and director of the TIP Lab. “Using Lighthouse to create Florida’s version of a data dashboard will help us see, understand, and act upon the data collected through SB 7064.”

Allies is combining existing data in Lighthouse with new data from Florida to expand the data model and drive new insights. What sets the Allies and USF partnership apart from previous states is the collaboration with an academic institution, coupled with the legislative authority to collect and analyze data. The USF TIP Lab centers government agencies, youth-serving organizations, service providers and survivors in its work, and brings to bear the expertise and rigor of an academic community that is dedicated to the issue of human trafficking. This creates opportunities for research and insights that will not only benefit Florida in its fight to end human trafficking, but also enrich the broader anti-trafficking movement.