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Ohio Offers Funds to Remove Human Trafficking Marks

By: Associated Press
Posted on: Monday, March 4, 2019

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio is offering grant money to help human trafficking victims get rid of tattoos or brands that were used to identify them as someone’s property.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said this week that trafficking survivors have enough problems recovering from slavery and trauma without “a permanent reminder” on their skin.

Yost’s statement said his office’s Crime Victim Services division will award the $10,000 grants to local nonprofits that focus on human trafficking.

The grant program will be named after Jennifer Kempton, a human trafficking survivor who founded the nonprofit Survivor’s Ink to help victims cover tattoos and markings.

Yost announced the program during the annual human trafficking awareness day at Ohio’s Statehouse.