Florida has the third-highest national rate of reported human trafficking cases. To tackle this issue, Port of Palm Beach is taking steps to prevent human trafficking by joining the Not Alone campaign, a nationwide campaign dedicated to encouraging victims of human trafficking to seek help.

The Not Alone campaign was conceived and launched by Rebekah Covington, a survivor of human trafficking and the Corporate Relations Manager at Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST). Port of Palm Beach has partnered with BEST in previous years to institute human trafficking prevention training.

“When people are trafficked, they feel isolated and with an inability to leave the situation,” explained Covington. “That’s why we prioritized working with people who have lived experienced of trafficking throughout the creation of this campaign. We want people experiencing a trafficking situation to see signage that speaks directly to them and gives individuals hope that they are not alone — that there is a way out of whatever terrible situation they are in.”

As part of the Not Alone campaign, Port of Palm Beach will be adding multilingual signage across its properties. In addition, Port of Palm Beach will be making BEST’s Ports to Freedom human trafficking prevention training available to employees and port workers throughout the month of January, Human Trafficking Awareness Month.