Grace Hill has partnered with NAAEI and iEmpathize to create a new course that educates Florida multifamily employees on the dangers, signs, and prevention tactics of human trafficking. The new course is approved by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to meet Florida’s new training requirements.
In addition, a new Human Trafficking policy developed by Grace Hill has been added to the course. For PolicyPartner customers, this policy has been added to PolicyPartner and can be found in the Grace Hill New Policies to Review manual.
An Expert Partnership
When developing the new training, we gave careful consideration to partner selection. As a long-time partner of Grace Hill’s, as well as a trusted authority on issues impacting the multifamily industry, NAAEI was an obvious choice NAAEI was an obvious choice in tandem with NAA’s Industry Operations group, which sponsored a Human Trafficking webinar last April.
For subject matter expertise, we relied on iEmpathize. The non-profit organization’s trafficking prevention strategies are used throughout the US and Mexico and recognized by the United Nations as being among the top 100 practices to combat trafficking worldwide. The organization’s Orlando office led the development efforts.
Florida’s New Training Requirements
During the 2019 session, Section 509.096 was added to Florida Statutes to increase human trafficking awareness by imposing various requirements on public lodging establishments. The statute dictates that employees in a front desk/receptionist and housekeeping role at public lodging establishments receive human trafficking training by 1/1/2021, and there is an annual requirement for training after that. Since many communities have guest suites, the apartment industry in Florida is adopting this requirement to include them as well.
To comply with the new Florida law, businesses must:
- Post signage educating employees about human trafficking
- Institute a policy to report suspected trafficking, and
- Provide annual training for employees who perform certain duties
Course Contents
Appropriate for both onsite and corporate team members, the new one-hour course will be available as part of Grace Hill’s Vision 2020 Essentials catalog and will include the following:
Topic 1: What is human trafficking?
- The definition of human trafficking and the difference between the two forms of trafficking: sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
- Human trafficking statistics nationally and in Florida
- Florida requirements regarding posting signage, instituting a human trafficking policy, and annual training requirements
Topic 2: Recognizing signs of human trafficking
Guidance specific to apartment communities on how to identify individuals who may be trafficking victims.
Topic 3: What to do if you suspect human trafficking
Guidance specific to apartment communities on how to report and respond to suspected trafficking.
Topic 4: Knowledge Challenge Quiz
A short quiz to check that learners have understood the material presented in the course.
Future Training
Florida is the only state requiring training on human trafficking at this time. However, many states will likely follow Florida’s lead in the future. Grace Hill is currently developing a national version of the course and will add more state-specific training as needed.
