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 LIGHTS Prevention Curriculum 

Helping young people recognize risk before harm escalates.

  • LIGHTS is UNITY Prevention’s youth-facing prevention curriculum designed to help young people understand human trafficking and exploitation, recognize common tactics, and identify where to turn for help.
  • Created through the UNITAS legacy of prevention education, LIGHTS equips youth with language, knowledge, and practical awareness before risk becomes deeper harm. The curriculum is designed for young people ages 11 to 18 and is grounded in survivor-informed practice, expert input, and real-world prevention experience.
  • LIGHTS does not rely on fear-based messaging. It uses age-appropriate education, narrative-based learning, and practical prevention tools to help young people build protective knowledge and recognize unsafe dynamics earlier.
Bring LIGHTS to Your School
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What is LIGHTS?

LIGHTS is a human trafficking and exploitation prevention curriculum for youth.
 
The curriculum helps young people understand how exploitation can happen, how traffickers and exploiters build trust or control, and how vulnerability can be targeted through relationships, promises, pressure, isolation, online contact, economic need, or emotional manipulation.
 
Rather than presenting trafficking as something distant or abstract, LIGHTS helps young people recognize the real-world situations and warning signs that may appear in their own communities, peer groups, relationships, schools, or online spaces.
 
The goal is not to make young people afraid. The goal is to help them become informed, prepared, and connected to support.
UNITAS HOSTS ANNUAL FUNDRAISING GALA TO END HUMAN TRAFFICKING

What Young People Learn Through LIGHTS

  • How Grooming and Manipulation Tactics Work
  • Recognizing Online Exploitation and Social Media Risks
  • Identifying Warning Signs in Relationships
  • Understanding Vulnerability and How It's Targeted
  • Where to Turn for Help

Why LIGHTS Matters

Young people often face risk before adults recognize what is happening.

Exploitation rarely begins with obvious violence or force. It often begins through trust, attention, promises, pressure, dependency, isolation, or manipulation. Young people may not have the language to identify what they are experiencing or may not know where to turn when something feels unsafe.

LIGHTS helps close that gap.

By giving youth practical knowledge and survivor-informed examples, LIGHTS helps young people better understand risk, recognize red flags, and seek support earlier. It also strengthens the prevention ecosystem around them when paired with professional training for educators, school staff, parents, and youth-serving professionals.

 What Makes LIGHTS Different 

LIGHTS is not a one-time awareness presentation.

It is a structured prevention curriculum built to help young people engage with the issue in a deeper, more meaningful way. The curriculum combines survivor-informed narratives, expert-developed content, and age-appropriate learning to help youth understand risk before harm escalates.

Survivor-Informed

 LIGHTS is shaped by survivor experience and designed with care for how exploitation actually happens. 

Narrative-Based

 The curriculum uses stories to help young people understand real-world dynamics, not just definitions. 

Age-Appropriate

 LIGHTS is designed for youth ages 11 to 18 and can be adapted for school and community settings. 

Practical

 The curriculum focuses on recognizing risk, understanding tactics, and identifying where to go for help. 

Built for Schools and Youth-Serving Organizations

LIGHTS can be implemented in schools, districts, and youth-serving organizations that want a more structured approach to human trafficking prevention education.

The curriculum is especially relevant for settings where young people may be navigating risk factors such as housing instability, economic vulnerability, online exploitation, unsafe relationships, social isolation, or lack of trusted support.

LIGHTS can be used as part of:

🔹Student safety initiatives
🔹Health and wellness education
🔹Human trafficking prevention programming
🔹School district prevention strategies
🔹Youth leadership and empowerment programs
🔹Community-based prevention efforts
🔹Professional training and youth protection initiatives

Paired With Adult Training

Youth prevention is strongest when the adults around young people are prepared to respond.

LIGHTS is most effective when paired with professional development for educators, school leaders, parents, caregivers, youth-serving professionals, and institutions. Adult training helps ensure that when young people recognize risk or disclose concerns, the people around them know how to respond appropriately.

UNITY Prevention can support schools and organizations through:

🔹Training for educators and staff
🔹Parent and caregiver education
🔹Professional development for youth-serving organizations
🔹Guidance on red flags and response protocols
🔹Support for building coordinated prevention capacity
🔹Consultation for implementation and follow-up

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Recognition and Reach of LIGHTS

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LIGHTS is part of the prevention education legacy built through UNITAS and now carried forward by UNITY Prevention.

UNITAS has reached more than 153,000 youth through prevention education and trained more than 204,000 professionals and parents. LIGHTS has also been recognized for its prevention strategy and transformative approach to human trafficking education.

This foundation reflects years of curriculum development, survivor-informed learning, professional training, and partnership with schools and community organizations.

Who Should Bring LIGHTS to Their Community?

School districts

Support consistent prevention education across schools while strengthening district-wide student safety and response capacity.

Middle schools and high schools

Help students build age-appropriate awareness, recognize risk earlier, and identify trusted pathways to support.

Youth-serving nonprofits

Equip young people with practical prevention knowledge while reinforcing the protective role nonprofits already play.

Community-based organizations

Strengthen local prevention efforts by bringing trafficking and exploitation education into trusted community spaces.

Public agencies

Support coordinated prevention strategies that help agencies identify risk earlier and connect young people to appropriate resources.

After-school programs

Bring prevention education into informal learning environments where young people often build trust and connection.

Faith-based youth programs

Help youth leaders and participants recognize risk while grounding prevention in trusted relationships and community care.

Juvenile justice or diversion partners

Support young people who may be navigating instability, system involvement, or elevated vulnerability to exploitation.

Foster care and child welfare partners

Equip youth and caregivers with prevention knowledge that addresses the vulnerabilities traffickers often target.

Organizations serving vulnerable youth

Provide practical tools to help young people recognize unsafe dynamics, seek support, and build protective knowledge before harm deepens.

What age group is LIGHTS designed for?

LIGHTS is designed for youth ages 11 to 18 and can be adapted for middle school students, high school students, and various youth-serving settings.

Is LIGHTS only for schools?

No. LIGHTS can be implemented in schools, community organizations, youth programs, after-school programs, faith-based youth programs, and other youth-serving settings that work with young people ages 11 to 18.

Does LIGHTS use fear-based content?

No. LIGHTS uses practical, age-appropriate, and dignity-forward prevention education. The curriculum helps young people recognize risk and understand where to turn for support without relying on fear-based messaging or sensational imagery.

Can adults be trained too?

Yes. LIGHTS is most effective when paired with professional development for educators, school staff, parents, caregivers, and youth-serving professionals. UNITY Prevention offers training to help adults recognize risk and respond appropriately when young people disclose concerns.

Can staff be trained to deliver LIGHTS?

Yes. Depending on the engagement model, UNITY Prevention can work with select partners to train or certify staff to deliver LIGHTS directly with youth in their communities.

How do we bring LIGHTS to our school or organization?

Start by contacting UNITY Prevention. The team will discuss your setting, audience, goals, and the best approach to bring LIGHTS or related professional training to your school, district, or organization.

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Ready to bring LIGHTS to your community?

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