The Agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners

Missoula Project Beacon empowering people beyond human trafficking

• Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont • Season 2 • Episode 2

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*This podcast discusses topics around sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and physical violence. Missoula County acknowledges this content may be difficult for some and if so, encourages listeners to seek support from one of the local resources listed below. 

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont shares powerful stories of her work with human trafficking victims. She explains the importance of helping tribal members reconnect with their tribal culture, elders and the holistic approach to helping a victim heal from trauma. Addressing human trafficking is a community responsibility, and Shayla discusses how we can look out for each other and support one another in the healing process. 

To learn more about Missoula Project Beacon visit https://www.allnations.health/missoula-project-beacon/

If you are interested in a career with Missoula Project Beacon, they are hiring for a case manager. Visit https://www.allnations.health/careers/ for the job description and additional information. 
 

Human trafficking is the exploitation of another person for labor, domestic servitude or commercial sexual activity by force, fraud or coercion. It is also the act of enslaving or exploiting unwilling people.  

If you are a victim, or think someone is, please contact one of these local resources for help: 

9-1-1 call or text 

Missoula Beacon Project - All Nations Health Center 

Missoula Human Trafficking Task Force  

  • https://www.missoulahumantrafficking.com/  
  • Call or text 1-833-406-STOP (7867), the local hotline for victims or for reporting human trafficking  
  • Aims to end human trafficking through the process of education, awareness and  collaboration with local, state and federal resources and community partners.

Lifeguard Group

  • https://thelifeguardgroup.org/  
  • Call or text 1-833-406-STOP (7867), the local hotline for victims or to report human trafficking  
  • Helps protect people and the community against sexual exploitation and human trafficking. 

YWCA  

  • https://www.ywcamissoula.org/  
  • 24-hour crisis line: 1-800-483-7858 
  • 1800 S. 3rd St. W., Missoula, MT 59801 
  • Provides life-saving services — shelter, counseling and more — for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, stalking and human trafficking. 

Missoula County Community Justice Department 

  • 406-258-3830 
  • Toll-free 1-866- 921-6995 
  • Email - cva@missoulacounty.us  
  • Promotes the safety of Missoula County citizens, the protection and healing of crime victims, the efficient and just treatment of defendants and offenders, the ongoing improvement and coordination of the justice system’s response to crime, and the prevention of crime and the reduction of recidivism. 

Text us your thoughts and comments on this episode!


Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

Welcome back to the Tip of the Spear with your Missoula County commissioners. Today, we're joined by Shayla Beaumont. She's the director of Missoula Project Beacon at All Nations Health Center. And we're going to be continuing our conversation from our last episode about human trafficking and its impact on Missoula County because this is January, Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

Shayla, this is Dave Strohmaier. Thanks so much for joining us. And could you just kick things off here by telling us a little bit about your background, the Beacon Project and what your role is as director of that?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Yeah, definitely. Missoula Project Beacon, we're housed under all Nations Health Center on West Central there by the Stevens outlet mall and Missoula Project Beacon. We provide intensive case management, trainings, outreach for indigenous survivors experiencing human trafficking. And my role as director is just to provide trainings, participate in outreach not only in the City of Missoula, but also for Montana as well. Working with tribal nations, letting them know we're here as a resource, providing intensive case management to survivors in Missoula. And we also get a lot of referrals from tribal nations as well. So collaborating with them. And yeah, just trying to provide easier access and cultural support to healing.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

That's great. Shayla, this is Josh Slotnick, one of the other commissioners. So you mentioned training and outreach that Missoula Project Beacon does. What are some of those programs?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Yeah, definitely. Our training programs are local organizations such as the YWCA, providing them cultural competence trainings, kind of how to work with an indigenous survivor and not only the YWCA, but also organizations that we work with, working with police and also current outreach. A lot of our social media, we do a lot of safety tips, safety planning ideas on there as well, letting them know of other resources available in the community. We team up with the university a lot for events, for donation events and yeah, we're very grateful for the community of Missoula. We have a lot of other organizations and businesses hosting events for us or donations. Along with the current outreach we go to campus. We let the students know we're here. We let the crime victim advocates office know we're here just trying to always stand strong communication with the advocacy groups here. The legal resources, the legal support.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

Just going back to just to expand on something you said earlier, as far as outreach efforts go with other tribal nations. Can you talk just a little bit about that? We're familiar with CSKT since Missoula County and and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in the Flathead Reservation share boundaries here. But is it the case that when you're interacting with and working with survivors that depending on their tribal affiliation, you would reach out to their respective tribal nation for coordination? Or just how does all of that one?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Our tribal nations, they're definitely are a huge support in our cultural healing, not only on working with cases and collaborating together, but in Montana, you know, we have eight tribal nations, and in Missoula we see a various number of enrolled members, whether it's Blackfeet, Crow, Chippewa, Cree, CSKT. So we definitely reach out to those tribal nations to get cultural healing support, getting in touch with elders, getting in touch with cultural practitioners and just making sure that we're respecting the uniqueness of each tribal identity and cultural belief and collaborating on cases, developing safety plans, working together to create task forces on those reservations. Buckling down on response prevention, offering them trainings or other resources available, and just trying to keep that tight connection and tight working relationship.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

I need to have a better understanding of what does cultural competency mean? I mean, so before the Beacon Project, how did this engagement work? And then when Beacon Project came online or this outreach started to happen, what were some of the kind of examples of the cultural competency we want to encourage?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I feel like before Beacon Project, the access wasn't really there or like connecting with each tribal nation. And, you know, each tribe is very different. Their beliefs are different. Their ways of healing is different. The woman or man's role is, you know, the different beliefs. And I feel before Beacon Project, a lot of working professionals didn't have access to that on each tribal nation or didn't have those connections for their survivors that they were working with or their program. And I feel that with now with the Missoula Project Beacon, with our trainings that we offer or just even me wanting to come and connect with you or talk about cultural competency. And just stressing, you know, the different tribal entities and how they differ, but also being able to facilitate that space or facilitate that conversation and getting you connected with the right parties on the reservation and you know, just so we can provide the the correct healing processes for survivors. I don't want to say correct, but you know, their their beliefs, what they...

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

No, that's helpful. Thank you.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Shayla, it seems like this work crosses a whole bunch of different professional, discipline boundaries. There's some legal stuff in here. It sounds like some social work, as well as kind of some marketing and getting the word out. So what's your background, professional background, so that this works out for you?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I graduated from University of Montana with criminal justice. My dream was to work in victim services, especially for indigenous populations, and providing that cultural support. And I've served as a domestic violence advocate here at the YWCA. I've served for Mountain Home Montana, the local young-mothers shelter and also working on the reservation in a school setting. So yeah, just a lot of direct services and a lot of emergency.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

It sounds like you're the right person for the job.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Thank you.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

So one goal of Project Beacon is to train, as you've been explaining, train the community on how to spot indicators of human trafficking. Can you give us an overview of what these indicators look like and what our listeners can be aware of?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Human trafficking in Montana, I know a lot of our community members and a lot of our people in towns don't think it happens here, when it very much does. Some of the indicators, you know, just a very submissive person. I don't want to just say like a female survivor, but I mean also males and two-spirit as well. Just kind of that very jaded social interaction. They won't interact with you. They won't tell their living situation, very timid, being very standoffish to those in authority, not only to law enforcement, but also if they're minors, you know, very standoffish to their principal, their parents, their friends, their coaches. And not only that, but also not giving you a clear answer on their living situation. Maybe it doesn't make sense the party that they are living with or the arrangement, or if they can't give exact details about it, whether it's the address or who is taking care of them. And I mean, even as for adults, you know, if they won't tell you what the living arrangement looks like, whether the rent or how they're paying for it when applying for assistance. Can I give an example about when I was at?

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

That'd be super helpful.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Anything you want.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I was at Charter Spectrum and I was returning my wi-fi router, and there was this gentleman and a woman in front of me. I don't want to say woman because I feel like she was a teenager. It was very, it was very obvious that she was 14. She was dressed in like a little tank top, barely clean, and he was dressed in a nice suit, and he said that he was paying for her apartment. He was paying for her charter wi-fi, so to put the bill under his name, but they needed her information for the lease agreement. And he said, Well, she is my daughter, but I just don't have a Social Security number and he's like, Well, can you provide ID, which is a huge one, because that's another thing. They won't have access to their ID, whether it's tribal enrollment cards, their Social Security cards, their IDs, even when applying for jobs, right? And the male that she was with, even though he said he was her dad and then it went to being a family friend, and this whole time this poor young woman was scared, she was shrunken down. She wouldn't even look at me because I kept trying to make eye contact, you know, being an advocate and picking up on those red signs, trying to offer my assistance or seeing if she was OK and if she was safe. But the Charter Spectrum worker must have picked up something was wrong, and he was like, I'm sorry, I cannot offer you services right now. I need this information, but just the stories of the living situation and why she was even here in Montana. At first, it went from a custody battle to that he was just helping out a family friend. So just kind of paying attention to the stories and seeing if they do match up or if they do change. And then just seeing in person just kind of how distraught the young woman was.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

So then then what happens?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I mean, not a cop. I couldn't intervene. I couldn't intervene, but I just kept trying to make, you know, eye contact. And I worked with a Charter Spectrum worker, you know, and told him I was an advocate and like what we could look out for. And if he felt comfortable even reporting the gentleman because he said that he had seen him a few times before.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

Okay.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

Well, Shayla. I mean, that's a great point for our listeners. If they're either working in an establishment that would see these sorts of incidents unfold right before their eyes. Or if you're just a concerned citizen, at what point would it be appropriate to call 9-1-1? Or, I guess I'm just searching around for what folks are looking for something proactive to do. What's the best course of action?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Definitely keeping yourself safe first, because I definitely know that that guy knew I knew something wasn't right because he kept staring at me kind of more so glaring. I would just feel like if it's safe right, then in there to contact law enforcement or whoever security, please go ahead and do it. But if it kind of gets in the way of your safety, maybe go to a safe place, whether that's your car, whether that's a different room in the building. But make sure you're safe first. And if you're not even comfortable of calling law enforcement, you don't always have to write a report, right? You could just tell them the incident that what made you nervous or what made you worried and you could just give some tips and.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

You know, that's great practical advice. I guess it just makes me wonder if if there, maybe you're already involved with this, but training that could be provided for store clerks, I mean, whoever might be out there interacting with the public in a way where transactions like what you witness might be taking place? I bet. I bet they're well-meaning folks out there that just aren't picking up on the signs and clues that that you're immersed in every day, and we're able to quickly figure out what was going on.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Right. I was at the mall a few months ago and just like you said, like just training our bystanders and training the people who work in work wherever in the community. And I was parked right outside of Red Robin. I was happy. I got a close spot to the mall and I had to take a work call. So I went back outside and there was this guy filming me while I was walking to my car with his cell phone and nobody told me. But it kind of was happening for a while because he had to have followed me to the entrance to my car, and then I turned around and I started recording him. I don't know what made me brave, but I started chasing after him and then I went and told security his description. And you know, this just happened, and so please be on the lookout for him. But yeah, I mean, you know, like just on our everyday activities, right? Like, what are we missing or what are we not catching or or what could we do? Yeah, wow.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

No kidding.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Shayla, you mentioned healing. It's a big part of this. So these situations just sound unimaginably awful, especially to those who have had no contact with this. What is the healing process look like for a young person thinking about a minor who's been trafficked? How can they be brought back to a sense of personal security and and have some agency in the world?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

We're Project Beacon offering that cultural support and definitely seeing with the minor, like what is their tribal affiliation? What is if they are enrolled, if they're not, and human trafficking, manipulation, brainwashing are huge tools in the process and just kind of giving them that indigenous tribal identity back and letting them give them that sense of self and getting them into the their right tribal beliefs, right? And not just assume that they're of a specific tribe, but actually kind of vary finding out where they're from and making sure that we get them in touch with the right cultural practitioner. And what does that look like to them, right? A man, a woman or whoever, a young person, a peer support just with all the medical issues that come with it definitely provide that at all nations.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Do you feel like people can come back from this?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Yes, that's one of my goals with Project Beacon is just having that access to culture. You know, a lot of over the history, a lot of policy and a lot of laws went into effect. So that our cultural ways were lost. So just kind of bridging that gap of intergenerational trauma and giving that sense of identity back to our indigenous, not only our survivors, but, you know, like our indigenous people.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

And I think it's important for folks to understand that how much time it takes to work through this struggle, it's it's we call 9-1-1 or if you call Project Beacon or you get into Mountain Home or YWCA, I mean, it's it's not quick. And I feel like folks aren't understanding that it can take multiple touches or it often does take multiple touches and appreciating that how much effort and time has to go into a person's healing. It's not.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

It's not just a one step, right? So a part of our intensive case management and our cultural competency is just to make sure that they don't fall through the cracks and that they know that we're here for them and that we do have that cultural competency, trauma informed background

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

And even this is something that for victims might not even know that they're being trafficked or not, not even understand that they're a victim. And so. How can we, how should we think about this when you're talking about young girls, young boys two-spirit, and actually can we go back to what's an appropriate definition of two-spirit?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

A two-spirit is someone who identifies both as a man and a woman. So that's the way we refer to them as two-spirit. But they're targeted just as much, if not more, for human trafficking. And, you know, like and especially in our youth, not a lot of households do support that. So we do have a lot of runaway. And just with along with that brainwashing and manipulation that comes with human trafficking, you know, and not having that support so...

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

So people are putting these vulnerable situations without even maybe fully understanding that they are and how. How do we reach them, how do we talk about that?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I always believe just letting them know we're here, not only just as Missoula Project Beacon, but just facilitating that safe conversation, just like you mentioned our youth or who or any other survivor doesn't always know that they're being trafficked. Just kind of listening to their situation and making sure that they know they're safe. A lot of our survivors are scared to come forward because they feel like they will be incriminated for the acts that were forced upon them, even though they are victims in this situation. So I just feel like facilitating that safe space, knowing that they are being listened to and even just hearing their situation out loud might be like, Oh hey, that isn't right or having someone that they know and trust like, no, you don't deserve that or no, you don't have to do that to stay there or live there for safety or for food or for protection.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Glad you brought up incrimination. I was wondering this, given that someone who's been trafficked is often involved in something illegal. Does that illegality in their sense of apprehension about the law enforcement system

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

And reaching out for help in trying to go forward with prosecuting their trafficker? Or whether that looks like getting a restraining order or any type of safety really going through law enforcement? And then, you know, our traffickers just how we talked about, they target vulnerabilities and a lot of them, when they do, they they will target and hold that record or hold those acts that they say are illegal over them. Just kind of as that manipulation and to keep them under their control.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

A phrase that gets kicked around sometimes is holistic wellness. Could you talk a little bit about how that factors into Project Beacon and in the healing process and just how that weaves itself through the services you provide?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Part of our programming, when you know how we say road to healing, definitely just kind of teaching our participants, getting them in connection with the Earth and that sort of holistic healing, whether that's teaching them about medicines, we go pick medicines with them so they can use smudge. Smudging is a huge part of it. Sage grass getting that protection, that mindfulness from that and also ceremonies, if we can't, if we don't have that available here in Missoula, try to make that happen, whether we're up to their discretion, support them and what they would like, and not just kind of put, you know, one one ceremony or something on them totally up to what they would like and even just kind of reconnecting them with their language, their indigenous language and just kind of providing that that cultural. I don't want to say identity, but I mean the cultural practices that have been lost or that they don't have access to here in the community or their family. Huge part of our program is the multigenerational leadership before a lot of our indigenous culture was lost. Or, you know, just like we talked about the policies making our beliefs illegal, our family, the way our childbearing and our family, that was disrupted. So our multigenerational leadership is not only just peer support, but also learning from our elder women, our elder males and just kind of learning that way. A lot of our cultural and tribal beliefs do come from that learning, from learning from your elders and learning from the knowledge keepers. And, you know, just like you, your grandmother teaching you so you could teach your daughter or your child. So definitely just bringing that indigenous way back, not only for the family, but for our survivors as well.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

And it seems like such an important work that you're doing, are there any other Project Beacons around the state of Montana or elsewhere, a Billings Project Beacon or anything like it?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

We have six other sister sites, but unfortunately they aren't in Montana. We have one in Albuquerque, we have one in Minnesota, we have Omaha, Nebraska. We have a few other locations, but unfortunately, we don't have another Missoula Project Beacon in Montana.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

So Shayla, listening to this whole conversation. I'm kind of struck by the sense that there's a whole world out there that a lot of people don't know about that unfortunately, as is a lot scarier and darker than the world we move about in. And I wonder for someone like yourself who has to dabble in that world for work and then go back to much more about going to say, regular healthy world for life, h ow do you hold both these things without it dragging you down?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

There are moments where it does get hard, but you know, just I've survived five kidnapping attempts here in Missoula and in Great Falls.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

Can you tell us about that or explain it whatever you're comfortable doing? Because I don't, I can't even conceive of what that will look like in Missoula.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

I can't even conceive of one kidnapping attempt.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

In Great Falls. We were doing some Christmas shopping and this this guy just walks up to me and says he knows me, and I said, No, I don't. I don't know your name. He keeps bugging me for my name, and I just ignore him hoping he's going to go away. At first, he asks if he if I can go out to his car because he got a flat and I said, I don't know how to change a flat. You're going to have to call your car insurance or call someone else to help you. And then he's like, No, you need to get out to my car right now. You need to help me. And I said, No, I don't know how to change a flat. And then I keep shopping. And he asks me to go out to his car again and I tell him no. And he says that his girlfriend is the same size as me, and he bought her a dress for a gift. So he has to make sure that it's the right size so that he doesn't mess up on the gift or whatever. And this guy standing next to me who was shopping put his hand out in front of me towards that guy and said she obviously she doesn't know you. You need to leave her alone, and we're calling the cops. And that guy just runs out of Ross. So there was that incident, and then I went to Bonner Park and we were just walking back home and this van starts following us and I keep trying to take a picture of the license plate in the picture of the van to show police. And it must have been really paying good attention because every time I would pull up my cell phone, it would literally just go into an alley or it would turn off into an off street. And that happened like three times and I just could not get a picture of the license plate. But it followed us for six blocks.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

That's so infuriating race, gender, age?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

We have this stereotype of a trafficker like an attacker who of a big male. But when doing this work, and when people want to learn about MMIW (Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women) and want to learn about human trafficking, and then they do ask, what was your predator or what does that look like? Was it another indigenous person? And in all of my kidnapping attempts, none of them were indigenous. They were all white males or a white female.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Thanks.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

And then, yeah, this was mentioned that the last one, too, is just recognizing that victims can be anyone and look like anyone. And so it's incumbent upon the community to be, yeah, heads up and eyes wide open, and the more we can get the word out and more people can be aware because it's definitely something that I was not it was not on my radar, you know,

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

For me either.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

I like sharing my stories because, you know, it just just to give that image and just to let people know like it does happen in Montana and it could happen to anybody, whether, you know, just going to the park, going to the mall, it doesn't always have to be at a dark alleyway. You know, all of my kidnapping attempts were in broad daylight.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

And then the flip side is, I don't want to cruise around my community being scared of everything. So. What can we do to feel empowered and safe?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Yeah, yeah, right, like not to live in fear. Definitely know you're not alone. I feel like just kind of talking about human trafficking, not only as working organizations, but community members and supporting each other, like talking, letting them know that it happens or providing safety. Like, Can you call me while you're walking to your car or can you call me and let me know you made it to work? Or always just kind of checking in with one another, letting them know of the hotlines, even if you're scared or just want to talk about it, right? Like if it is an intense topic, you don't want to talk with a family or friend calling a hotline and just getting kind of whether it's education or whether it's safety planning or just kind of to release and unload, right, just of what's happening around us.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

And so, Josh, you had kids and raising them. What? What did you go through?

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't think about these things enough. Normal things about who's dropping off and where are you going to be, a lot of those safety things are just part of our family. But we didn't do those things out of real fear of kidnapping or trafficking. It was just more of this is how a person should behave and. It would be really terrifying to have the knowledge you have and then be raising children simultaneously. I'm almost saying glad I didn't know, as is not right, I'm glad I do know these things, but it would be really difficult to know these things and not feel a little bit paralyzed.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

That's a huge goal of Project Beacon, right? Like just getting that outreach out in that education just to better support parents. And I just, this topic is very heavy and it's like, how do we communicate and educate each other without draining or getting that secondary trauma? But instead of draining each other, like how do we empower like, you're not alone, we're here to. We're here working together, trying to keep our kiddos safe and just kind of facilitate those safe conversations so that we feel empowered and not scared of the world.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

Absolutely.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Shayla, my guess is most people listening to this, their only understanding of human trafficking will be from scenes in television to the movies. So if there's some real take home message that you want to make sure our listeners understand about human trafficking in the in the real world, what would those be?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Definitely. Just checking in with your family, you know, making sure you let your parents, your family, your grandparents, siblings know where you're at at all times, even if it's just a simple text or a Snapchat. Letting them know where you're going to be safety planning with your family when you're expected to be back. Because a lot of this does happen in Montana. And like we talked about, a lot of people don't believe that it does happen. Or just like you said, seeing in the movies, we've seen situations that aren't just shown on the movies of women being kidnapped and go into Europe. We have friends recruiting their friends into the life. We have parents doing it to children. We have organizations doing it to kiddos. So I mean, and not just kids, but other but adults as well. Right. So one thing I would just like to for our listeners is that it does happen in Montana and just to keep your guys self safe, whether that safety planning with your family always telling them where you're going. Knowing your resources or knowing the emergency steps to take. Whether that's calling law enforcement or what you feel comfortable doing.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

Thanks, Shayla. Is there a website or point of contact if folks have questions about any of this?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Yeah. https://www.allnations.health/missoula-project-beacon/, or we have an Instagram and Facebook page Missoula Project Beacon. We are hiring for a full time case management position that can be found on our website. Or if you wanted to reach out on social media, we could definitely forward you the application. But yeah, we are definitely hiring and always accepting volunteers, our interns. If you would like to go that route and

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

If you're non-native, I mean, I would think that I'm not native and I would feel hesitant about volunteering at All Nations or Project Beacon, even though this is something that I care very much about. And so what's your advice for non-native folks?

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Please don't feel like that, and please come, please, come apply. And then just like that cultural competency, right? Like, let's learn from each other and let's teach each other and bridge that gap, right? So nobody feels like that.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

We'll do. Great. Thank you. Well, before we close and to the end on a on a positive note, tell us about a good book or nugget of wisdom you'd have to share with us.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Project Beacon actually came from the book Garden of Truth, and I wouldn't say it's really a book. It's kind of more so of a research project telling them about the research in Minnesota. They interviewed 105 indigenous participants who experience sex trafficking in that area. It's just a great read. The recruitment process, the process that they're working on to healing, getting all that cultural support in place for organizations and programs, and just the statistics and real interviews with actual survivors.

Commissioner Josh Slotnick:

Thanks a lot.

Commissioner Juanita Vero:

Fantastic. Thank you so much for being here, and thanks for your important work.

Commissioner Dave Strohmaier (via phone):

Thanks so much, Shayla, we really appreciate it.

Missoula Project Beacon Director Shayla Beaumont:

Thank you.