The San Diego Rotary Club gave $45,000 to three San Diego County school districts for training on how to spot the signs of human trafficking in their schools.
The money will be split among the San Diego Unified, San Marcos and Sweetwater Union High school districts and used to help train 700 teachers within the next year.
"If we can help teachers and students look out for other people who might be vulnerable to that, then we've done our job here," said David Oates, president of the San Diego Rotary Club.
County officials say human trafficking is an $810 million industry and that most of the San Diego victims are U.S. citizen teenagers.
A half-day curriculum developed by the San Diego Trafficking Prevention Collective for teachers and students from fifth to twelfth grade. The educators say the teaching modules will help students and teachers spot red flags.
A typical red flag could be a student with multiple cell phones, said Katy Randall, a human trafficking prevention advocate who is bringing the curriculum into San Diego schools.
"Maybe the student has two cell phones and they're panicked when you suggest calling home or when you take that phone away," Randall said. "So [the teacher] can press into it a little bit more."
