Representative Beloyed presented a request from Short Creek Dream Center (a member of the Dream Centers network) for a scalable appropriation to expand residential services for survivors of human trafficking, addiction and generational poverty.

Luke Meredith, co-executive director of Short Creek Dream Center, said the organization operates Utah’s largest trauma-informed long-term residential program for survivors and asked the subcommittee for a one-time appropriation in the $50,000 to $250,000 range to strengthen transitional housing, workforce pipelines and vocational services. Meredith said Dream Center facilities work with Homeland Security, the FBI and the Utah Attorney General’s Trafficking in Persons Task Force and that a new facility will break ground in Mount Pleasant, Utah, in April 2025.

Meredith described outcomes and cost comparisons during his presentation: "Each trafficking survivor can cost the state 60 to a hundred thousand dollars a year, and we house a hundred of them over the course of a year," he said. He also reported the Dream Center’s operating cost per resident as about $61 per head per night and asserted a stated success rate above 85 percent, contrasting that with higher daily costs and lower success rates at some publicly funded facilities.

Representative Beloyed and Meredith said the funds would bolster transitional housing capacity, workforce development and economic self-sufficiency. The presenters described partnerships with Utah and Arizona colleges and said some facilities provide legal aid and other wraparound services.

The presentation included survivor anecdotes and program examples; no formal committee vote was taken on the RFA during the Feb. 7 session. The transcript shows the request will be considered as part of the RFA ranking and prioritization.