Professors Kristin Ferguson and Haluk Soydan of the USC School of Social Work will team up with the Salvation Army, which has been awarded a $1 million grant, to create and evaluate the Partnership to Rescue Our Minors from Sexual Exploitation (PROMISE). The grant, which will be received over two years, is funded by the Department of Justice and the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

In response to the commercial sexual exploitation of children across the United States, the Salvation Army is collaborating with host organizations and researchers from the USC School of Social Work to develop, implement and evaluate community response plans in five major cities. These cities -- Atlantic City, Chicago, Denver, San Diego and Washington D.C. -- were chosen because they have an existing problem of the commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the community either already has begun to respond or has indicated a readiness to combat the problem.

Statistics show approximately 300,000 children are sexually exploited for commercial purposes, including child pornography; child prostitution and human trafficking, which refers to the illegal transport, harboring or sale of minors within a country or across countries for forced commercial or sexual labor.

"These victims suffer myriad social, emotional and physical consequences, from low academic achievement, low self-esteem and social deterioration, to malnutrition, substance abuse and sexually-transmitted illnesses," Ferguson said. "PROMISE promotes a comprehensive, collaborative approach to ending this exploitation by engaging legal authorities, public and private organizations and community leaders in the design and implementation of commercial sexual exploitation of children community-response plans."

PROMISE will bring together leading national experts in commercial sexual exploitation of children to prepare others at the local level and provide profession-specific training resources for them to use in educating their communities. Each city's efforts will be connected to parallel efforts around the country, which will foster the sharing of ideas and aid in resolving challenges.

The leaders of existing programs will receive financial resources to hire full-time dedicated staff through subcontracts with one key agency in each city. PROMISE also will bring a community response plan and provide ongoing technical assistance in each city through a site coordinator.

Ferguson's research focuses on homeless and street-living youth, social and spiritual capital, outcomes evaluation and social development interventions with street youth.

Soydan is a research professor and co-director of the Hamovitch Center for Science in Human Services. His research includes intervention studies, systematic research reviews, qualitative studies of how human services organizations work, service delivery among ethnic clients and patients, and core theoretical issues in social work research. In 2004, the Swedish government honored him for "zealous and devoted service to the kingdom."