On May 6 at 6 p.m., the Brookings Public Library will host a talk entitled “The Intersection Between Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons and Sex Trafficking” as part of its MMIP Event Series that will run through the summer. These programs are made possible through a grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, through the United We Stand Initiative.

In this presentation, Lisa Heth from the Pathfinder Center will cover how sex trafficking can be related to MMIP, what makes a person high risk, and what you need to do if your loved one goes missing. This presentation will be in-person in the library's Cooper Room and will also be live streamed on Zoom. The link for the Zoom can be found on the library’s website or Facebook page.

Heth has worked in the field of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse for over 30 years. Ms. Heth has been a strong advocate for women and children on the Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota and is the executive director for Wiconi Wawokiya Inc.  (Helping Families), which operates a domestic violence shelter in Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek reservation and in 2015 established Pathfinder Center, a place of refuge for victims of sex trafficking.

For additional information about the library's programs and services, visit its website at www.brookingslibrary.org.