Kiricka Yarbough Smith has over 18 years of combined experience working in the areas of mental health, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. She is deeply involved in the fight against human trafficking in her home state of North Carolina, serving as the Chair of the NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking and as manager of the NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s human trafficking program. Many of her efforts focus on the intersections of trafficking and child advocacy including her role as an investigator as a part of the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Administration for Children and Families grant to address child trafficking in the child welfare system.
As an educator and consultant, Kiricka’s work has taken her across the country, working on anti-trafficking initiatives for the Office of Victims of Crime and the Trafficking in Persons Office under the DHHS’s Administration for Children, Youth and Families. She has provided trainings on combatting trafficking and serving survivors for law enforcement, prosecutors, and service providers working across local, state, and federal levels. Since 2010, she has been a faculty member of the Futures Without Violence project, fostering collaboration to address human trafficking within domestic violence and sexual assault cases. Additionally, Kiricka has written extensively on issues of trafficking for several online publications and was included as a guest contributor in the 2016 book The Essential Abolitionist, by John Vanek.
Currently, Kiricka serves as the Human Trafficking Program Director for the NC Council for Women & Youth Involvement, continuing her commitment to empowering individuals and organizations to serve survivors of human trafficking and create communities free from violence.