Meeting of the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission
November 17, 2025, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Williams Building, Lansing, MI and Virtual (Microsoft Teams)
Called to Order:
Chairwoman, Melissa Palepu, called meeting to order at 12:00PM.
Agenda Items:
Call to order and Welcome. Chairwoman Melissa Palepu welcomed Commission members and the public.
Roll Call. Chairwoman Melissa Palepu took roll call of the Commission Members.
Members Present:
Agenda Items:
Approval of the Minutes from Monday, March 10, 2025: The minutes for the September 22, 2025, meeting were approved.
Agenda Item:
Report of the Commission Chair: Chairwoman Melissa Palepu welcomed new Board Member Jayla Irons. Ms. Irons is from the Governor’s Office where she is a policy advisor for the Governor.
Chairwoman Melissa Palepu reported no money was provided to the Commission again this year from the Legislature. She believes they may have intended to give some money. Ms. Palepu is working with the AG’s office to secure some resources for the 2026 goals. If we cannot get money from the AG’s office, then we may have to seek donations. The goal would be to raise $80,000 for the public awareness campaign. The Commission will seek donations from larger corporations on a sponsorship tiered campaign. Platinum sponsors would give $30,000, Gold: $20,000, Silver: $15,000, Bronze: $10,000 and Supporter: $5,000.
Chairwoman Palepu reported the Shared Hope report cards have come out and Michigan again received a failing grade. There were 4 areas that were evaluated: Removing definitional barriers to identification (we received an A for this); Preventing unjust criminalization (we received a D for this); Addressing collateral consequences of criminalization (we received a F for this); and Providing critical support to survivors (we received a F for this).
Chairwoman Palepu also reminded everyone to keep sharing upcoming events.
Old Business: There was no old business.
New Business:
Board Members were reminded to send Chairwoman Palepu the end-of-year write up for Committees by December 18th and to include any pictures or graphs.
The Board voted to approve 3 new trainers to be added to the Commission website. The approved trainers are Heather McGannon, Leslie King, and Shawn Schutt. Vice-Chair Katie Papke will work to get those new names on the Commission website.
Chairwoman Palepu advised the Commission will be working on a quarterly newsletter this year. The Newsletter will go out in February, April, August, and October. The newsletter will focus on education, updates on events, and updates on things occurring in the anti-trafficking movement. Anyone can contribute to the newsletter.
The Board voted on the new meeting schedule for 2026. Meetings will be from 12:00 pm to 1:30pm. Chairwoman Palepu would like to have 15–20-minute presentations at the Board meetings to highlight projects, research, survivors, and education. A sign-up will go out for people to sign up for slots. Meetings will be on Mondays and on January 12th, March 23rd, May 11th, July 20th, September 14th, and November 9th.
The Board also addressed the Goals for 2026. This year the Commission will focus on education. The Commission will do a PSA campaign and the Committees will focus on that work as well. The Commission will also have several Task Forces: Mixer, Website, Observer Corp, and Education in Schools. Sign-ups will go out for all the Committees and Task Forces. Sarah Warner presented on the Observer Corp and Dawn Connors presented on the Education in Schools Task Forces.
Public Comment: Melissa Palepu opened the floor for public comment.
Announcement of next meeting: The next meeting will be January 12, 2026, both in person at the Williams Building in Lansing and via Teams.
Adjournment: Melissa Palepu adjourned the meeting.
