COMMUNITY SAFETY & DIRECT ACTION PROGRAMS

The Center for Anti-Violence Education
"CAE works as a catalyst for change in the lives of women, transgender people, teen women, children, and other communities especially affected by violence. CAE’s programs are designed to develop participants’ skills, knowledge, and awareness to enable them to heal from, prevent, and counter violence."

The Street Harassment Coalition
"A NYC based activist organization committed to fighting the sexual harassment of women (and perceived women) by men in public spaces."

Holla Back NYC
"Empowers New Yorkers to Holla Back at street harassers by asking people to send in photos of the men who harass them to their blog."


IF YOU HAVE BEEN ASSAULTED

If you do not have visible physical injuries from the assault, friends and family may think you are okay. Many people do not understand the extent of trauma endured by rape and sexual assault victims. There may also be physical injuries that you can’t see.

Learn more about how to get the practical and emotional support you need or visit these groups below for more information about how they can help you.


NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault
“The mission of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault is to develop and advance strategies, policies and responses that prevent sexual violence and limit its destabilizing effects on victims, families and communities.”

Safe Horizon
“Safe Horizon’s mission is to provide support, prevent violence, and promote justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities.”

To find a local rape crisis center click here - listed below are two very good programs.

St. Vincent's Rape Crisis Program
"24-hour 7 day a week rape crisis counselors in the Emergency Department of St. Vincent's Hospital and NYU Downtown Hospital. They also provide free and confidential short term individual counseling, advocacy, support and referral service to past and present survivors of rape, sexual assault and incest as well as to their family and friends. Additionally, they offer a group for survivors of rape."

SAVI
"Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program at Mount Sinai (SAVI) provides free and confidential counseling, advocacy, support and referral services to past and present survivors of rape, sexual assault, incest, and domestic violence, and to their families and friends. SAVI staff and volunteers generate a dynamic force to overcome sexual and domestic violence and cultural practices and values that sustain them—breaking down institutional systems and individual attitudes that isolate and blame victims. We offer hope, inspiration, and guidance to people and organizations working toward healing."


Brooklyn Rape and Survivor Resources


Manhattan Rape and Survivor Resources


Queens Rape and Survivor Resources


Bronx Rape and Survivor Resources


Staten Island Rape and Survivor Resources

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

War Zone
"A powerful documentary film about sex, power and what happens when men threaten a woman's right to walk undisturbed on the streets of America."

NO!
“Through testimonies from Black women survivors, commentaries from acclaimed African-American women scholars and community leaders, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities.”

A Call to Men
"A Call to Men challenges men to reconsider their long held beliefs about women, in an effort to create a more just society. We achieve this by encouraging change in the behaviors of men through a re-education and training process that challenges sexism."

Men Can Stop Rape
"Empowers male youth and the institutions that serve them to work as allies with women in preventing rape and other forms of men's violence. Through awareness-to-action education and community organizing, we promote gender equity and build men's capacity to be strong without being violent."

V-Day
"V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery."

Sylvia Rivera Law Project
"The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence."

Audre Lorde Project
"The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit and Transgender People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, we work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, we seek to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities."

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition works to ensure that classrooms, communities, and workplaces are safe for everyone to learn, grow, and succeed - whether or not they meet expectations for masculinity and femininity. As a human rights organization, GenderPAC also promotes an understanding of the connection between discrimination based on gender stereotypes and sex, sexual orientation, age, race, and class.

Have a link to share?

ORAIA REID SPEAKS OUT AT SAYSO!

Please join us in support of Oraia Reid, co-founder and Executive Director of RightRides for Women's Safety, who along with dozens of survivors, will be speaking at SAYSO! on Friday, April 20th. Oraia is scheduled to speak around 12:30 -1 PM.

ABOUT:
The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault and the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Planning Committee are calling out to New Yorkers to tell their stories as survivors, activists, allies, or rape crisis advocates.

SAYSO! stands for Sexual Assault Yearly Speak Out and will be held at Union Square from 10 AM - 10 PM on Friday, April 20th. Oraia will be sharing how she found empowerment as a survivor of sexual assault through co-founding RightRides for Women's Safety. Please join us in support of ending the silence surrounding sexual assault! There will also be music, poetry, information and resources.

For further information about this event, please visit SAYSO! here.

RightRides for Women's Safety and The Street Harassment Coalition co-host a workshop at the Street Harassment Summit

WHEN
May 5, 2020
1pm – 5pm

WHERE
Grand Street Settlement Beacon Center
at Marta Valle Secondary School
145 Stanton Street, New York, NY


ORGANIZED BY
Sisters in Strength Strikes Back: Our Struggle with Street Harassment Organized by Girls for Gender Equity


ABOUT THE SUMMIT
The Street Harassment Summit is a free public event for education, community interaction, and the sharing of personal stories.

War Zone (directed by Maggie Hadleigh West) and a short film created by the Sisters in Strength interns will be screened and workshops will be offered on different issues – such as strategies for ending street harassment, how women can respond to street harassment safely, how street harassment effects the GLBTQ population, and how men can be allies to victims of harassment.

Women, men, girls and boys of all ages are welcome to attend and learn about this overlooked issue.

SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT:

March 27, 2021

We received a forwarded email from a concerned community member about an attempted assault in a Fort Greene subway station. Below is what we recently received:

"This afternoon at about 12:30, I encountered a young woman in the Clinton Ave. entrance of the Clinton-Washington station for the G train who had just been attacked. The man got her just as she was about to swipe her card. He beat her and she screamed and fought back and he finally ran off. She told me that he tried to rape her. I don't think he even tried to take her bag. She was basically alright - bloody lip and swollen eye and terrified, but fortunately nothing worse.

I left after the police and ambulance got there so I have no idea whether they caught the guy, though it seems unlikely. Obviously we should all be careful and try to look out for each other, but I think one larger issue here is how awful that subway station is - it runs from Clinton to Washington and the token booth is in the middle, so both ends are completely isolated."

Please be safe at this and ALL stations that are poorly lit, poorly designed and desolate at times.

TAKE ACTION

RightRides for Women's Safety is calling on the community to demand the MTA and the NYPD to increase women's safety in the subway by increasing patrol coverage in stations like this one, where there are isolated entrances making it easy for predatory assaults to occur.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1) Contact the MTA

From their website, "To report all other security or serious safety concerns on MTA property, call the MTA Police."

888-682-9117

or email them

or stop in the MTA office and speak with a representative directly.

Their address is:

MTA New York City Transit
Customer Assistance
370 Jay Street, Room 875
Brooklyn, NY 11201

2) Contact the 88 Precinct

Call their Crime Prevention officers at (718) 636-6566 or
Community Policing officers at (718) 636-6553 or
stop in the station and speak with an officer directly.

Their address is:

298 Classon Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

3) Write a letter to the above and, to:

Chief of Transit, NYPD Transit Bureau
NYPD Transit Bureau Headquarters
370 Jay Street, 2nd floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Sample letter (Feel free to personalize):

I am very concerned about attacks on women in the subway stations, including the recent attempted rape in the Clinton-Washington station on the G Line. 

This station is poorly designed with safety in mind, as it spans the length of Clinton to Washington with the token booth in the middle, and both exits are completely isolated. This station is a high-risk station for predatory assaults as it can be desolate during off-peak hours.   

I implore you to increase security presence at this station immediately.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

SHARE INFORMATION

If you have information to share about an assault or attempted assault on the subway, please let us know.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON STAYING SAFE

From the MTA's website:

As a general precaution, whether you're in the subway, the bus, or even in the street, appear confident. Always look as if you know where you're going, and you're better off not displaying money in public.

Officers in 12 Transportation Bureau Police districts are responsible for keeping subway stations safe. On the streets, a special police unit responds to bus crimes throughout New York City. Undercover officers travel on bus routes to stop problems as they occur. And, if you're alert and aware, you can make your subway and bus trips even more secure.

Off-Hours Waiting Areas

Avoid standing at the end of subway platforms or on an empty platform. Instead, wait in the Off-Hours Waiting Area, particularly at night. Most stations have one, generally located on the mezzanine level, near a station booth.

Speak to the station agent or other NYC Transit employees (who wear bright orange vests) if you have a problem. Use a talk-back box (mounted on a platform column) to get help in a station where you're not visible to the station agent. When you speak into the box, the agent can speak with you. You can also use a public phone on the mezzanine or platform to dial 911 (the police) if you need help. This call is free. Each station booth posts the district and phone number of the NYPD unit that patrols the station.

Electronic signs in many Off-Hours Waiting Areas indicate when a train is approaching the station. If you wait near the sign, you will have enough time to walk to the platform as the train arrives.

BE PREPARED

Take a self-defense course!  We recommend our community partner, the The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE).

RightRides for Women's Safety (RRWS) and the Manhattan Borough President's Office are working to make NYC subways safer!

RRWS helped craft a survey (the results are being released 7/26/07 and will be posted here soon) and we hope that the results will shed light on how unsafe the subway can be, all times of the day. Please help support this effort to change policy and how security funds are spent, in order to increase subway safety in NYC.

Below is a letter from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer about this initiative:

Dear Friend:

My office is launching a new research initiative addressing sexual harassment and assault in the New York City subway system.  The project is designed to explore the threat of sexual harassment and assault in our subway network, and to propose best practices for related prevention and response.

To this end, I am conducting a city-wide online survey of everyday subway riders to better understand their perceptions and experiences of sexual harassment and assault.  The survey results will inform my policy recommendations directed to various state and local government agencies and will also shape the development of community outreach programs for sexual harassment and assault survivors. 

Please join me in this initiative by taking a few minutes to complete the survey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Hiqvhms_2fx42ybEdDau8Jxg_3d_3d.
Your answers are completely anonymous.  Your input will help to create a foundation for a safer subway system for all New Yorkers.  I look forward to working with you on this important issue. 

Very truly yours,

Scott Stringer

RightRides at the 2nd Annual New York City Gender Equality Festival


Girls for Gender Equity is organizing the Second Annual New York City Gender Equality Festival - a FREE public event for education, networking, resource sharing, community interaction, arts, and recreation.

July 28, 2020   
11am – 6pm
Von King Park Cultural Center
corner of Tompkins Ave. and Lafayette St.
Brooklyn, NY

FREE!

The Festival will feature arts organizations, service groups, youth organizations, educators, grassroots organizers, and nonprofits from every corner of NYC that have come together to provide workshops and fun activities for youth and adults as well as:

*Food and Refreshments!
*Guest Speakers!
*Live Performances!
*Giveaways of wonderful prizes!

For a map, click here