![]() I’m thrilled that we’re able to continue to provide these services.” “Had they made cuts here, it would have been devastating. “I’m deeply worried about the impact of the economy right now on the folks that we serve,” Lloyd said. GEMS has been providing cash, food packages, and other forms of assistance to them. She explained that young women who had exited the sex trade and obtained other employment felt forced to return to the industry, due to economic hardship they’re experiencing during the pandemic. “There is more need than ever in the last few months,” Lloyd said. Thanks to the city funding, Lloyd said, GEMS was able to expand their client pool to include young women from the ages of 24 to 29. More than 98 percent of their clients are people of color, aged 12 to 24, according to founder and director Rachel Lloyd. GEMS, a non-profit organization that empowers young women subject to sexual exploitation and trafficking mainly through housing assistance, got a full renewal of the financial support it started receiving from the city last year. “They need these and other support services, and I am glad the City Council continues to be able to fund these nonprofits despite the dire economic situation we are facing.” “This funding will continue to provide critical services, including medical care, job training and emergency housing, for persons involved in the sex trade,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in an email. An additional $365,000 is designated to supporting community outreach workers who connect sex workers to social services, according to the City Council’s office. Besides the organizations mentioned above, these include Destination Tomorrow, HIAS, Inc., Safe Horizon, Inc., Health + Hospitals, and Community Health Project, Inc. The majority of the funding, $3.8 million, will go to organizations that offer medical services, legal assistance, housing, emergency shelter, and case management to individuals involved in the sex trade. “But if they are really invested in improving sex workers’ lives, they also need to deal with structural policy issues like criminalization and over-policing.” “It’s important that the City Council supports services from organizations like Vocal-NY and the Anti-Violence Project,” said Sebastian Kohn, program director of Open Society Foundations, which recently sponsored a sex-work-themed art show and is a strong advocate for the full decriminalization of sex work around the globe. The group spearheaded the Occupy City Hall protest leading up to the city budget vote last Tuesday. VOCAL-NY, a 20-year-old grassroots organization serving low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, mass incarceration, drug policy, and homelessness, received $100,000. In the latter category, the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) received $100,000. Some agree that clients should be policed (Sanctuary for Families received $500,000 and Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, or GEMS, received $858,000) while others support full decriminalization. A closer look at how exactly the $4.1 million will be allocated reveals that it will go to organizations that are at odds with each other about how sex work should be policed. While a growing number of progressive politicians have embraced the movement to completely decriminalize it, City Council speaker Corey Johnson has broken from the trend, arguing that clients of sex workers should be prosecuted. New York City has been a hotbed of debate about the policing of sex work. Amidst the controversy surrounding the decision to cut $1 billion in funding from the NYPD, one thing went virtually unnoticed when the City Council passed a budget last month: Some $4.1 million was dedicated to “support people involved in the sex trade,” according to a line buried in the press release.
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