Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Benefit for Safe Walk

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Come out to Silent Barn in Brooklyn on Wednesday, July 7 (8 p.m. – midnight) for a benefit concert featuring Lady Bright, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Old Hat, and the Eskalators! There will be music, baked goods (vegan and non), beverages, information tables, and dancing. All funds (sliding scale charge of $6-10 to attend) will go toward offsetting the operational costs of Safe Walk.

RightRides, a nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY, offers free rides home to women, LGBTQ and gender queer individuals on Friday and Saturday nights from 11:59 PM – 3 AM, (early Saturday or Sunday morning) in up to 45 NYC neighborhoods across four NYC boroughs.

They also offer anyone walking to their destination a free, safe walking buddy through their Safe Walk program on Fridays, 11 p.m. – 2 a.m., May through October, in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, NY, including: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Greenpoint, Williamsburg. The dispatch number is: (866) 977- WALK (9255)

So come out and enjoy good music & food while helping a great program aimed at public safety continue offering services to people in Brooklyn!

Want to volunteer with Safe Walk? Find out how on the RightRides website.

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Subway Rape Leads to Trial vs NYC Transit

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Three years ago a young woman was raped on a deserted subway platform in New York City. While a toll booth attendant and subway driver both saw and called the police, they did nothing more to help her or stop the attacker. The police arrived a long ten minutes later.  This news article details what happened – but warning, it’s very upsetting to read parts of it. This brave young woman is suing the NYC Transit and her trial in civil court will be heard soon (don’t know the date). I will be anxious to hear how it goes.

The young woman took the subway at 2 a.m. and she was the only person in the subway car with her attacker and the only one on the platform when she got off and he pursued her. She thought she would be safe and I wish she had been. If you live in NYC and don’t feel safe taking the subway home late Saturday nights, contact RightRides. They offer women, transgender and queer folks free, safe rides home late Saturday nights in numerous NYC neighborhoods. They always need volunteers & donations to keep their program going and to expand their services, so considering getting involved/helping them out!

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Need a free, safe ride home in NYC?

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Then call up RightRides!

“In our RightRides program, we offer women, transpeople and gender queer individuals a free, late-night ride home to ensure their safe commute to or through high-risk areas.”

RightRides serve 35 neighborhoods (to expand in October) on Saturday nights from 11:59 p.m – 3 a.m . RightRides is volunteer run, so the more volunteers they have, the more neighborhoods they can serve and the more hours they can be available. (So if you’re in NYC and want to volunteer somewhere…!) In the city that never sleeps, many people work night shifts or are out enjoying the nightlife, but then might feel unsafe coming home so late alone, so RightRides helps them carry on with their life in safety.

RightRides was founded in 2004 by two women upset over the assault of several women in their neighborhood within a short time frame. Instead of letting depression or fear take hold of them, they took action and started making a difference in their communtiy. Using their own car and cell phone, they put up fliers in their neighborhood offering women a safe, free ride home, and drove callers home themselves. Four years later, RightRides is a nonprofit with access to 5 Zip Cars for volunteers to use on  Saturday nights, with about 150 active volunteers. This past weekend, I got to meet with two volunteers and “ride-along” and it was great to see first-hand how the program works and to meet amazing individuals who care enough about people’s safety that they give up their Saturday night once or twice a month and battle crazy New York City traffic until 3 or 4 a.m.!!

Here’s a short video by a volunteer with RightRides:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTmsvMdxLE]

I’ve had a link to  RideRides in the resource section of this blog and my website, but I wanted to highlight it here too so people in NYC know about it and can use the service and/or volunteer and so maybe people in other cities will be inspired to start a similar program!

The website has a ton of info, so visit it if you want to learn more.

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