wp3a5adb55.png
wp31b2756e.png

Contact  |

wp125dc527.png
wpcfe13d58.png

wpe4ef40c0.png

wp6cc52591.png

wp69d06002.png

wpdce8b926.png

wp36e6648d.png

wp9b38c7e7.png

wpc62b4393.png

wp2ffc0830.png

wp3d371ee3.png

wp85b8bb56.png
wpd54ee4ff.png
wpc67fa500.png
wp7cf05afe.png

Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS) is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. GEMS was founded in 1999 by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been sexually exploited as a teenager. GEMS has helped hundreds of young women and girls, ages 12-21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and to develop to their full potential. GEMS provides young women with empathetic, consistent support and viable opportunities for positive change.

wp4fa6f3b5.png

Mission

 

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services' (GEMS) mission is to empower young women, ages 12-21, who have experienced sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential. GEMS is committed to ending commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children by changing individual lives, transforming public perception, and revolutionizing the systems and policies that impact sexually exploited youth.

 

Vision

 

GEMS’ vision is to end the commercial exploitation and trafficking of children.

 

Philosophy

 

We believe that all young women have great beauty and worth, and the potential for future success. The voices and experiences of youth survivors are integral to the development and implementation of all GEMS’ programming.

wpb12c6d0c.png

Girls Educational & Mentoring Services

(212) 926-8089 · info@gems-girls.org · www.gems-girls.org

Legal | Privacy | ©  2008 GEMS All rights reserved

About Gems

wp3bdf33fa_0f.jpg

Being around positivity, empowerment, it kind of just stuck with me to always think that of myself, that I’m worthy. So that’s what I learned.  —Alison

 

 

GEMS Awards

Gems and its founder  have received numerous awards including

•Reebok Human Rights Award (2006)

 

•Community Service Award from the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators (2007)

 

•Frederick Douglass Award from the North Star Fund (2007)

 

•Susan B. Anthony Award from the New York City Chapter of the National Organization for Women (2008)

 

•Friends of Bill Scarborough (29th Assembly District, Queens) at the “Building and Strengthening our Community Gala” (March 2008)

 

•Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research  (2008)

 

 

wpf3339185.png

Press Coverage

 

July 8, 2008, The New York Times - N.Y./Region - Helping Girls as Victims, Not Culprits by                 Clyde Haberman

March 16 , 2008, The New York Times - Opinion - The Pimp's Slaves by Nicholas D. Kristof              

 

February 19, 2008, The New York Times - Opinion - The Wrong Target by Bob Herbert             

 

July 13, 2008, The Washington Post - N.Y. Struggles To Aid Child Prostitutes by Robin Shulman            

 

July 2, 2008, The Associated Press - N.Y. Considers Help to Victims of Child Prostitution by    

                   Valerie Bauman            

 

GEMS History

 

GEMS, was founded in 1999 by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been sexually exploited as a teenager. Ms. Lloyd came to the U.S in 1997 as a missionary to work with adult women exiting prostitution. While working with adult women in correctional facilities and on the streets, Ms. Lloyd observed the overwhelming need for services for young women at risk for sexual exploitation who were being ignored by traditional social service agencies. It became clear that specialized services were essential for this disenfranchised population.

 

 

From a one-woman kitchen table project, GEMS has grown to a nationally recognized and acclaimed organization and now is one of the largest providers of services to commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked youth in the US. GEMS’ vision is to end the commercial exploitation and trafficking of children. GEMS advocates at the local, state and national level to promote policies that support young women who have been commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked.