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Girls Educational & Mentoring Services
(212) 926-
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Street Outreach:
GEMS staff travel to areas in New York City where commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking takes place to identify victims and offer them support
Facility Outreach:
Peer led outreach workshops are conducted by GEMS members and former members in residential and detention facilities across New York City. Workshops raise awareness about the realities of the commercial sex industry for girls and young women at risk for commercial sexual exploitation while also providing peer support and leadership.
Each of GEMS intervention programs work with each girl and young women individually, provide referrals for health care and mental health care as needed, and help each young woman set goals and support her in taking action on them. Programs include:
Court Advocacy:
Criminal Court: GEMS Alternatives to Incarceration program provides support for young
women with cases in New York City’s Criminal Courts. GEMS provides young women with
information about their rights and the legal system, educates judges and lawyers
about commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking, and provides one-
Family Court: GEMS Family Court Advocacy Program provides programming for girls ages 12—16 years who have a case within New York City’s Family Court system. GEMS provides one on one support for girls in the Family Court system, including meeting girls in residential facilities, meeting with families and facilities staff.
Holistic Case Management
Counselors provide one-
Transitional Independent Living Housing Program provides housing and 24 hour support
for young women ages 16-
Trauma Based Therapy and Clinical Support GEMS Clinical Director provides one-
Youth Development Programming address young women’s developmental, social and emotional needs through strengths based programming. Programs include:
Recreational, Educational and Therapeutic Groups including health education, poetry, art therapy, photography, cooking, creative writing, grief and loss therapy and drama to build young women’s creative expression and sense of community.
Youth Employment Program/Youth Fellowship Program provides structured training and employment for members
Youth Leadership Program trains young women on the issue of sexual exploitation, domestic violence and youth incarceration and equips them with public speaking, peer counseling, organizing and advocacy skills. Youth Leaders are afforded multiple opportunities to develop their skills through outreach, public speaking events, advocacy, and media work.
Educational Initiatives Program provides incentives for members who take the next
step in their education, including registering for a GED, high school, college or
vocational program, and completing semesters and graduating. GEMS will offer on-
GEMS provides a spectrum of continuous and comprehensive services to address the needs of commercially sexually exploited girls and young women. Commercial sexual exploitation is intrinsically linked to racism, poverty, gender–based violence, and the criminalization of youth. All these factors must be an integral part of any discussion, advocacy work or direct service programming that involves sexual exploitation. All of GEMS programs are based on our philosophy and values that each girl and young woman we work with is worthy, deserving, and needs support and services to treat the trauma and violence she has experienced.
To refer your client to GEMS please download our referral form here and fax it to our office.
These programs include:
Street Outreach
Facility Outreach
Court Advocacy
Holistic Case Management
Transitional Independent Living
Trauma Based Therapy and Clinical Support
Recreational, Educational and Therapeutic Groups
Youth Fellowship Program
Youth Leadership Program
"My experience in youth leadership was, it was something new, something positive. It was something that I wasn’t really used to because it was so much empowerment, it was all female, and you know, I had a voice, and I had skills that I never thought I had."
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"To love yourself, to think more of yourself, to see yourself as more valuable than what you see yourself as, and try to just put you up to a higher standard, to let you know that you could do it, despite everything that’s going on."
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To refer your client to GEMS please download our referral form here and fax it to our office.
To refer your client to GEMS please download our referral form here and fax it to our office. Download here