About the Sex Workers Project

What we do

The Sex Workers Project provides client-centered legal and social services to individuals who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion. One of the first programs in the nation to assist survivors of human trafficking, the Sex Workers Project has pioneered an approach to service grounded in human rights, harm reduction and in the real life experiences of our clients. Our professional service providers are multi-lingual, non-judgmental and bring more than ten years of experience. Our attorneys help clients remain in stable housing, access safer working conditions and employment options, protect their legal rights in family court, clear their criminal records, secure legal immigration status, and fight police misconduct and hate crimes. Our social workers provide long term supportive therapy and case management, creating best practices for an emerging field.

We share our expertise through legal education workshops for sex workers and trainings for service providers and community organizations. We engage in media advocacy, support sex worker-led organizing and pursue policy change, aiming to make a real and demonstrable impact in the lives of our constituents. And we conduct groundbreaking human rights documentation rooted in the real life experiences of sex workers and survivors of trafficking.

The Sex Workers Project is a remarkably effective, dynamic organization deeply committed to improving the lives of our clients. As the only US organization meeting the needs of both sex workers and trafficking victims, the Sex Workers Project serves a marginalized community that few others reach. Together, we are working to create a world that is safe for sex workers and where human trafficking does not exist.

The Urban Justice Center

The Sex Workers Project is a project at the Urban Justice Center. The Urban Justice Center serves low-income and marginalized New Yorkers through a unique combination of direct legal services, systemic advocacy, community education, and organizing. For information about the Urban Justice Center, please visit urbanjustice.org.