FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2017
St. John’s, NL
S.H.O.P. & Happy City St. John’s to host city-wide meetings with innovative Vancouver-based organization on community safety and collaboration
Safe Harbour Outreach Project (S.H.O.P.) and Happy City St John’s are hosting the Living in Community initiative that works to find solutions to the impact of sex work and youth sexual exploitation on communities and to reduce the harms and isolation that sex workers experience. Culminating in a year-long pilot project led by S.H.O.P., several sessions with community groups, government, law enforcement, sex workers and residents will work towards applying the successful Vancouver model for safer communities to St. John’s.
S.H.O.P. and Happy City are also hosting a public information session this evening, which will be an opportunity to hear in detail about Living in Community’s innovative policy work in Vancouver, British Columbia in the aftermath of the tragedy of missing and murdered sex workers in Vancouver’s Downtown East side. Living in Community will outline its experience addressing sex work-related policy and best practices working with residents, neighbourhood groups, business associations, law enforcement, government, health, non-profit organizations, and sex workers to make communities safer for all.
This session will conclude with a Q & A with S.H.O.P. and Living in Community on the ways to adapt lessons and best practices to the St. John’s context, to effectively respond to communities in St. John’s where sex work happens. The session will be at the Crypt (basement) of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, at 16 Church Hill. The information session is free and physically accessible.
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Media contact:
Heather Jarvis, Program Coordinator, Safe Harbour Outreach Project
709.771.1077
Lisa Gibson, Director of Living In Community
lisa@livingincommunity.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Living in Community
Living in Community (LIC) is an innovative community initiative that works to find solutions to the impact of sex work and youth sexual exploitation on communities and to reduce the harms and isolation that sex workers experience. LIC recognizes that systemic change only happens when groups work collaboratively – little is achieved when people work in opposition to one another. That’s why our work is directed by a diverse group of representatives such as: residents, neighbourhood houses, business associations, law enforcement, government, health, non-profit organizations and sex workers. Watch LIC’s short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_9YYJt4Saw
Safe Harbour Outreach Project
As a project of the St. John’s Status of Women Council/Women’s Centre, Safe Harbour Outreach Project (S.H.O.P.) was established in 2013 and is the first and only front-line service supporting women who do sex work in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and exists to advocate for the human rights of sex workers.
Happy City St. John’s
Happy City is a non-profit organization that aims to help people develop a clear picture of what municipal issues are and to understand what can be done about the challenges we face as a city.
