Anti-Trafficking Education from Workers and Movements for Rights and Justice (11/11/2021)

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the sites for anti-trafficking education and the range of educators who shape how the public and institutions understand and respond to human trafficking. Thus, there is a need to analyse the formalised and informalised practices that facilitate teaching and learning about trafficking. At its worst, anti-trafficking education steeped in misinformation and myths fails to contextualise and complicate trafficking, which can lead to dehumanisation and violence. At its best, anti-trafficking education can encourage and inform efforts to create structural change, social justice, and individual empowerment. At this online event, educators from universities, non-government organisations, and worker associations discuss one central question: What would it take for anti-trafficking education to be in the service of human rights, economic justice, labour rights, and public health?

Featuring Mariah Grant, Director of Research and Advocacy for the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center

Sex work decriminalization dialogue prompted by Hochul (10/21/2021)

October 21, 2021 – In September, Gov. Kathy Hochul ignited the hopes of advocates trying to decriminalize sex work in New York, when she expressed a willingness to engage on the issue. To understand the current landscape of sex work in New York and what it would mean to take this underground part of the economy out of the penal code, we turned to Andy Bowen, associate director, government affairs of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center.

Town Hall: Gov. Hochul says she is open to decriminalizing sex work (9/29/2021)

Gov. Hochul plans to decriminalize sex work here in New York. Mariah Grant, Director of Research and Advocacy at the Sex Workers Project of The Urban Justice Center, speaks out about the importance of the FULL decriminalization of sex work in our society.

No Good Legislation Has To Sacrifice One Group of People to Protect Another: Psych & The City (8/2021)

Sarah speaks with Mariah Grant, a human rights and migration specialist with a focus on migrant and sex workers’ rights, freedom of movement, and labor exploitation. As the Research and Advocacy Director at the The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center she oversees Sex Workers Project advocacy efforts and development of original research. Mariah and Sarah discuss the initiatives of SWP, labor exploitation, and society’s need for real and honest conversations about the realities of sex and work in general. The way SWP likes to look at human trafficking is that for human trafficking to be properly addressed it’s really about protecting and defending the rights of workers – a conversation that regardless of the kind of work we do applies to us all.

The Universal Periodic Review of the USA -Cooper UNion (5/11/2021)

What’s Next in Our Neighborhood & Nation. The host for this episode is Joshua Cooper. The guests for this episode are Donna Murray, Mariah Grant of the Sex Workers Project and Jackie Smith.

What’s Next in Our Neighborhood & Nation. On May 11, 2020, the 3rd UPR of the USA was to be conducted at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. COVID delayed the actual review; however, the civil society across the country joined forces for justice and freedom highlighting economic, social & cultural rights.

The Oldest Profession (2020)

The Oldest Profession is a short animated documentary that explores the fight to decriminalize sex work in New York– as told through the lens of a policy maker, a human rights activist, and a sex worker. Featuring NY Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, Director of the Sex Workers Project at The Urban Justice Center RJ Thompson, and an anonymous sex worker.

International Whores’ Day NYC Digital Rally – Live Stream (6/2/20)

NYC and Philly sex working organizers speak on how they are surviving and caring for their communities. Protest, celebrate, support, and flood our feeds in your finest RED + BLACK threads with messages of love and solidarity with sex workers!

CariClub Webinar: Racial Injustice & Systemic Inequality  (6/25/20)

This webinar on systemic racism featured RJ Thompson and Gretchen Nealon from the Urban Justice Center, as well as staff from the NYCLU and Good Call NYC.