SWOP Chicago Is Hiring!

SWOP-Chicago is hiring a part-time staff person with the primary responsibilities of coordinating our weekly street outreach to workers in East Garfield Park, Rogers Park, and Boystown. At outreach, we provide condoms, sterile syringes, HIV testing, other resources, and connections to sex worker-friendly organizations in Chicago. The staff person will work with a high degree of autonomy in recruiting, coordinating, and training volunteers and will report to the SWOP-Chicago Board of Directors monthly. Most of the work can be done remotely.

The successful candidate will have strong organization skills, familiarity with social media platforms, and familiarity with the sex worker community and/or social justice organizing in the larger Chicago area.

 

Hours and Compensation

The position will begin immediately and will average about 10 hours a week for 6 months, with an opportunity to renew employment pending grant funding. Hours may be lower or higher in a given week according to programming needs. Compensation begins at $18/hour.

 

Responsibilities Include:

• Recruit and train volunteers in best practices for harm reduction and working with sex workers
• Coordinate all supplies and volunteers for weekly street outreach in Rogers Park (6-8pm) n Tuesdays, East Garfield Park (6-8pm on Thursdays), and Boystown (8-10pm on Thursday)
• Transport supplies to outreach location. SWOP-Chicago has a van and the street outreach coordinator must have a driver’s license.
• Collect data on populations served and services provided
• Interface with outreach partners including the Night Ministry and researchers at the University of Illinois – Chicago
• In addition to maintaining locations, SWOP-Chicago aims to partner with the sex worker community on Chicago’s South Side to expand to a fourth outreach location in 2019. The staff person will help research and collaborate with other organizations to assist this expansion
• Attend two 2-hour SWOP-Chicago planning meetings a month

 

To Apply

Current and retired sex workers, people of color, and trans* and gender-nonconforming folks are especially encouraged to apply. Please send an updated resume and brief cover letter to info@swop-chicago.org. Your cover letter should address your familiarity with SWOP, the sex worker community, and/or sex trade. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. To ensure your application receives priority review, please submit by noon on Tuesday, January 1.

 

SWOP-Chicago Street Outreach Coordinator

August 16: Brown and Proud Pess Release Party and Benefit

Brown and Proud Press is holding a party to celebrate their new zine, and proceeds will benefit SWOP-Chicago!

 

Thursday, August 16

7-10pm

AMFM Gallery

2151 W 21st St, Chicago, IL 60608

Facebook Link

 

Brown and Proud Press invites you to a nighttime celebration for their newest zine titled, “Secretos: from one hoe to another”

We will have sensual performances, vendors and music. Doors open at 7pm, 18+ for mature content. All door proceeds will pay our performers and a portion of drink sales will be donated to SWOP Chicago.

Burlesque performances by:
Mika
Delikate Doll

Guest of Honor: SWOP members

Sexy Vendors:
Gnat Glitter Kink
Marimacha Monarca Press
Xicana Moon

Kinky Photobooth by Mayra
*props will be available 😉

About Secretos:
“This work is intentionally anonymous. We wanted to provide a space where womxn can express themselves freely, powerfully, vulnerably. As a collective, we believe in the healing power of sharing our stories: some of these stories are straight up hoe ass shit, others are nasty, some are funny and some are heartbreaking. We put out a call for submissions and only asked that names be changed and that the work be anonymous. With this vulnerability, comes triggering stories. Some of the work in this zine may mention mental health illnesses, sexual assault, or intimate partner violence. We ask that you respect these stories as standing entities and that you love yourself, putx.

From,
One Putx to Another & Brown & Proud Press

SWOP-Chicago is hiring a graphic designer

Design Print Materials for the PROS Network Chicago!

SWOP-Chicago is hiring a graphic designer to update print materials related to the PROS-Network Chicago (Providers and Resources Offering Services to Sex Workers).  The PROS Network is a directory of direct service providers and legal, medical and mental health professionals that provide non-judgmental and harm reduction oriented services to individuals currently or formerly involved in the sex industry. For more information, visit http://www.prosnetworkchicago.org.

We can offer a $200 stipend for design of a brochure that will list all of the members of the PROS Network, the services they provide, and their location in Chicago.

Current and retired sex workers, people of color, and trans* and gender-nonconforming folks are especially encouraged to apply. Please send a brief (1 paragraph) introduction and a few samples of your work to info@swop-chicago.org. In your introduction, please address your familiarity with SWOP, the sex worker community, and/or sex trade. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. To ensure your application receives priority review, please submit by noon on Sunday, August 19.

 

 

 

 

Erotic Plate Workshop and Fundraiser!

The amazing Leah Ball is hosting Erotic Plate making workshops to support sex workers Saturday, June 10 and Tuesday, June 26! Sign up for a fun time and for a great cause at leah-ball.com!

 

International Whores Day + Workshop 6/2 and 6/3

This Saturday is International Whores Day/International Sex Workers Day/PutaDei! There is a direct action being held at Daily Plaza at the Picasso Statue at noon, as organized by Miss Mercedez, Miss Velvet, Marten Katze, Sophie Bee and Leah Levine.

They are still looking for people who want to speak at the action about their lived experiences, loved ones, or general solidarity with sex workers rights movements. You don’t have to have a big speech or anything planned, we just want to offer people a platform to voice their thoughts, anger, concern and fears. Feel free to check out the Facebook event for information:

Here’s a link to the action event on facebook!

*Flyers designed by Sema Graham, an artist from Chicago*

On Sunday, 6/3 Chicago Skill Share Network is organizing a net-safety workshop for sex workers. If you’d like to get more info on this, email info@swop-chicago.org. The event is in Pilsen from 1:00-3:30, and it is free. Any donations will be given to Lysistrata funds.

SESTA Community Meeting this Sunday!

Dear sex worker family,

SWOP-Chicago is hosting a forum for workers to come together to learn about, process, and think about next steps regarding the scary law that could pass the Senate any day now: https://stopsesta.org/.  As you may know, SESTA (or FOSTA as it’s currently called in the House) would target online platforms on which many workers advertise, making our work more vulnerable and pushing many of us to the streets.

This Sunday, we want to get together to educate each other about the law, how and when it might be implemented, and best practices for continuing to work safely. We’ll be joined by lawyers from the Community Activism Law Alliance, which provides free legal representation to current and retired sex workers through the SWOP-Chicago legal clinic.  CALA will host us at their space:

5pm on Sunday March 18

17 N State St., Suite 1380

Chicago, IL 60602

 

We’ll order some pizza.  If you’re planning on coming please let Mike know at mike@swop-chicago.org so we can order enough.  But please feel free to come at the last minute even without an RSVP! And please spread the word to other workers!

Hope to see and strategize with many of you soon!

Free Legal Clinic this Sunday!

SWOP legal clinic offers free legal support for sex workers, trans individuals, and people experiencing unstable housing!

Drop by our legal clinic this Sunday, January 14, from 4-7pm at our location at Lifeworks Psychotherapy in the loop (120 W. Madison, Suite 920, Chicago, IL 60602).  If you are having troubles finding us, please call (872) 228-7532.

We can take on any issue, civil or criminal.

Contact us to complete an intake form at www.calachicago.org/swopclinic/or e-mail mike@swop-chicago.org.

Support Street Outreach with Chicago Sex Workers!

SWOP-Chicago is pleased to announce an online fundraiser to continue our street outreach efforts.

As we enter Chicago winter, consider supporting the street-based sex work community in our city! Your donation to SWOP-Chicago allows us to continue seeing over 100 street-based workers a week at three different locations.  We provide free condoms, HIV testing, clean needles, toiletries, snacks, and legal resources. By offering a consistent presence on the street, led by and for sex workers, we hope to provide a safe space for people to access resources, network, and support each other. 

 

Many of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the sex work community are street-based.  In a time of increased criminalization of sex work—which disproportionately affects people of color, trans and gender nonconforming people, and people with undocumented status—the urgency of meeting the needs of workers has only increased.  Join us as we build community, resources, and support systems together!

 

We are thankful for donations of any size — small or large, every dollar helps the community!  We are also happy to offer special thank-yous for the following donors:

• Donations of $20 — A SWOP-Chicago button
• Donations of $50 — A bouquet of “Hug a Ho” Stickers
• Donations of $150 — A SWOP-Chicago T-Shirt
• Donations of $250 — A SWOP-Chicago Tote Bag with Handmade Sex Worker Harm Reduction Zines
• Donations of $1000 — A SWOP-Chicago Tote Bag with T-Shirt
• Donations of $2500 — A Tote Bag stuffed with Condoms, two T-Shirts, Stickers, Zines, and Buttons

Thank-You gifts will be available at our December 17 International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers day or mailed directly to donors. 

Learn more or donate at https://www.youcaring.com/swopchicago.

 

 

Statement Regarding Eros Raid

FEDERAL RAID OF EROS-GUIDE PUTS SEX WORKERS, IMMIGRANTS AT RISK

On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security raided a Youngsville, NC call center operated by Eros-Guide, a listing service widely used by adult providers to advertise their services and find work. Along with the shutdown earlier this year of adult advertising on Backpage, another listing service, this development compounds sex workers’ already-high risk of dangerous working conditions and economic precarity.

The raid was conducted under a warrant that alleged “cross-border illegal activity,” underscoring the crucial intersection of sex workers with immigrants and other groups made vulnerable by marginalization. Individuals frequently turn to sex work because their immigrant and/or other marginalized status excludes them from other jobs and sources of income. Immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ people engaging in sex work are especially likely to be endangered by government shut-downs of resources such as Eros-Guides, which provide workers with a relatively safe forum in which to advertise and connect with clients.

Tuesday’s raid and similar law-enforcement events force sex workers into increasingly dangerous conditions, while doing little to curtail the sex trade or protect trafficked individuals. Without online spaces such as Eros to continue making a living, sex workers are forced further underground, into street-based work or organized crime spaces. This erases workers’ independence and reduces their earning potential, while placing them at greater risk of violence from pimps, clients, and law enforcement.

SWOP-Chicago joins the international sex-workers-rights community in condemning the criminalization of sex workers and their clients, and calling for the full decriminalization of the sex industry. Only decriminalization can address the endangerment and marginalization of sex workers, while keeping control of the market and working conditions in the hands of workers themselves. SWOP-Chicago embraces a harm-reduction model in advocating for the human rights of sex workers, while providing direct services to Chicago’s sex work community in the form of street-based outreach, free legal clinics, and support groups.

Free Legal Clinic 11/19 — New Location!

SWOP legal clinic offers free legal support for sex workers, trans individuals, and people experiencing unstable housing!

Drop by our legal clinic this Sunday, 4-7pm at our new location at Lifeworks Psychotherapy in the loop (120 W. Madison, Suite 920, Chicago, IL 60602).  If you are having troubles finding us, please call (872) 228-7532.

We can take on any issue, civil or criminal.

Contact us to complete an intake form at www.calachicago.org/swopclinic/or e-mail mike@swop-chicago.org.