Reaching Hundreds of Vulnerable Baltimore Women Every Year

Since 2021, when we launched a Street Outreach program in Baltimore, HER has reached hundreds of vulnerable women each year. In 2024 alone, HER’s team has engaged more than 1,000 women. Our Outreach team travels to vulnerable communities five days a week by foot in areas where assaults, gunfire, prostitution and sex trafficking, and drug exchanges are part of daily life.

The Outreach team is trained in identifying human trafficking, sexual exploitation, abuse, and how to administer NARCAN—a life-saving medicine that reverses opioid overdoses.

We refer women who are homeless, being sexually exploited, and/or vulnerable to victimization to substance use treatment centers, emergency shelters, and short and long-term housing.

We conduct on the spot vulnerability assessments, advocate for the needs of women, and develop community awareness. 

How We Do It

We put on our tennis shoes, our sneakers, a HER backpack, grab some engagement tools, and head out. We say hello to the women we meet on the streets by their name if we know it, and ask, “Do you need anything today?” We have our safety packs which have condoms and tampons in them, and hygiene packs that have travel-size toiletries. We use these to bridge the gap between a stranger and a person wanting to have a conversation. We also carry snacks in our backpacks, and water if it’s hot.

We start to build relationships by making eye contact and asking the women how they are doing each time we see them. A sign of someone being sex trafficked is that they won’t make eye contact because that’s part of the conditioning in sex trafficking. We continue to show up, we continue to talk.

We ask the women about themselves with an attitude of curiosity as to what’s going on, because they might be ready to talk to someone. We are prepared for whatever an individual brings to the conversation that day. And if they say, “I am ready for something different,” then we’re ready to go.

We always carry postcards so that no matter who we are talking to – whether it’s a woman, a man, business owner, whoever it is – we can explain we are with HER Resiliency Center and we are there to serve women in the community.

Street outreach is always done in small teams; our staff never go out alone. Staff carry limited personal items and do not carry money when conducting street outreach, but staff do carry necessities to distribute, such as food and hygiene items. 

Help Vulnerable Women Transform Their Lives