Mission and Values

The Portland Sex Worker Resource Project aims to support people in the sex trades by providing harm reduction supplies and supports specific to the work. We also provide resources and referrals by connecting participants to organizational support through community partners. Using an equity framework, we operate a mobile outreach unit in areas of the Portland metro area in which we can reach the most marginalized workers.

Founders

Saiya is Black and Indigenous and has 6 years of in-person experience in the sex industry and 4 years of social work experience working with individuals in the Sex Trades as well as survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Since the project's conception in early 2020, they have been dedicated to innovating and expanding services, listening to the community, and using a harm reduction framework to create accessible resources. 

Kat is Chicana has 7 years of in person work in the adult industry and 4 years of organizing experience. As a collaborator, Kat has been supporting PDXSWRP through since 2020 while holding a leadership role in her 9-5 non profit job. 

What We Do

Supporting in person and full service Sex Workers is at are our core. PDXSWRP uses harm reduction, abolitionist, and equity lenses to provide tangible resources throughout Portland, OR. Since beginning our work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 we’ve provided over $70,000.00 in direct cash aid and resource distribution. Today, PDXSWRP is fiscally sponsored by the YWCA and we have adjusted our approach to support changing needs through community skill building and mobile outreach. Our Pink Van project has been on the road since 2021, giving us the ability to bring parenting supplies, harm reduction tools, Narcan, basic hygiene resources, and more directly to communities in East County. We have trained over 100 community members in the use Narcan and offered Sex Worker specific trainings to non-profit and government based organization including the Sex Trafficking services Expansion Project (STEP), Oregon Health Authority, and 2020 Oregon Coalition of Domestic and Sexual Violence.