Since our start in June of 2020, we have raised $2.7 million, distributing aid and offering support to Black, brown, Indigenous, and/or transgender sex workers of color through multiple initiatives. We distribute direct aid in the form of rental relief, gift cards, emergency go-bags, STI tests, COVID-19 tests, safer sex supplies, personal protection equipment, culturally-specific hygiene supplies, menstrual supplies, Plan B, toys for children, diapers, and more.

Our Outreach programming differs from other organizations in our focus on peer-led interactions. Our Outreach Team consists of Black, Indigenous, and/or transgender sex workers and sex workers of color. We have first hand experience and understanding that within our community, members are very cautious due to the stigma and dangers around our line of work. Sex workers may often feel uncomfortable placing our trust and confidence in anyone. Haymarket Pole Collective is an organization for sex workers by sex workers. We not only understand the unique barriers that prevent our community from seeking help, and we also understand that it is imperative to provide a feeling of safety and trust to our community. Haymarket Pole Collective is honored to be one of the few organizations that has built trust within the Portland sex worker community. To learn more about other sex worker-run advocacy and support organizations in town, check out Sex Worker Resource Project and Oregon Safer Workers Committee. 

The Haymarket Pole Collective Healing Justice Program (HJP) uses strategies developed by Black women organizing in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to uplift and tenderly hold the needs of Oregon-based sex workers of color. HJP matches sex workers of color with vetted, sex-worker allied mental healthcare providers of color. We take the radical next step of not only paying for the provider, we also pay clients a stipend to attend therapy. We understand that going to therapy is not free and that the costs associated with attending are often a contributing factor when it comes to retention of care. An iterative program, during the past 4 years, we have refined the scope of HJP to include two tracks: a Healing Track (therapy) and a Stabilization Track (decolonized case management). 

• Program History: This program has been in the works since 2020, and has had numerous iterations to craft an accessible and engaging space for marginalized sex workers. In 2020, we created three pilot support groups that were facilitated by Black, brown, and Indigenous therapists who were trauma informed and explicitly allied with sex workers. We then shifted our program to a 1-1 therapy model to encourage attendance and create more tailored environments for community members. In 2021, HMPC sponsored 9 Black, brown, Indigenous, and or transgender sex workers to attend free therapy with therapists of color that we personally matched them with. In 2022, as a reflection of our growth, we matched 49 sex workers of color with 26 mental healthcare providers of color. In 2024, we matched 7 SWOC with 6 therapists of color. 

  Impact:

  Consider this testimony from a community member in our 1-1 Sponsored Therapy Program: “This program has affected my life in so many positive ways. I was almost entirely disconnected from myself and my loved ones due to years of unsolved and unspoken trauma. Things are so much different now than they were in July when I first had my appointment with my chosen therapist. I couldn't have chosen a better therapist for myself, I feel so much better and so much more seen knowing I have things in common with the person supporting my mental and emotional health. My favorite things about the entire experience have been feeling more centered and feeling more at ease in my day to day.”

  Current Iteration: 

  We currently have 2 participants taking part in a pilot Community Stabilization and Support Program that resembles decolonized case management. We are currently pursuing funding to expand and formalize the second track of HJP. 

  Between funding cycles, the HJP Team is happy to help sex workers of color find culturally-matched, trauma-informed therapists, however we will not be able to pay for therapy or stipends between funding cycles. If you are curious to learn more, please reach out to therapy@haymarketpole.com

As a reflection of our growth, Haymarket Pole Collective's Healing Justice Program now matches 49 Black, brown, Indigenous, and or trans sex workers with culturally specific, sex-worker-allied providers of color. We pay our program participants a monthly stipend to attend FREE therapy for a year. Offering this stipend is in line with one of our core beliefs: that sex workers of color are deserving of care, peace of mind, and liberation from systemic barriers.

Our intake specialist painstakingly matched 49 community members with culturally specific therapists. Consider this testimony from a community member in our 1-1 Sponsored Therapy Program: “This program has affected my life in so many positive ways. I was almost entirely disconnected from myself and my loved ones due to years of unsolved and unspoken trauma. Things are so much different now than they were in July when I first had my appointment with my chosen therapist. I couldn't have chosen a better therapist for myself, I feel so much better and so much more seen knowing I have things in common with the person supporting my mental and emotional health. My favorite things about the entire experience have been feeling more centered and feeling more at ease in my day to day.”

In the future, we hope to expand and replicate our program. We are working closely with Black and Pink nationals, an LGBTQ abolitionist advocacy organization, around replicating our programming at their various chapters. We still have a significant waitlist, and hope to attain sustainable funding to continue the program for years to come.