GEMS: Girls Are Not For Sale

Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS) is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. GEMS was founded in 1998 by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been sexually exploited as a teenager. GEMS has helped hundreds of young women and girls, ages 12-24, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and to develop to their full potential. GEMS provides young women with empathetic, consistent support and viable opportunities for positive change. The average age an American girl is trafficked into the sex trade is between 12 and 14 years old. Girls Are Not for Sale is a campaign of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS), the nation's largest non-profit organization specifically designed to empower American girls and young women, ages 12-21, who have experienced sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the commercial sex industry and develop to their full potential. GEMS is committed to ending commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children by changing individual lives, transforming public perception, and the systems and policies that impact sexually exploited youth. GEMS was founded in 1999 by Rachel Lloyd, a woman who survived commercial sexual exploitation as a teen. In 2008, GEMS provided counseling, job training, access to health care and crisis housing to more than 280 young women; provided outreach to more than 1,500 youth; and trained 1,000 youth service workers.