WHO IS AILEEN'S?

Aileen’s is a peer-centered organizing and hospitality space located in Federal Way, Washington for women working along the Pac Hwy. This is the area south of Seattle stretching from around SEATAC airport to the south end of King County that is home to many women who trade sex and where Gary Ridgeway, a.k.a. Green River Killer, sought his victims.

We are fed up with the lack of services and resources for empowerment in south King County. Pressing concerns include homelessness, legal issues, CPS involvement, substance use problems, domestic violence, police harassment and brutality, sexual assault and harassment, racism, transphobia, among others.

Women along the Pac Hwy need a safe place to get off the street, even for temporarily, a place to get and give support without being hated or judged, a place to share safety information like the bad date line and receive life saving harm reduction tools.

Aileen’s is by and for women in the sex trade, women who are homeless or unstably housed, women doing survival sex, coming out of prison, having their kids taken by CPS, struggling to make ends meet, as well as women with former lived experience, and sex workers from all walks of life.

WHAT DOES AILEEN'S DO?

Peer-lead outreach and case management - A harm reduction-based street outreach to offer life-saving resources such as hygiene items and harm reduction supplies and peer support to help people protect themselves and each other.

Drop-in community organizing and hospitality space providing free food, hot beverages, clothings, hygiene and harm reduction supplies, and community.

Peer leadership cohorts - A peer leadership development program that recruits members of our constituency to become leaders in our program as well as in their communities, building skills and resiliency to promote health and safety of their communities.

Bad Date Line - Collects and shares information about abusive or dangerous people posing as sex buyers, through which we help members of our community protect each other and initiate important conversations about safety, risks, and collectively fighting back.

Jail and re-entry support - Support our peers who are incarcerated or in inpatient treatment facilities, staying in touch with them to offer support and financial assistance for commissary and phone calls, and to help them plan their futures after release.

Non-partisan voter registration drives and civic engagement.

WHAT IS AILEEN'S HISTORY?

Since our founding in 2019, Aileen’s has provided a drop-in community organizing and hospitality space, street harm reduction outreach, intensive case management including safety planning, peer leadership development cohort, food and resources distribution, non-partisan civic engagement (voter registration, GOTV, etc.), and flexible financial assistance. During early stages of COVID pandemic, we were forced to close our indoor space but provided meals, harm reduction and COVID-related supplies, and other resources out of a parking lot to anyone in need.

At Aileen’s, we are very cognizant that we operate in the same exact area in which “Green River Killer” Gary Ridgway targeted and murdered dozens and possibly over a hundred women and girls. He was not apprehended for many years because his victims, like our peers, are made vulnerable by systemic inequalities and injustices, and neglected, if not targeted and persecuted, by surrounding communities as well as authorities. Some of us remember being around during the time Ridgway was hunting us down, and our sisters and friends went missing. While Gary Ridgway is now in prison, the systemic neglect and organized abandonment of women and others who live and work along Pacific Highway remain, and our people continue to be exposed to high risk of preventable violence and exploitation.

Aileen’s exists to enhance the well-being and self-determination of women and others who engage in the sex trades in south King County, Washington and surrounding areas, and other members of street-based communities who are experiencing gender-based violence and systemic violence. We are a peer-based, BIPOC-led organization serving women and gender-variant people often experiencing homelessness, poverty, criminalization, substance use, and gender-based violence within and outside of sex trade from a radically non-judgmental, compassionate, harm reduction approach.

WHERE DOES MY DONATION GO?

When you give to Aileen’s you are supporting programming by and for the people who know what they need and are organizing to make their communities safer and stronger.

Fair and equitable wage for peers - All of our paid staff are paid $25/hr. regardless of their positions.

Drop-in space/office/storage rent and utilities

Supplies

food
clothes
blankets
toiletries & hygiene
tents
harm reduction items

We use flexible financial assistance to pay for

prepaid phones and minutes
hotel rooms when health and safety concerns require them
small rent assistance, especially for background check fees and move-in costs
driving classes, tests and license fees and other government fees
gas and transportation costs
obtaining birth certificates and driver’s license
ongoing support that help them reach their goals such as
taking care of their long-term health needs including mental health and substance use issues, resolving legal problems, and reuniting with family
other expenses

Aileen's

supporting & building community for women on pac hwy

Team Members