We are a drop-in center and mobile outreach team seeking to support people whose gender identities include woman, agender, gender-nonbinary, and all other non-men identities, who engage in street-based, survival activities including trading sex, selling or using drugs, and sleeping rough. We seek specifically to serve the south and southwest Baltimore communities, due to the high number of non-men trading sex there, with little current community services or resources available to them.
The reason we serve people of these gender identities is because historically men get more resources, and often gate keep resources such as syringes away from people holding marginalized gender identities. We welcome volunteers of all identities, but this is a space that prioritizes those who do not identify as men. This may entail both tabling and street based canvassing, so only those with an interest in direct service need apply.
In this role you may teaching people how to use Naloxone, distributing Fentanyl testing strips or offering rapid referrals to community resources. In order to ensure safety for our team and the people we serve, there is required training before volunteers can join outreach.
That can look like raising funds, donating items like: food, clothing, book bags, or even donated specialty services like yoga or self-defense instruction. Unfortunately, SPARC has a small staff and a small budget, so we are hoping to bring our clients; requests to a dedicated team of volunteers that knows how to mobilize community into providing for people in need.
SPARC always needs help with putting together supply kits, folding brochures, and organizing donations, which can be done in two to three hour time blocks. The training occurs once per quarter.
