BART takes stand against sexual harassment and gender-based violence

Not one more girl campaign on BART

BART is making a bold stand against sexual harassment and gender-based violence through a community led partnership that reimagines safety by centering BIPOC girls and gender expansive youth.

OAKLAND, Calif. - BART on Friday announced the "Not One More Girl" campaign to take a stand against sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

The transit agency partnered with the Alliance for Girls, and its members including Betti Ono, Black Girls Brilliance, The Unity Council’s Latinx Mentorship and Achievement Program to display 300 posters on BART train cars and 50 stations featuring images, slogans, and designs produced by girls and young woman.

Aside from the art, the BART Watch App has a new sexual harassment reporting category tool, and self-reporting prompts about harassment are now included in BART’s on-board survey of its riders.

Plus, the BART campaign offers riders resources to increase safety by community standards including bystander intervention training abd resources that don’t involve the police.

"We're a 100% Black women and survivor-led arts organization that builds power through culture, and this is what it looks like. We are demanding accountability, proactively pursuing justice, and affirming that our voices and collective agency drive fundamental cultural change with tangible results," Anyka Barber, director of Betti Ono, said in a statement. "We’re reclaiming what is rightfully ours: safe and just passageways to self-determined Black and Brown futures. We are here, not because we were invited, but because we built a table, rooted in respect and care for our community, informed by a depth of experience and resilience only known to Black and Brown bodies."

BART’s Board President Mark Foley and Vice President Rebecca Saltzman will also bring forward two additional recommendations of the initiative, on April 8. One proposal includes a request to set up a program to hire transitional-age youth to serve on the hiring panels for BART’s new Transit Ambassador and Crisis Intervention Specialist positions.

Also, Foley is proposing to include the prohibition of sexual harassment in the rider code of conduct.

The "Not One More Girl" was prioritized by BART after Alliance for Girls presented BART’s General Manager with their Together We Rise report showcasing the lived experiences of girls of color in the Bay Area and the physical and verbal harassment, often of a sexual nature, they experience on transit.