RestoreHER Launches First-Ever, Safe Ride Share App for Women of Color

The renowned ride-sharing service Uber reported 3,045 sexual assaults during Uber rides in the U.S. for the year 2018. Undoubtedly, an astonishing number is, yet, more concerning that women remain to be the major group vulnerable to such assaults. Realizing the need to bring forth a safe rideshare app, specifically for the women, RestoreHER came up with the brilliant idea of the HERide. 

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA. HERide is one evolutionary ridesharing service that is laser-focused on the safety and empowerment of women. Specifically built while prioritizing the needs of women in mind, the app aims to improve the lives of women everywhere through safe transportation, job creation, and financial security. 

Pamela Winn, the Founder of RestoreHER, shares that drivers on board are personally vetted. “Each of them undergoes comprehensive background checks so you can have peace of mind knowing they meet the HERide Standard. Our in-ride security features make sure you arrive at your destination safely, without fearing loss of dignity. Our drivers are also paid more than the industry standard and are incentivized to provide best-in-class service,” she says.

RestoreHER is resolute in its mission being founded and lead by the transformative peer-to-peer leadHERship of justice. The organization revolves around directly impacted women of trauma, convictions, incarceration, post-incarceration, and incarcerated pregnant women. The founder, staff, and general board are composed of directly impacted women of color of the south. RestoreHER also maintains an “Advisory” board that focuses on the social determinants of criminalization and intersectionality through engagement in a participatory research process relying upon women with direct experience and other experts including academia/research, medical, legal, and public policy. Through this process, RestoreHER works toward a set of principles and advocate policies that support the too often ignored needs of directly impacted women of color and incarcerated pregnant women, and now the girls whose safety was always compromised via HERide. 

“Additionally, while you choose to ride with HERide, you play your part to support a like-minded driver in addition to elevating your community by helping to improve greater gender balance, choice, and participation in the ridesharing economy,” says Pamela Winn.

With having stellar customer service, HERide ensures the safety of women throughout their journey. Pamela Winn shares that “through the efforts of our alternative rideshare app HERide, the federal and state impact we have made to bring justice and improve conditions of confinement for incarcerated women, as well as serving directly to empower the women of color, RestoreHER has established its position as a leader of the rights and safety of marginalized women.” 

Known as the national leader of the anti-shackling movement, Pamela Winn spearheaded Dignity-GA, bringing forth the unanimous passage of HB345. The passage brought an end to the shackling and solitary confinement of incarcerated women in her home state, Georgia. Pamela Winn explains that by moving a step, HERide fulfills her purpose to safeguard the women in this lethal world. “The world is a dangerous place for women to live and travel alone. All gazes you receive while walking alone down the road, and even the fear of rape that is present even on the oh-so ‘safest’ ridesharing platform, is just too much for women to handle. Therefore, I was determined to bring forth an incredible app where women feel safe and secure while traveling, even in the darkest of the hour at night,” she says. 

HERide is the manifestation of Winn’s desire to give a reliable traveling option to all the women of Georgia, which she now yearns to expand across the United States. “I truly hope that one day, I am able to extend the services of HERide throughout the nation, empowering women to travel and relish their life to the fullest, without fretting over the safety concerns that ill ridesharing systems have created in the past,” she says. 

Through the platform of RestoreHER, Pamela Winn is actively involved in plenteous endeavors for the well-being of the vulnerable population, including women of color, children, and pregnant ladies. With leaders like Winn emerging, there is hope for the secured future of women in the States.