Through unity, we increase safety by minimizing the one main factor that makes us all targets – walking alone.

Additional app menu items are accessed with the same easy rideshare format. These menu items include:
• Security presentations provided by security professionals
• Running companionship
• Companionship for errands and assistance with doctor appointments
• On-premises safety assessments.

Much of my work as a therapist is now spent listening to client’s frustrations and fears of violent crime in the city.

My clients recount stories including witnessing a stabbing on their train, being followed for three blocks before begging a security guard for help, and being mugged after leaving Whole Foods.

In June, I was randomly punched by a homeless person while walking on the upper east side on a Saturday afternoon. The police, though kind, did not arrest my attacker, even though she attacked a pregnant woman immediately after me.

From all the events I heard about in the news, at work, and in my personal life, I realized that private sector entrepreneurialism holds the solution for solving the need for accessible safety when the public sector is not solving the problem of violent crime. I pictured an app where a community of vetted members coordinates walking companionship and other safety features.

Thank you for reading,
Pamela Garber