In March 2025, PENN took its safety awareness work directly to the streets — launching a city-wide community drive that reached over 3,000 residents across 12 locations in Chennai, from apartment complexes in Adyar to street markets in Mylapore.
Why Community-Level Outreach?
PoSH training reaches corporate employees. Stage plays reach students. But the majority of women in India — particularly those working in informal sectors, domestic roles, or small businesses — are never reached by structured safety programs.
PENN's Community Safety Drive was designed to close that gap. Rather than waiting for institutions to invite us, we went directly into neighbourhoods.
What Happened on the Ground
Each location visit was a 2-hour engagement involving:
- ✓Safety Toolkit Distribution — printed cards in Tamil and English with emergency helpline numbers, legal rights summaries, and ICC contact guidance
- ✓Mini-awareness sessions — 20-minute talks in local community halls, apartment lobbies, and open spaces
- ✓Volunteer sign-ups — residents who wanted to become local safety advocates were registered for PENN's follow-up training
- ✓Feedback collection — anonymous surveys to understand the most pressing safety concerns in each neighbourhood
"Nobody had ever come to our apartments to talk about this. We always assumed it was something that happened to other people in other places."
— Resident, Besant Nagar
Locations Covered
- ✓Besant Nagar (2 apartment complexes)
- ✓Adyar — Indira Nagar residents' association
- ✓Mylapore market area
- ✓Nungambakkam — Woco Spaces community event
- ✓Velachery — apartment federation meeting
- ✓Anna Nagar — women's self-help group
- ✓Tambaram — railway colony residents
- ✓Chromepet — local women's group
- ✓T. Nagar — retail street outreach
- ✓Kodambakkam — community hall session
- ✓Perungudi — tech park adjacent residential area
- ✓Sholinganallur — apartment complex safety awareness day
By the Numbers
- ✓3,000+ residents directly reached
- ✓12 locations across 8 Chennai neighbourhoods
- ✓850 safety toolkits distributed in Tamil and English
- ✓140 volunteer sign-ups for follow-on community ambassador training
- ✓6 PENN staff and 22 trained volunteers coordinated the drive
What the Surveys Revealed
Post-visit feedback from 600 participants surfaced three consistent concerns:
- ✓Lack of awareness about existing helplines and legal protections
- ✓Fear of social stigma as the primary barrier to reporting harassment
- ✓Absence of trusted, local points of contact — people wanted someone nearby, not a distant official process
These findings are directly shaping PENN's Community Safety Ambassador programme launching in Q3 2025.
Get Involved
PENN is actively recruiting volunteer community ambassadors across Chennai. Ambassadors receive 8 hours of training and become the first point of contact for safety concerns in their neighbourhoods.
If you live in Chennai and want to make your community safer, register as a volunteer or contact us directly.
CSR partners can sponsor community drive expansions to Tier 2 cities across Tamil Nadu. Learn more about CSR partnerships.