Mutual Aid Groups: An Introduction & Resources
03/24/20
by Gregory Gillam
Artwork by Paul Nudd
Mutual aid, as a formal community structure, is meant to protect all in need when informal ties may not. In tough times, strong local connections and supportive groups are important, but not everyone has these systems in place. In a crisis, many may confront the fact that their own social circle is not robust or ready to deal with new, extraordinary needs. But that is not such a big problem if there is mutual aid in place to give everyone the tools of community.
During this pandemic, and respecting social distancing, mutual aid is still possible and even more necessary. Besides, the groups we form now will be needed and wanted in the aftermath.
Below is a list of resources for mutual aid formation and existing mutual aid organizations nationally and in Chicago. Two starting voices for this list were Kelly Hayes, host of the Movement Memos podcast on Truthout, and activist Mariame Kaba, via her Twitter posts (under the handle @prisonculture). For a blunt but reassuring discussion on the necessity of mutual aid (using anti-detention activism as an example), check out the Movement Memos episode: Our Government Has Failed Us in This Crisis. How Do We Protect Our Communities?
NOTE: Some items in this list are Google Docs files with open submissions and editing. Please exercise caution and double check information before making financial or resource commitments.
Mutual Aid Organizing Guides:
Hope is a Discipline | Community Building and Resources during COVID-19 by Illinois Raise Your Hand
COVID-19 MUTUAL AID & ADVOCACY RESOURCES
Neighborhood Pods How-To
Collective Care
Pod Mapping for Mutual Aid
Mutual Aid Groups and Tools:
Chicago Covid Resources
Mutual Aid Hub (National)
Chicago COVID-19 Hardship and Help Page (set up by Kelly Hayes at Transformative Spaces)
National Database of Localized Resources During COVID 19 Outbreak
Mutual Aid Networks
A Neighborly Invitation Regarding Coronavirus
WILLING TO HELP IMMUNE COMPROMISED PPL IN NEED
Mutual Aid Fundraising:
Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund
Prisonculture's Redistribution Fund
"This is a pool where people with means who don't want to figure out where to direct funds deposit their money so that I can redistribute them across multiple mutual support projects."
Articles on Mutual Aid & Resources:
Collective Care Is Our Best Weapon against COVID-19
COVID-19 South Side Community Resource Guide from South Side Weekly
Autonomous Groups Are Mobilizing Mutual Aid Initiatives To Combat The Coronavirus by It's Going Down
Demands from Grassroots Organizers Concerning COVID-19 by Transformative Spaces by Kelly Hayes
Communities rally around one another — and Google Docs — to bring coronavirus aid by NBC’s April Glaser
’I’m Still In Shock’ How Chicagoans, from creatives to nonprofit staff, are being affected by the novel coronavirus—and what we can all do to help by the Chicago Reader
It’s up to the rest of us now by Jonathan Myerson Katz