Mutual Aid Toolkit - by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Mariama Kaba
very slightly changed & condensed from HERE
This toolkit includes step by step instructions for how you can build your own mutual aid network.
Mutual aid is “cooperation for the sake of the common good.” It’s getting people to come together to meet each other’s needs, recognizing that as humans, our survival is dependent on one another. If you’re interested in learning more about the long history, politics and practice of mutual aid, we encourage you to read the links we’re including at the end of this toolkit
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual Aid is a practice and politics that emphasizes solidarity rather than charity. What does that mean? It means we recognize that our well-being, health and dignity are all bound up in each other. It means that we understand our survival depends on cooperation, not competition. In this particular moment, we see that our health is also dependent on other people’s health, and we can literally save each other’s lives. Rather than disengage and feel powerless, mutual aid allows us to plug in where we can make the most impact — locally.
Mutual Aid is:
Getting people together in a community to provide support to each other
Building relationships based on trust and common interest
Making decisions by consensus rather than relying on authority or hierarchy
Sharing things rather than hoarding things
Treating no one as disposable
Providing all kinds of support, ranging from food prep to childcare to translation to emotional support, and recognizing the value of all of them
A political education opportunity, where we build the relationships and analysis to understand why we are in the conditions that we’re in
Mutual Aid is not:
Quid pro quo transactions
Only for disasters or crises
Charity or a way to “save” people
A reason for a social safety net not to exist
Building a Neighborhood Pod
This guide is adapted from Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville’s “Neighborhood Pods How To.”
Before the first step: Who’s in your support network? Before beginning to build your neighborhood pod, we recommend taking some time to figure out who would already show up for you when you’re in crisis, and vice versa. Check out this resource by Rebel Sidney Black.
Step 1:
Find a buddy or two (if you can) to build your network/pod.
A buddy helps make the work feel less overwhelming — you can plan things together
A buddy keeps you accountable to each other
A buddy may have relationships and know resources you don’t
Start by identifying someone in your building or block, and text/call them to ask them to be your partner in building a neighborhood network.
Step 2:
Identify your zone.
Are you trying to support people on your floor, in your building, your block, your neighborhood, or a non-geography-specific social community? Try to start small: 5 - 20 people is a good ballpark. Build out as you gain confidence, organization and more knowledge of the resources in your community.
Step 3:
Invite your neighbors.
If you don’t already have phone contacts for your members, you’ll need to reach them somehow. Here are some ideas:
If you have some phone contacts of your neighbors but not all of them, ask for your contacts to connect you with the neighbors you don’t know.
Reach out to people via email or social media such as a building Facebook group. You can also post something in adjacent spaces, such as a list-serve for parents of a local school where the majority of the families live in your neighborhood.
You can flyer in spaces where people tend to congregate or pass through, such as elevators, lobbies, laundry rooms, bike rooms, or garages. You can flyer the doors of your neighbors. Just be sure to limit person-to-person contact.
Step 4:
Build your pod.
Name your group. If your pod/network is more than 30 people, consider splitting into two groups. Big groups can get unwieldy and you can always still reach out to and coordinate with the other group!
You have options in terms of communications setup:
Make a group text, group email, or social media chat.
Have meetings with Zoom.
Step 5:
Have an intro conversation with each other.
Set some community agreements, for example, treating each other with respect and assuming the best intentions. You also want to get a sense of what each person needs, and what each person can do to help.
These are some questions to ask each other:
What are your hobbies and interests?
How regularly do you want to check in?
What resources, skills or knowledge do you have that you could share with the pod or help others with?
What are your needs? What are you afraid of losing? What do you need help with?
You might find that it takes multiple conversations with each other before people feel comfortable. That’s okay! Relationship building is not a means to mutual aid, but fundamental to the work itself.
There are several ways to do this in a group that’s larger than a couple people.
We recommend focusing on building relationships with each other before immediately jumping into asks. One way to do this is dividing everyone up into pairs. Each pair then talks to each other over video/phone and takes notes about the conversation to input into a spreadsheet. Switch pairings and do a couple more rounds of 1-on-1 conversations so people in your pod have relationships with not just one other person in the pod, but multiple other people!
You could also use a Google Form or Spreadsheet and have everyone input their responses on their own and read over each other’s responses to the questions.
If you go with #1, make sure to clarify upfront what information gets shared with everyone in the pod and what information stays in your small group conversation. Consent about information sharing is important.
Step 6:
Support each other.
Your pod will have lots of needs at this time, and they may change as this pandemic continues. Some needs that might or have already come up:
Food (both grocery store trips and prep)
Childcare (especially as schools close)
Picking up medicine or other absolutely essential errands
Cleaning supplies
Financial support
Emotional support and socializing
Mental health counseling and services
Recreational activities, for both adults and children
Help navigating benefits processes
Language translation/support
Information on what community resources are available
Tech assistance
Internet access
Timely and accurate public health information
More resources
Big Door Brigade - a website guide to everything mutual aid by organizer Dean Spade.
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief - a mutual aid network with many guides, reports and resources.
A chart by organizer Dean Spade on leadership qualities that support cooperation/mutuality versus hierarchy in building organizations.
A podcast by Rebel Sidney Black on the differences between mutual aid and charity.
A poem “The Low Road” by Marge Piercy.
A longer article by organizer Dean Spade “Solidarity Not Charity” about the theory, history and practice of mutual aid
A report-back on mutual aid in the context of disability justice.
An example of a rapid-response team being built out in Rogers Park, Chicago.