The response to my request for help has been incredibly uplifting. I’ve got a ways to go before I can really make ends meet, but I’m closer to that than I was, and I know there are a lot of other people who also need help right now. Whatever your walk in life, you have a right to food, water, housing, and healthcare.
To that end, I’ve put together a list of different resources for people who are struggling to make ends meet right now. This is a mix of both ways to see help, and ways to give help to those in need. I will update and re-post this at least once a week while the pandemic and associated economic fallout continue. This is currently mostly focused on the U.S., with some UK resources, but I want to expand it to cover anyone needing help anywhere if possible. If anyone has resources I’ve missed, please include them in the comments and I’ll add them in to the next round.
Opportunity to help: TAA Mutual Aid Fund for Grad Workers and Families
As part of the TAA’s broader commitment to supporting or most vulnerable and precarious, we have set up a Mutual Aid Fund where graduate student employees can request aid to respond to an urgent financial need. This fund has been seeded with contributions from three incredible members who wanted to see the TAA act to relieve immediate financial needs for its members.
If you are able, please consider donating to this fund to ensure that our colleagues, co-workers, friends, comrades in financially uncertain times can be supported.
And any UW grad student can apply for funds at http://bit.ly/TAAmutualaid.
From Bigdoorbrigade.com, who have done a great job pulling this stuff together. Look at this stuff, but check them out too, because they’ve got more on how to help, how to organize, and so on:
https://www.mutualaidhub.org/ – a map of mutual aid projects and requests around the United States. FYI, McAffee flagged this site as somehow worrisome. I’m not sure why.
https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/ – Mutual Aid Disaster Relief – solidarity, not charity. This is an opportunity to help, for now. If I find a way to ask them for aid, I’ll update.
It’s Going Down is a digital community center for anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements. They have a list of mutual aid efforts focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States as well as some in Canada.
This is a US-based google doc with a huge amount of resources linked, from guides, to counter-propaganda, to existing aid efforts. Tactics and info are relevant across the board, most of the linked aid efforts are centered in the US.
Coronavirus resource list “This kit is a collectivized document that will be updated as more mutual aid projects and resources appear online. Recognizing that not everyone will have access to great internet to access some of these, I encourage you to apply these offline as well as online.”
COVID-19 Mutual Aid UK – Mutual aid resources in the United Kingdom
For those interested, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now did an interview with Dean Spade, who created Big Door Brigade.
Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, layoffs have increased, job interviews have been indefinitely postponed, and many places aren’t hiring new workers. All of that means I really need help paying my bills and keeping a roof over my head. Patreon.com is a way for you to help with that, even if it’s just a little bit, and get some perks and extra content in return. You control how much you give, and how long you give it, and every little bit really does help. When lots of people pitch in, it can make a huge difference. Please help if you’re able, and share my work with others. Thank you!
StevoR says
Best wishes and know that I am cheering you on and appreciate your work here.
Tangential but possibly a helpful resource and place for you to get info from if you don’t already know of it since I’m not able to help financially, sorry :
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/
Abe Drayton says
Thanks for the message, and no worries. The whole point of something like Patreon is to fill a need from each according to their ability (with a cut taken by Patreon). I appreciate your supportive comments over the years a great deal.