Money on the Streets: Mutual Aid Funds
by Alex Galván, Outreach and Family Engagement Administrator at Chicago HOPES for Kids
Money on the Streets: Mutual Aid Funds distributed 10 grants of $11,500 to mutual aid projects across Philadelphia.
In choosing this direction, we first took stock of the Philadelphia Assembly values:
Commitment to the practice of arts, culture, and equitable community development.
Pushes against the status quo and philanthropy and business as usual
Prioritizes people-led investments in communities of color
Gives these individuals the tools and resources they need to thrive
Preserves and amplifies their work
Is based in relationship and shared power
Believe in sustaining creative practice, land, livelihoods, dialogue across neighborhoods and disciplines, and ultimately, the joy, imagination, and hope of those who keep the place
Objective to invest in local innovations, and democratic decision-making
The Philadelphia Assembly also corresponded with this reminder of the WHO we asserted in this document:
As echoed above, the General Assembly is a collective of those who share a commitment to the practice of arts, culture, and equitable community development and reflects the people who are here, committed, and doing the work to “keep the place” despite the many challenges they face.
The Assembly is comprised of Philadelphia artists, activists, and culture bearers embedded in neighborhoods and communities, especially those prioritizing black women, black girls, and black people who are gender non-conforming.
The General Assembly’s primary focus is to ensure that those participating in, and reflective of the Assembly, who are keeping place can continue doing this work.
With these commitments, we turned to #Philly We Rise’s Mutual Aid and Resource List to gather information about a wide swath of mutual aid initiatives in the city. We established this rubric to choose funds that spoke to the guidelines of MOS Part II.
Proposed MOS Part II Guidelines for Input
Assembly Values
Establishing the localities & demographics of the communities the mutual aid fund serves
Prioritizes people-led investments in communities of color; Objective to invest in local innovations, and democratic decision-making; The Assembly is comprised of Philadelphia artists, activists, and culture bearers embedded in neighborhoods and communities, especially those prioritizing black women, black girls, and black people who are gender non-conforming.
Establishing that the fund serves core life sustaining functions of housing, health, food
Prioritizes people-led investments in communities of color. As echoed above, the General Assembly is a collective of those who share a commitment to the practice of arts, culture, and equitable community development and reflects the people who are here, committed, and doing the work to “keep the place” despite the many challenges they face; Believe in sustaining creative practice, land, livelihoods, dialogue across neighborhoods and disciplines, and ultimately, the joy, imagination, and hope of those who keep the place.
Establishing that group organizing identifies means by which access and supports for community must be transformed
Gives these individuals the tools and resources they need to thrive; Pushes against the status quo and philanthropy and business as usual.
Given these rubrics, the Core nominated 12 mutual aid projects as potential recipients of these grants, and asked the entire Philadelphia Assembly to vote on these candidates. During the vote, another 5 groups were nominated for consideration. After deliberation, these 10 groups were selected to receive this round of funding:
Philadelphia Community Bail Fund (Philadelphia County)
Philadelphia Sex Worker Relief Fund aka Red Umbrella (Philadelphia)
Queer Writers of Color (Philadelphia)
Oshun Family Center (Philadelphia County) (Norristown)
Dipes' n' wipes (West Philadelphia)
Germantown Mutual Aid Fund (Germantown)
The Church of the Advocate (North Philly)
BTAP Black Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)