Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid

Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid (CHFGMA) is a coalition of neighbors organizing to support each other. Recognizing that our community has been impacted by gentrification and systemic racism, we seek to address harm and create equity through redistribution and advocacy. 

We came together in March 2020 when the COVID-19 lockdown began. We created a phone hotline [(862)277-0747], a website, a Slack workspace, and a community newsletter. Since then, we’ve organized a network of thousands of neighbors, to share what we have and fulfill what we need. 

Needs for food and other basic necessities for neighbors isolated at home has been the most urgent and highly communicated ask from day one. We’ve found that in the majority of cases, neighbors requesting supplies are struggling financially - meaning they cannot cover the costs of essentials like food, medicine, body care items, baby supplies, cleaning supplies, and PPE.

We established our Groceries & Essentials Fund to help cover the costs of these items for neighbors who cannot afford them at this time. Since March 2020, we have responded to requests from over 1,383 households in the area, redistributing over $700,000 through thousands of shopping trips. Neighbors who reach out over email, social media, phone, or through our online form can choose between two options: we can provide money for them to shop independently, or we can connect them with someone in our network who will shop on their behalf. 

Providing groceries and essentials is just one important part of the work we do - we are active in our neighborhoods in many ways, including:

• Mobilizing over 60 volunteers weekly to support local food pantries in partnership with OneCommunity, which has become an important bulwark of food security.
• Attending meetings with other local organizations, non-profit leaders, and businesses to stay up-to-date and to make sure we're amplifying each other's efforts.
• Sourcing and delivering laptops, tablets, phones, beds, furniture, and other household goods to neighbors.
• Making wellness calls to isolating neighbors (so far we’ve had 844 conversations with 378 neighbors, in 5 languages).
   

There are many ways to get involved. If you’d like to learn more, please visit our website and  follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

We are raising money to keep our Groceries & Essentials Fund going. 

Supporting individualized household shopping is vital. Unlike a food pantry package, our fund allows families to continue to cook for themselves in the ways they want, with food they choose. The majority of shopping is paid for by our fund, and we’re currently spending about $13,000 per month to cover shopping for ~130 families. We rely exclusively on donations. Every dollar raised goes directly to our neighbors.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting social justice crisis highlighted the existing deep structural problems that prevent our government from properly caring for its citizens.

We believe, more than ever before, society is in need of mutual aid -  a voluntary exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. Mutual aid projects are a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions, rather than having to depend on the government to take action.

These projects are volunteer-based, with people engaging because they want to effect immediate change. CHFGMA is rooted in solidarity, putting human needs above all - collectively meeting our own needs rather than relying on the institutions that have failed us. By contrast, charity often involves people and organizations choosing who is and is not worthy of support.

 As a result of living in a profoundly unequal society, CHFGMA maintains that having needs is not a personal failure. We all have needs, and we all have ways to contribute. We do our best to support each and every person who reaches out to us, regardless of their reasons. We seek to engage our neighbors as a means of honoring existing communities, building new partnerships, and redistributing resources.

While the initial formation of CHFGMA was a result of COVID-19, our work to further solidarity, justice, and equity will go on as long as we are able to continue serving one another.