DC MUTUAL AID NETWORK

The DC Mutual Aid Network and Facebook group is a grassroots, community-led effort looking to take care of each other and keep our city as safe as possible. To locate current efforts across the city, find help, or find out how to plug in, this is your first sto.:

Neighborhood pods

Neighborhood Pods are small groups created by neighbors to support each other during by sharing information, and helping with things like grocery runs and pharmacy pick-ups.

EAST OF THE RIVER MUTUAL AID

EOR Mutual Aid fills and delivers grocery requests made through our hotline and provides other kinds of support based on the needs in our Ward 7 & 8 neighborhoods.

East of the River Mutual Aid (EORMA)

East of the River Mutual Aid (EORMA) formed in March 2020 when the global pandemic reached our doors and quarantine restrictions shuttered much of the city. To keep one another safe, we joined organizers from Black Swan Academy, Peace House DC, Peace Fellowship Church to form a mutual aid network in support of our neighbors east of the Anacostia River. Using existing practices, our organizers quickly developed a network of mutual aid that would serve as a means of caring for neighbors' basic needs when access to food, cleaning supplies, and PPE was scarce.

For us, this work is not simply about providing food to our neighbors. Rather, we believe in a solidarity-not-charity model, where we band together to meet our basic survival needs in recognition that the systems we live under are not able or designed to meet our needs. Through mutual aid, the act of caring for one another is a form of political participation and must be driven by a collective vision to build new social relations that are more survivable.

EORMA has made more than 16,000 deliveries of produce, groceries, cleaning supplies, diapers, and hygiene items across Wards 7 and 8 with the support of more than 200 volunteers. EORMA is an entirely volunteer-run operation with a wide range of volunteer roles -- both in-person and virtual. Additionally in April 2021, we deepened our mutual aid work with a COVID-19 hotline to help our neighbors get access to the vaccine.

BLM DC sees its unique role in preparing DC for the [R]Evolution by erecting movement infrastructure, healing ourselves and our community, building more active support for Black liberation while cultivating a culture of strategic collective action, & creating critical connections between activists, organizers, artists and community leaders while inventing and distributing tools for building the world we want.

DID YOU SAY 50,000 HYGIENE KITS?

Since the day East of the River Mutual Aid started, Black Lives Matter DC has purchased bulk toiletries and put together over 50K hygiene kits by hand. These hygiene kits have gone into every bag that is delivered to our community here in Wards 7 & 8. These include basic items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, shampoo, lotion and sanitizer. We've also provided diapers and baby toiletry items. We've also distributed hygiene kits at halfway houses, community events, and to our unhoused neighbors. Some fellow community members who received hygiene kits also made kits for others once they were able.

TOGETHER WE GET FREE

We believe we must act together to get free. We must realize who we truly are and what we were put on earth to do in order to work together effectively. We must center joy to remember why we fight and remind ourselves to head towards the light. Together, we believe these actions build liberation.