Mutual Aid NYC

A network of neighborhood groups and network builders organizing to provide aid and support to New Yorkers.

Active

New York City

Open source: Yes

## **Why Mutual Aid** Times of crisis make existing inequalities worse and hit vulnerable communities the hardest. The COVID-19 crisis, during which MANYC formed, emphasized the failure of government and social service institutions to meet the needs of those who have historically been most neglected. It has also emphasized the need for people to work together to create larger structural changes.  Marginalized communities have long relied on support practices at the very local level for sharing resources and skills. These practices are now often referred to as mutual aid, and historically range from indigenous lifeways to mutual support in enslaved communities, to the Black Panthers community support programs, to queer communities surviving the AIDS crisis, to pod mapping for chronically ill people**.** ## **Why Mutual Aid NYC** The people of NYC support our neighbors. Mutual Aid NYC aims to provide a decentralized but cohesive citywide support network to coordinate and connect mutual aid efforts across the city. Our aim is to build the power necessary to change failing systems, and build the structure to sustain these efforts for the long term.