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Mutual Aid 101: The Basics Behind the Growing Collective of Networks Who Aim to End Societal Inequities

 

                                                        

Obtained at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COVID-19_mutual_aid_sign.jpg (creative commons license). 

Introduction

It hardly needs stating that the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the United States economy. Although its effects have been felt by all, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated in a Senate Committee meeting, the “burden of the downturn has not fallen equally on all Americans,” with the pandemic causing disproportionate job losses for low-income households with a particular focus on African Americans, Hispanics, and women[1]. Although Chairman Powell’s statements were made in July, the destructive effects of the pandemic were foreseen by financial institutions at the beginning of the outbreak.[2]

When the nation first began reckoning with the pandemic, the federal government took several actions to support individuals through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.[3] One of the most noteworthy aspects of the CARES Act was the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a multi-billion dollar loan program meant to provide small businesses with cash-flow assistance through federally guaranteed loans to prevent widespread job losses. Despite these high-flying ambitions, the PPP has been criticized for not providing enough funding, along with the fact that many small-business owners were left waiting or denied loans while major organizations such as the Los Angeles Lakers were awarded millions[4]. Even beyond its practical operation, the PPP has been challenged on a structural level.[5] Regardless, merely criticizing the PPP does little to actually provide support to those who need it. Small businesses and community organizations should take note of the recent surge of mutual aid organizations as a means of providing for community empowerment and shifting the status quo of voluntary aid.

What is Mutual Aid?

Mutual aid is a concept that existed long before the pandemic, but has garnered substantial attention recently and experienced significant growth over the past few months as communities have sought to fill in the gaps of the government’s coronavirus relief measures. It is difficult to narrow in on a discreet singular definition of mutual aid, but in essence it is a concept based on “the idea of reciprocal giving and sharing within a community, whether defined by geography or vulnerability or other factors.”[6] Mutual aid organizations distance themselves from traditional charitable groups, and disavow the concept of charity for its hierarchal structure, finding fault with the way that it upholds power structures which give rise to the inequitable circumstances that make charitable giving necessary in the first place. According to proponents of mutual aid, charity and social service agencies operate in a system that controls less fortunate individuals and faults them for the effects of the systems which put them in those circumstances. Instead, the mutual aid concept focuses on reciprocal cooperation and an acknowledgement that existing structures which produce inequity must be changed. Because of this philosophical focus on power structures, mutual aid organizations are horizontally structured to allow all stakeholders to have a key role in the successful accomplishment of the organization’s goal of providing for all of the needs of the community. It places those who are affected most by decisions in positions of governance and emphasizes transparency about operations and openness to feedback for how to serve more effectively.[7]

Beyond its political philosophy, mutual aid operates practically in a manner which provides individuals in a community with the services that they need. At its base level this usually consists of individuals or organizations listing their needs in a spreadsheet, with volunteers taking it upon themselves to aid those in need. Although mutual aid has received significant attention due to the iniquities which the coronavirus pandemic has produced, some have called for the lessons of the pandemic to be learned and implemented into society if/when society returns to normalcy.[8] One of the key benefits associated with the mutual aid system is the positive feeling that arises from true community engagement.[9] This is particularly true in a time where social distancing limits accessibility to others in the community.[10]

Considering Mutual Aid

Individuals seeking to contribute to their communities should seriously consider eschewing traditional practices such as charitable giving and think about forming or becoming involved in a mutual aid organization. As highlighted above, apart from the good that mutual aid organizations provide directly for the community, participating in a mutual aid organization is also a political act. The political act is in supporting a structure of organization that rejects centralized and hierarchical power, and calls for implementation of decentralized decision-making that involves transparency and the say of those who are most affected by the decisions that need to be made. For individuals or organizations interested in establishing a mutual aid organization, the Sustainable Economies Law Center has prepared a useful toolkit[11] which outlines some of the various important legal issues related to forming and operating a mutual aid organization. As the toolkit itself states, individuals should still consult an attorney regarding their specific circumstances.

For those in the Southeast Michigan region, some examples of mutual aid organizations in the area include the Metro Detroit Mutual Aid, Caremongering Detroit, the Mutual Aid Network of Ypsilanti, and Washtenaw County Mutual Aid Resources. This is not meant to serve as an exhaustive list of mutual aid organizations in the area, and many more can be found via the Mutual Aid Hub maintained by Town Hall Project, or web searches.  

 
By Neil Patel

[1] Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress Before the S. Comm. on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 116th Cong. 111 (2020) (statement of Jerome Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System).

[2] See Jeff Cox, Goldman sees 15% jobless rate and 34% GDP decline, followed by fastest recovery in history. CNBC (Mar. 31, 2020 (9:37 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-update-goldman-sees-15percent-jobless-rate-followed-by-record-rebound.html

[3] Jacob Pramuk, Trump Signs $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill as the US tries to prevent economic devastation, CNBC (Mar. 28, 2020, 9:57 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/27/house-passes-2-trillion-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-sends-it-to-trump.html.

[4] Jim Zarroli, Even the Los Angeles Lakers Got A PPP Small Business Loan, NPR (Apr. 27, 2020, 3:47 PM), https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/27/846024717/even-the-la-lakers-got-a-ppp-small-business-loan.

[5] Diana Ransom, How the PPP Is Failing America’s Small Businesses, Inc. (May 8, 2020), https://www.inc.com/diana-ransom/paycheck-protection-program-flawed-requirements.html.

[6] Meg Massey, Instant Karma: How Fintech Is Revolutionizing Mutual Aid, Karma (May 5, 2020), https://karmaimpact.com/instant-karma-how-fintech-is-revolutionizing-mutual-aid/.

[7] What is Mutual Aid?, Big Door Brigade, https://bigdoorbrigade.com/what-is-mutual-aid/ (last visited Oct. 12, 2020).

[8] Samer Araabi, Lessons From Mutual Aid During the Coronavirus Crisis, Stan. Soc. Innovation Rev. (Apr. 9, 2020), https://ssir.org/articles/entry/lessons_from_mutual_aid_during_the_coronavirus_crisis.

[9] See Jia Tolentino, What Mutual Aid Can Do During A Pandemic, New Yorker (May 18, 2020), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/what-mutual-aid-can-do-during-a-pandemic.

[10] Charlie Warzel, Feeling Powerless About Coronavirus? Join a Mutual-Aid Network, N.Y. Times (Mar. 23, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/coronavirus-aid-group.html.

[11] Mutual Aid Legal Toolkit, Sustainable Economies Law Center, https://www.theselc.org/mutual_aid_toolkit (last visited Oct. 12, 2020).

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