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NOTE FROM IIMAY HO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RG
While we are all impacted by this pandemic, we know that the harm will not be distributed equally. Resource Generation is in solidarity with poor and working-class people, people with disabilities, people with chronic illness, the elderly, incarcerated, houseless, and undocumented people who are disproportionately at risk and impacted by COVID-19.
Check out the rest of Iimay's blog post, "Protect our Communities, Not My Wealth: Solidarity during Pandemic," for actions people with access to wealth and class privilege can take now in solidarity with poor and working-class social justice movements and communities.
Art for Resource Generation by @vrye
In this time of the federal government spending $1.5 trillion dollars to bailout Wall Street and massive corporations lining up for their own bailouts, we are in a fight between opportunistic disaster capitalism and a transformative progressive vision of universal health care, canceling student loan debt, universal housing, free utilities, universal basic income, and decarceration. We know which side we’re on and we’re ready to meet this moment by practicing interdependence and taking collective action.
Here’s what you can do right now:
1. Give big, give now, and give to social justice. Keep your existing giving commitments. See if you can double them. At this moment, some funders are making plans to give less, while others are giving an additional year of general operating support on top of their existing grants - can you or your family foundation make these types of expansive choices? Most grassroots organizing groups don’t have much savings to weather an emergency of this magnitude. Help fill the gap and continue to give big to long-term grassroots organizing. Don’t know where to give? Check out the Emergent Fund’s People’s Bailout.
2. Give to rapid response and mutual aid funds. In addition to your organizational giving, hit up those cash apps, GoFundMe’s, and community foundations and social justice funds (like Headwaters and Social Justice Fund NW) that are organizing rapid response funds right now. If you’re able, redistribute any money you’re saving from working from home, your tax refund, any bailout checks from the government, or from refinancing your mortgage. Anyone who is salaried or who has inherited wealth right now has an immense amount of comparative privilege and security - set aside a percentage of your income to give to gig workers, artists, contract workers, incarcerated people’s commissary, and hourly wage workers.
3. Signal boost and support any policy demands that support a people’s bailout. As much as we need to lean into mutual aid, structural problems call for structural solutions.
4. Organize. This is a massive collective wake up call. People everywhere are looking for meaning and solutions. Amidst the beautiful outpouring of mutual aid and community support there is also a rise in anti-Asian violence, racism, and xenophobia, and people and institutions attempting to benefit financially and politically from this crisis. We all have a dad/uncle/financial manager who is more concerned about the losses in the stock market right now than threats to people’s health and livelihoods. How are we reaching them at this time and organizing our families? This is also the time to bring in more young people with access to wealth and class privilege who are seeing the cracks in capitalism and are looking for a political home - keep up your (virtual) house parties and recruit!
I’m grateful to have the Resource Generation community to keep me grounded and clear during this time. Now is the time to practice everything we have learned, care for and rely on each other, and share our abundance with others. -- Iimay Ho
Read Iimay Ho's entire blog post, "Protect our Communities, Not My Wealth: Solidarity during Pandemic" here.
TIME TO GIVE RG WEBINAR
Wednesday, March 25th 3pm ET/12pm PT
Register here
This is a dedicated time for RG members to make donations to organizations and mutual aid networks.
While we are in isolation we are not isolated. This virtual time helps us stay connected and move resources collectively. Please register here.
CHAPTER UPDATES
RG New York
The New York chapter is staying upbeat and continuing to organize from the safety of our beds/couches during the period of recommended self-isolation in New York City. The chapter joined our first local campaign for Earth Week 2020 spearheaded by our new Climate Justice Circle. Fundraising asks for COVID-19 related mutual aid funds are circulating on the giving listserv, and we're taking the downtime to refine and update some of our organizing tactics and infrastructure, like 1:1 scripts, written materials, and our member database.
RG Philly
RG Philly has raised ~$750,000 in support of our partner, the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund (PCBF), to support 3 full-time paid staff positions over the next 3 years! PCBF aims to end cash bail and other forms of pretrial punishment in Philly. We are also continuing to strengthen our partnership with Our Cities Our Schools and Philadelphia Affordable Communities to end the ten year tax abatement and promote PILOTs in order to fund public schools and affordable housing.
In the midst of COVID-19, the chapter’s 3 praxis groups will continue over Zoom. Moreover, RG Philly is coming together at this moment of crisis to think through the ways in which we can support our communities, both monetarily and otherwise. More updates on this next month!
The RG DC chapter pooled funds to purchase and distribute supplies (non-perishable food, clorox wipes, etc), in coordination with the local BLM crew
RG LA organized a mutual aid Zoom call with 17 people attending where people shared mutual aid funds they are working on, shared commitments, requests, and offers
RG North Carolina has been circulating support funds, started a shareable spreadsheet to gather funding needs and resources in one place, and have been contributing and sharing those funds more broadly
RG Atlanta is also circulating mutual aid fund asks!
and more!
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***RG has 16 local chapters across the U.S. and growing! If you are interested in connecting with your local RG chapter or community to support local mutual aid efforts (and the long-term fight for social justice!), please check out the RG intake form.
TRANSFORMING PHILANTHROPY UPDATE
Transforming Philanthropy has been postponed until the summer. It is our hope that young people with wealth who care about social justice, who care about poor people, who care about Black lives, who care about community safety and systemic shifts will respond to this moment in a way that transforms old patterns of responding to uncertainty with fear and hoarding. To respond in a way that centers collective needs over individual gains is to contribute to transforming philanthropy.
The conference will be at the same site in Petaluma, California but will now be held July 2nd-5th. If you want to get added to the waitlist for when registration reopens please email [email protected].
RG WEBINAR RECORDING
Thank you to all who checked out our webinar last week on initial results from our community resource survey. Below are some resources we wanted to share with the RG community:
If you have any questions, please email RG Executive Director Iimay Ho at [email protected].
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ASK OF RG MEMBERS:
There are lots of resources floating somewhere in the google drive that may not have been updated recently. What do you think should be prioritized for updating or creating this year? What resources would most support you thriving in your campaign partnerships, giving pledge recruitment, chapter work, etc? Fill out this quick survey to give your input!
Learn more about RG membership here!
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