‘It’s About Love and Solidarity’: Mutual Aid Unites NYC Neighbors Facing COVID

posted by Health Equity Initiative

We are pleased to share this story on the importance of mutual aid during COVID-19 by Kaiser Health News, which was originally posted by our friends and colleagues at The Solutions Journalism Exchange. The story aligns with Health Equity Initiative's focus and advocacy efforts in support of community engagement and mobilization as a key strategy to advance health equity by raising the influence of community voices on intervention design and policy solutions. Mutual aid during the ongoing pandemic has emerged as a key action area to spread solidarity, build community, and help provide important services in our neighborhoods and cities that neither governments nor other organizations would be able to provide to the same extent without the input of community-specific groups and leaders. Enjoy and please share your own thoughts and experience on mutual aid during COVID-19 and beyond! Stay safe! 

‘It’s About Love and Solidarity’: Mutual Aid Unites NYC Neighbors Facing COVID
By Elizabeth Lawrence, Kaiser Health News, July 27, 2020

NEW YORK CITY — Nancy Perez, a 45-year-old resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, contracted COVID-19 in March. She stayed quarantined in her room for a month to isolate from her two sons and grandson.

A few days before she got the virus, she’d met a volunteer with Bed-Stuy Strong — one of the many mutual aid groups around the country that have rallied to provide help in the face of the pandemic. Bed-Stuy Strong assembled an army of volunteers to help vulnerable neighbors with food deliveries and basic supplies. While Perez was in isolation, volunteers regularly delivered cooked food for her sons, ages 17 and 20, and her 4-year-old grandson.

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