Issue #175: community care is self-care 🏡

Hi ,

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about communities: their function, the inequalities found within them, the comfort they provide, and how I can better care for mine. During this time of isolation and social distancing in particular, I’ve found myself in a more focused mindset, often asking: How can I offer quick and immediate relief to the people around me?

Historically, when I’ve thought about change-making, I’ve assumed that getting at the root of an issue—like racism and violence against Black people—meant donating nationally. But over the last few weeks especially, I’ve felt a pull toward grassroots, local efforts.

I recently added “mutual aid networks” (here’s a NYT piece about them and a Curbed feature on them) to my vocab because they feel like the exact essence of what “community care” really is: members of a community looking out for each other in a way that gives everyone an opportunity to thrive. Yet, as the Curbed piece mentions, these groups are often composed of individuals who, as a result of not having had support from mainstream systems, “had to create their own networks as a matter of survival.” It’s an amazing structure and a testament to what communities are capable of, but I'm frustrated that they have to exist in the first place. (For anyone local to D.C.,  if you're looking to contribute.)

Of course, there are other ways to help locally, too. For me it’s starting with small kindnesses and working my way up from there. The other day, a few GNI readers recommended I donate my books to a local Little Free Library, since our public libraries are closed right now. They had it right — that’s a prime example of community care.

Last weekend, I donated some art supplies to a family in our building. Then I emailed a local summer arts camp to learn more about donating classes to kids whose parents might not be able to afford them right now. This isn’t a “look at me” humble-brag; it just feels necessary to give back directly to my city and neighbors right now, and access to child care is a huge issue of inequality right now. 

Writer and author Rachel Miller put it perfectly in The Art of Showing Up, this month's book club pick: We each have a finite amount of TME (time, money, and energy) to give. By defining what’s important to us, we can prioritize what we're able to do in the short- and long-term to continue to show up for ourselves and our people. This is an important step.

Since starting GNI, I’ve learned that while it’s important to take care of yourself, it shouldn’t be the end goal. It’s the means that makes it possible to decide what you want to put your TME into right now. For me, personally (and for GNI), the taking care scale is tipping toward community care because when everyone in a community doesn’t have access to the proper tools to feel good, that means there’s still work to be done.

How are you participating in community care efforts on a local level lately? Are there any orgs, networks, groups, or people doing great work that you want to shout out? Reply to this email and we’ll share some here next week. 

Until next Friday, 
Alisha Ramos, @alisharamos
Founder at GNI

P.S. Speaking of community care, I’d love for you to take our GNI 2020 survey to help shape our own community moving forward. As last week's issue proved, GNI is always better with input from you. ✨