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<p>"The mutual aid movement here is steeped in history and working to build the city that politicians and private actors have promised for decades but failed to deliver."</p>
Inspired by the work of James and Grace Lee Boggs, many young Detroit activists are turning to forms of mutual aid to meet the needs of their communities.
In the Great Lakes region there are community fridges in such major cities as Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Cleveland and Toronto. Community fridges are working fridges, usually connected to an organization, that provide free food to passersby. The concept is to take what you need and bring what you can.
Last March, the pandemic forced grassroots group Detroit Action to halt a 10-year program helping people who face homelessness or have low incomes to get their vital records. That program ran out of soup kitchens, where it reached people in need, and closed at that time. More than a year later, the initiative relaunched, reviving a service that Detroit Action — which focuses on economic injustices affecting Black and brown Detroiters — says can help more than a dozen people a week navigate the often complicated process of getting IDs and birth certificates. These vital records are req...
Detroit Community Fridge aims to alleviate food insecurity, broaden food access in the city Posted at 3:35 PM, Mar 16, 2021 and last updated 2021-03-19 07:15:30-04 (WXYZ) â Two students hope to alleviate food insecurity in the city of Detroit and provide broader food access through the Detroit Community Fridge. Wayne State University students Alyssa Rogers and Emily Eicher launched the initiative after seeing community fridges pop up all over the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Rogers and Eicher met through groups on campus involved in community work. Last summer, Eicher had a...