DMV Mutual Aid Groups You Can Support In 2022
Kya Parker, founder of Kyanite Pantry, photographed during a grocery distribution event in March, 2021. Kyanite Pantry is a free community pantry serving plant-based meals, non-perishables, and supplies to communities in and around D.C.
From one year to the next, poor and working class communities in the DMV are still facing the rolling crises of poverty, homelessness, hunger, crime on top of the brunt of COVID-19, climate change, and institutional violence and neglect. Across the political spectrum, vulnerable communities have been used, abused, and discarded while the status quo of austerity remains a constant reality.
Mutual aid draws from an experimental, tacit tradition of trauma-informed practices used to address the psychological and physical needs of a community such as feeding neighbors, babysitting children, or helping neighbors rebuild after a natural disaster. It is entirely volunteer-led, self-started, and relies little to none on the government, police, businesses, or non-profit charities (why charity is not mutual aid) because mutual aid is rooted in a critical praxis of “we keep us safe”— government and elected politicians are incapable of or too slow at responding to the horrific levels of systemic abuse poor and working people face and it is up to us to respond to crises in our communities.
Mutual aid gives us ways to plug into movements, build new solidarities, and become independent from incapable, violent institutions. Solidarity, not charity, is the horizontal nature of mutual aid that all of us can give and receive from. With this in mind, here are some DMV mutual aid groups we can support in the new year, by region:
D.C.
Feed The People Mutual Aid DC (@ftpmutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Kyanite Pantry (@kyanite.pantry) — Get involved or donate here.
Fuel The People (@fueltheppl) — Get involved or donate here.
The Mutual Aid Movement DC (@themamdc) — Get involved or donate here.
Georgetown University Mutual Aid Network (@georgetownmutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
East of the River Grocery Co-op (@eormutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Black Lives Matter DC (@blacklivesmatterdc) — Donate here.
Total Liberation Collective (@tlcollective) — Get involved or donate here.
Sunrise Movement DC (@sunrisemvmtdc) — Get involved or donate here.
Serve Your City (@serveyourcity) — Get involved or donate here.
Frontline Women DC (@frontlinewomendc) — Get involved or donate here.
Food Rescue US DC (@foodrescueus.dc) — Donate here. Great for businesses that need help with excess food.
Food Not Bombs DC (@foodnotbombsdc) — Donate here.
Freedom Riders (@freedomridersdc) — Accepting bike and spare bike part donations for street actions.
DC Fridge Colletive (@dcfridgecollective) — Cashapp: $dcfridgecollective
DC Mutual Aid Apothecary (@dcmutualaidapothecary) — Get involved or donate here. COVID-19 response; distributing herbal medicines to those who need it.
Ward 1 Mutual Aid (@dcw1mutualaid) — See donation information here.
Ward 2 Mutual Aid (@ward2mutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Ward 3 Mutual Aid (@ward3mutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Ward 4 Mutual Aid (@ward4mutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Ward 5 Mutual Aid (@ward5mutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Luther Place Memorial Church (@lutherplacedc) — Get involved or donate here.
DC Black Trans Support (@dcblacktranssupport) — Directly support this fundraiser and others for Black trans individuals in DC.
Remora House DC (@remorahouse_dc) — Get involved or donate here.
Heal Da Homies Mutual Aid (@heal_da_homies) — Get involved or donate here; BIPOC, disable, queer run group
Maryland
We Keep Us Safe Collective (@wkuscollective) — Get involved or donate here; Baltimore-based.
Mutual Aid 4 The Homies (@mutualaid4thehomies) — Charles County; browse their folder of revolutionary readings here.
Baltimore Fund (@baltimorefund) — Get involved or donate here; funds to help pay for abortion care for residents in Maryland.
PG County Mutual Aid (@pgcountymutualaid) — Email pgcountymutualaid@gmail.com to get involved or donate.
Underground Rainbow (@undergroundrainbowgroup) — Get involved or donate here; Black LGBTQ+ led.
Carroll County Mutual Aid — Join their Facebook group here.
B’more Community Fridge (@bmorecommunityfridge) — Get involved or donate here.
The MK Foundation, Mera Kitchen Collective (@merakitchencollective) — Donate here.
Linwood Community Fridge (@linwoodcommunityfridge) — To donate, venmo @karien-laurent.
Queer Crisis Response Unit (@queercrisisresponse) — Get involved here; Baltimore-based.
Prince William County Mutual Aid (@pwcmutualaid) — Follow their account to know about mutual aid efforts in Prince William County.
Buy Nothing Anne Arundel— Join their Facebook group here.
Rockville Rainbow Collective (@rockvillerainbowcollective) — Email rockvillerainbowcollective@gmail.com to get involved.
Silver Spring/Takoma Park Mutual Aid (@sstpmutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Baltimore Redistribution Project (@baltimoredistro) — Get involved or donate here.
Queer Collective Moco (@queer.collective.moco) — Get involved or donate here. Support the Gofundme start up fund here.
Audelia Community Response (@audeliacommunity) — Get involved or donate here.
Baltimore Childcare Collective (@bmore_childcare_collective) — Email baltimorechildcarecollective@gmail.com to get involved or donate.
Northern Virginia
Mutual Aid Distribution Richmond Virginia (@mad_rva) — Get involved or donate here.
UVA Mutual Aid (@uvamutualaid) — Get involved or donate here.
Mutual Aid Charlottesville — Join their Facebook group here.
Mutual Aid Infrastructure - Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro — Join their Facebook group here.
DMV and Abroad
Sanctuary DMV (@sanctuarydmv) - Get involved or donate here.
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (@mutualaiddisasterrelief) — Get involved or donate here.
