Sunnyside & Woodside Mutual Aid (SWMA) is a group of neighbors acting collectively to address community needs and take care of each other. We value care and support community-based action outside of existing structures of governments, electoral politics, and charities. We acknowledge and sometimes collaborate with the many existing communities and organizations that call Sunnyside and Woodside home. We strive to embody the spirit of solidarity in everything we do.
Formed in Spring 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, SWMA began as a response to our neighborhoods’ increasing and urgent need for grocery deliveries, medical deliveries, food relief, and community support. As the months passed, we have continued to seek out and build sustainable models to address needs in our neighborhoods through collective care.
To inform our critical work and build community with one another, we hold virtual film screenings, zine-making parties, book discussions, and more. We empower one another and ask: What do you want to see in your community? We embrace a beginner's spirit (anybody can contribute and we all have something to learn) and encourage horizontality—nobody here manages anybody else.
Please see Who We Are and How We Work Together for our community agreements and code of conduct as well as strategies for collective meeting facilitation.
Mutual aid has been the basis for collective care throughout history and all over the world in a wide variety of forms and by many different names. It operates on the idea that "we take care of us." A popular slogan of mutual aid—“solidarity, not charity”—reflects an intention to avoid the pitfalls that come with top-down hierarchies of formal nonprofit organizations. The approach of mutual aid recognizes that we cannot depend on existing structures of power (such as the government or charitable organizations) to know what is best for our communities or have our best interest in mind. We believe that everyone has something to give and everyone has something they need.
To learn more about mutual aid, we recommend starting with our mutual aid resources.
We know that many of us are accustomed to being in hierarchical organizations where we are told what to do, so it’s totally natural to be a bit confused when you join a decentralized effort such as ours. If you are new to Sunnyside & Woodside Mutual Aid, here are some suggestions:
Remember: We operate with a horizontal structure. You are encouraged to show up to do something you've never done before! We are here to teach and learn from one another.
If you want to find resources we've compiled, explore our working groups, or look through meeting notes, you're in the right place. Notion serves a similar purpose to Google Drive or a wiki. Visit swma.nyc/notion to set up your account, and click here for an introduction to using Notion. Feel free to ask questions about Notion in the #4_help-desk channel on Slack.
Slack is a chat platform where all communication is organized by topic into channels. It is our platform to chat with our neighbors, share community resources and needs, and coordinate our projects. Visit swma.nyc/slack to set up your account. Feel free to ask questions about Slack in the #4_help-desk channel.
Affinity groups are our way of self-organizing around broad topics of interest and organizational needs. Anyone can join an affinity group simply by joining the corresponding channel on Slack, and it is often the starting point for new projects. See a full list on the Affinity Groups page.