Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support

The Ward 3 Mutual Aid team is part of the DC Mutual Aid Network, a citywide grassroots movement initiated by BIPOC organizers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mutual aid is direct support among neighbors. In our first year, the Ward 3 team answered over 4,000 calls on our community hotline, and made over 1,400 grocery deliveries in our ward.

Ward 3 is the whitest and wealthiest ward in the city. We approach our organizing through a lens of wealth redistribution and reparations to Black and brown residents who experience structural racism and displacement in our rapidly gentrifying city. With the wealth in Ward 3, we should be able to support Ward 3 neighbors and contribute regularly to mutual aid organizing throughout DC. Right now, we contribute $2,600 a month to East of the River Mutual Aid and and the Hot Din program (which delivers meals to queer and trans BIPOC organizers throughout the city). We also act as a resource hub for residents in Ward 3 by providing free groceries, supporting a regular food pantry, and serving as a resource advocate. But we know we can do more!

Although our mutual aid network began in immediate response to the pandemic, mutual aid was needed prior to the pandemic. Even beyond covid-19, mutual aid will continue to be a necessary means for us to meet one another's needs. We need consistent funding to continue and expand our organizing and meet the ongoing needs of our neighbors.

If 1,000 neighbors across our ward each gave somewhere between $5 and $100 a month, we would have a generous and reliable budget. We estimate we need a minimum of $11,180 a month to meet the current need in Ward 3, and even then, we know there is more support we could offer! We want to continue and expand our work, but our finances are often uncertain week to week. (Note that the Open Collective “budget” displayed is regularly misaligned with the actual amount of funds we have access to because we are consistently managing reimbursements owed to our lovely grocery shoppers!)

With consistent funding, imagine the possibilities for us to expand our support: both within our ward, and to our neighbors across the city!

Have questions or want to join our organizing for collective liberation? Send us an email (ward3.mutualaid@gmail.com) or complete the sign-up form to organize alongside us and develop relationships with neighbors that are rooted in radical care. Mutual aid, unlike charity, empowers people to give and receive help as part of our community. We may each have little to give, but all together we are powerful!

Follow our organizing on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @Ward3MutualAid !

Art (above) by Molly Costello, sourced from their community art
Cover art by Emma Ismawi, sourced from Amplifier Art

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News from Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support

Updates on our activities and progress.

One Year Update and Fundraising Goal for April 2021

Hello mutual aid organizers! Thank you for your continued support. Since our hotline opened about a year ago, on March 23, we have responded to over 4000 calls and made over 1800 grocery deliveries to War...

Published on April 13, 2021 by Julienne Kaleta

December update for our beloved contributors

Contribute to Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support to see this Update

Published on December 3, 2020 by Sara Swetzoff

Conversations

Let’s get the discussion going! This is a space for the community to converse, ask questions, say thank you, and get things done together.

Budget

Transparent and open finances.

Monthly financial contribution to Washington DC Ward 3 Mu...

Credit from Jacqueline Cremos to Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support • June 6, 2023

+$50.00USD

Completed

Contribution #179452

Monthly financial contribution to Washington DC Ward 3 Mu...

Credit from Adrien-Alice Hansel to Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support • June 3, 2023

+$10.00USD

Completed

Contribution #99422

Cleaning and personal hygiene supplies for pantry

from Judith Ingram to Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support • June 2, 2023

-$2,195.96 USD

Pending

Reimbursement #142226

Today’s balance

$19,363.12 USD

Total raised

$191,473.68 USD

Total disbursed

$172,110.56 USD

Estimated annual budget

$71,478.23 USD

Washington DC Ward 3 Mutual Aid Neighbor Support

Ward 3 Mutual Aid is part of a grassroots response to COVID-19 in Washington DC. We are a collective of neighbors helping neighbors & organizing to build a just and equitable city.

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