We are a small corps of volunteers who live in Red Hook and are working to make sure supplies, resources, and information are as inclusive, comprehensive, and accessible as possible to everyone in the neighborhood. Our concerns about accessibility led us to create a phone line early in the pandemic, and community need and our role within it is still evolving, as shown in the wide range of initiatives over the past year.  We maintain personal relationships with each of the callers to our phone line, and we envision eventually transitioning to neighborhood partnerships that serve as an effort to integrate and to dismantle the housing and cultural segregation that exists today in Red Hook.

Mutual aid has been a part of all large, powerful social movements, and it has a particularly large role to play right now, as we face unprecedented dangers and opportunities for mobilization...at its best, mutual aid actually produces new ways of living where people create systems of care and generosity that address harm and foster well-being. 

Dean Spade, Mutual Aid:
    Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) 



It is Red Hook Mutual Aid’s goal to establish accessible and inclusive ways to share resources and support vulnerable neighbors with what they need,  as well as build a shared understanding of why people do not have what they need.  Mutual aid is as much about addressing immediate needs as it is about building solidarity. Under capitalism, social problems resulting from exploitation and the maldistribution of resources are understood as individual moral failings, not systemic problems. We are aware that the systems we have in place will not meet those needs, so we work in conjunction with community-based organizations to help distribute resources and information.