Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups workshop series
Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups: A Workshop Series
Sponsored by BCRW, Fireweed Collective, and Survived & Punished NY
In this series, Dean Spade, author of Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next), presents four interactive workshops designed for people working in mutual aid groups. Each workshop provides tools for addressing common obstacles and growth areas for people doing sustained work together to meet basic survival needs in their communities. The workshops are appropriate for people doing work in all-volunteer groups or in groups that have some staffing.
Workshop recordings and related resources and tools at the links below
October 28: Workshop 1 – No Masters, No Flakes!
Group culture, capacity, overwork, procrastination, and perfectionism in mutual aid groups.
November 11: Workshop 2 – Decision-Making
Planning and making decisions together in mutual aid groups.
Click for more info.
December 9: Workshop 3 – Skills for Abolitionist Practice
Giving and receiving feedback in mutual aid groups.
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January 20: Workshop 4 – Bringing New People into the Work
How do we recruit more people to our groups, help them get deeply plugged in and feel co-stewardship of the work? How do we create and maintain supportive group culture as new people join? How do we set shared expectations and help new members build skills for accountability in the work?
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About the Presenter
Dean Spade has been working in movements to build queer and trans liberation based in racial and economic justice for the past two decades. He’s the author of Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, the director of the documentary “Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!,” and the creator of the mutual aid toolkit at BigDoorBrigade.com. His latest book is Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next).
Dean Spade in conversation with Mariame Kaba and Ejeris Dixon: We Keep Each Other Safe: Mutual Aid for Survival and Solidarity recording may also be viewed here on host BRCW’s website.
On Nov 12, Spade was joined by anti-violence organizers Mariame Kaba and Ejeris Dixon to discuss mutual aid as an abolitionist project. Why is mutual aid key to practicing abolition? How does mutual aid relate to transformative justice and other anti-violence frameworks and practices? How can mutual aid help us to reimagine responding to harm and violence without relying on police?