Iowa City Mutual Aid Collective Dispatch

Meetings & Skillshares

August 8th @ 7pm Mental Wellness During Trying Times - We will talk about some ways you can take care of yourself and talk about setting up a community support group within the collective.

August 14th @ 7pm Documentary Showing-We will watch and discuss a presentation by the American Studies Association on Mutual Aid groups. The presentation is about an hour long, so grab a beverage and join us.

August 24th @ 7pm Online Community Chat- Informal meetings where we chat and talk about collective projects. We are going to be discussing the possibility of a socially distanced outdoor gathering in September.

Get in touch if you are interested in sharing your special interest with the group.

Over the course of the next couple of months the outreach goal is for the group to really dig into what the term "solidarity not charity" means. One of the best ways to do that is to first explain some differences between mutual aid groups and traditional  non-profits and social service programs.

The first thing is that makes mutual aid groups unique is that we are autonomous. We take care of us. This means we aren't "funded" by donors or government agencies but we also can't get bogged down in trying to keep our "patrons" happy or having to jump through bureaucratic hoops to keep our funding.

There is no "us" and "them." Members contribute aid when they can and request support when they need it. Sometime we just send things out if we hear someone has been ill or is in need just to be neighborly. Our help is not conditional.

Mutual aid groups are working towards building a sustainable system, so they are holistic in their approach rather than having a single-issue focus or focusing on one population.  This may seem really haphazard to people who are used to the nonprofit approach, but it also enables us to create our own creative solutions to our problems.

Mutual aid groups don't have any one person in charge.  Anyone who has a good idea can propose it to the group and invite interested members to work to make it happen. That doesn't mean every idea comes to fruition,  but everyone's voice is heard.

Our Story

Last September, Iowa City Herbalists Without Borders (ICHWB) organized a free 20 hour street medic training for some local folks who were interested, and got them some supplies for their packs. Who know that would be so timely, right?

Some of the new medics and people involved in planning that training started talking about what a solidarity network in Iowa City would look like? Iowa City Mutual Aid Collective is what came of that discussion.

Although we are just writing the opening chapter of this story right now, the goal of ICMA is to form a supportive community of people who pool their resources and creativity to meet the needs of members and populations we choose to support.

What support we are able to offer will be freely given without forcing people who have needs to access traditional systems of support that are oppressive and bogged down in bureaucracy.

I want to take a minute to thank every community member who has contributed and local businesses like Echollective Farms, Prism Farms, and the Corridor Community Action Network for their support.