Dear friends~

As I write, I hear the sound of rain pitter-pattering outside my window and I’m reminded of the joy of rainy days and the opportunity they provide to be reflective.  July has been both of those things. 

I’ve been living between the tension of what was, and what we are moving towards - mostly unknown. I share the excitement about things opening and the concern about how these changes will be reflected in our economy and society. With uncertainty, our tendency is to return to what we knew, which largely doesn’t exist anymore. And to lean on old habits and patterns that once worked, but don’t anymore. When I try to imagine something different, I think about what it means to build Communities of Care and how infusing care into our interactions and policies can ease this transition. Building Communities of Care would provide us with an opportunity to integrate much of what we have learned in the last year and a half into our present circumstances.

The Oxford dictionary defines ‘care’ as:

1. ​​the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.

2. serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk.
    

If we applied these ideas to our interactions and our policies, imagine the possibilities of how differently we could all live. 

When I think about Communities of Care, I think about our systems, and how they would be different if this was the guiding framework. I also think about the intentionality we need to live together, and how to create structures that allow us that space and care. But really, it is the idea of caring. That’s the piece I want to emphasize. What is an act of care?  How does that show up in the world?

One rather grand, and recent, local example, was Burlington’s first-ever Juneteenth celebration.  It was Citywide, with food, creativity, education, and activism throughout the neighborhoods and streets of Burlington, from downtown City Hall Park, to local elementary schools, and locations in the Old North End. The day started with a Gospel Brunch downtown, where a local, well-renowned chef, served a high-quality breakfast to those with free tickets.  All around one could enjoy the gospel music, composed locally and sung by a mixed-race choir. There was free food at each event area, from many local purveyors, and markets where vendors of color could sell their products and get community support and exposure.  There were shuttles to and from each location throughout the day. 

Sounds fantastic, right? And it makes so much sense. This event was fully accessible. They hired a local POC-owned security company - Chocolate Thunder Security- rather than hiring the police. The organizer found money in the budget to pay restaurants, who are struggling due to the pandemic, to make enough food to feed any and all people who came by. Everyone’s needs were able to be met. This is a great example of care. Who are the most vulnerable residents? What do they need? If our neighbor’s needs are seen and cared for, we all benefit.

Last year, we saw the state and city quickly figure out how to house formerly unhoused people. By redistributing funds, hotels and motels received the money they would have otherwise collected from tourists who were unable to visit, and new communities of temporarily housed people were created. The funding and innovation to provide care is available when a crisis hits, so why isn’t it a part of our society all of the time?

Last year mutual aid efforts popped up all over the state. These Communities of Care provided money, food, household supplies, transportation, medication deliveries, and other services that neighbors needed, and couldn’t fulfill on their own. 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these concepts, and I’ve also attended numerous webinars that addressed these themes.  Personally, when I think about how I can move into building communities of care, my lenses are:

art, justice, healing, community & creativity.

From my time participating in webinars, engaging in conversations, and producing Over Dinner events in the last year, here are some ideas and questions that have been thought-provoking:

• How are we responsible to our networks, neighbors, friends, etc.
  Who are our networks?

• How do we imagine spaces that don't have a ceiling on them? 

• How do we create spaces for others to begin to imagine? 

• How do you create spaces of healing or joy?
  and also create the desires and dreams of your community?

• What would it look like to reimagine beyond the ways that we think of each other and to be responsible for each other's thriving?

• What would it look like in public spaces to create healing spaces that honor injustice and harm, such as genocide, redlining, etc?

• How do we question the systems that are not set up for communities but to benefit a few at the top?

• How are we using our imaginations to create communities of healing and justice?

• Who is included/excluded? What stories are missing?

• How are we surfacing community knowledge?

• Are we recentering on shared values?

We could think of this as an application of the Zapatistas’ mode of communal living to artistic practice and everyday life. Their instructions were clear and simple: “share your harvest,” “rename the streets,” “heal your wounds,” and, of course, “paint a wall".

I would love to hear from you about your thoughts and also any projects that are happening towards creating communities of care.

Be safe, be there for each other, be well.

jen