What is Bed-Stuy Strong?
At the start of the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020, Bed-Stuy neighbors came together and formed an online community and hyperlocal mutual aid network. We are not a non-profit or professionals; we are neighbors helping neighbors, a practice as old as humanity. Since then, we have built a series of working groups addressing food insecurity, PPE and vaccines access, political education and other resource distributions including cash and AC units.
The future of Bed-Stuy Strong is open to possibility: we are creating new ways of relating to each other and are working to build the future we want. We believe that all people should have their basic needs met, and be treated with dignity, honor and respect. Read more about our guiding principles.
What is mutual aid?
Many definitions exist, but a simple one is: voluntary, often reciprocal support between people of a community. We do our work in the legacy of powerful organizing from the Black Panthers’ free clinics to abolitionist networks, and Bed-Stuy’s deep-rooted history of community care. For many, mutual aid creates new bonds and relationships and the space to question systems that create scarcity around the things we all need to survive. Bed-Stuy Strong recognizes mutual aid as a deeply political act.
From the beginning…
Grocery Delivery Program
From March 2020 to June 2021, Bed-Stuy Strong built and maintained a grassroots COVID-19 food security operation. Our work supported 28,000 people in Central Brooklyn through redistributing roughly $1.2M in crowdsourced donations to the community.
Brooklyn Packers Partnership: Grocery Distribution
Brooklyn Packers is a Black-led and worker-owned cooperative. Our partnership with Brooklyn Packers made it possible to obtain bulk sourcing, purchasing and packing food and supplies to Bed-Stuy neighbors, while keeping more funds with local organizations.
We have continued to partner with Brooklyn Packers for our recurring community events, such as BSS’s Annual Summer Block Party and Seasonal Free Markets.
Vaccine Coordination and PPE Distribution
BSS was formed from a COVID-19 reality and continues to exist conscious of the health impact that COVID-19 has on members of our community. Our mutual aid network redistributed countless PPE through neighbor requests in our Slack, at protests, sharing with other community groups, and home deliveries. By April 2020, our network provided 1000 surgical masks to Kings County Hospital!
From February to June 2021, BSS partnered with local and state public health organizations to secure vaccine appointments for BedStuy residents 65+. BSS volunteers conducted outreach, were present at vaccination sites as an information resource, and coordinated transportation.
Additionally, in March 2022 and May 2022, we set up one-day mass PPE distribution stations in Herbert Von King Park and Saratoga Park. Of course, our Block Party and Clothing Shares also include PPE distribution stations.
Oppressive systems engender scarcity and crisis…
In June 2021, BSS paused its grocery distributions. BSS determined we needed to take a step back, rest and begin considering how to build a more sustainable food operation. In the meanwhile we continue our regular community events for redistributing resources.
Cash Assistance
In Spring 2022, BSS devoted the majority of remaining funds to begin providing cash to our neighbors. This was motivated by our belief that community care needed to be greater than our fear of a tattered fiscal safety net; in the spirit of mutual aid, unforeseen future funding needs will find resolution in solidarity with our community.
Cash Assistance is grounded in the impact of fiscal agency (i.e. cash money) to support our members and community, as individuals who know best how to prioritize their needs. An organizer is having difficulty with expenses this month and is requesting help for groceries. A neighbor is going back to school this semester but is unable to register for classes until they pay the hold fees on their account. A community member reached out to the BSS network for help making rent this month. BSS has since redistributed $117,000 to support 163 organizers and community members.
Bed-Stuy Strong continues to build solidarity…
Air-Conditioning Units Redistribution
Each summer, this project recycles AC units from neighbors who no longer need them, to neighbors who do. BSS has redistributed over 100 ACs.
Reading Group
The BSS Reading Group was created in January 2021 as a space to support conversations about Bed-Stuy Strong’s political framework and study radical texts to help us make sense of the oppressive conditions that make up much of our world. We believe in the power of translating our readings into action, and are committed to making books accessible to anyone who wants them. In Summer 2022, the Reading Group launched the Summer Essay Series. In October 2022, the Reading Group began its 5th text, Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur.
Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) Abolition
BSS’s Abolition Group works to learn, educate, and imagine new futures that moves our models of conflict resolution away from punishment and towards community care. We have organized several letter writing events and have connected interested participants with ongoing penpal opportunities, with people who are currently incarcerated.
Parole Preparation Project Partnership: The Parole Preparation Project provides support and advocacy to formerly and currently incarcerated people. BSS has begun to build relationships with local community members who have recently returned home from long sentences. We provide material, social & technological support, including call and text check-ins and assistance with purchasing and navigating smart phones and computers.
Looking ahead…
Members, organizers, and neighbors keep showing up to do the work and we want to keep believing in our safety net that is each other. Bed-Stuy Strong is at an inflection point, we know from experience that effective operations need to be sustainable and participatory– to share the load, reduce burnout and make long term operations possible.
BSS in 2023?
In addition to the continued support of current BSS initiatives and community events, ongoing discussions shaping our fiscal planning include:
Your money moves in solidarity with people who need it. Your money will be stewarded with integrity. We thank you, and all those who have supported us, for your contributions. Altogether, we are helping build a stronger and more resilient neighborhood and community.
