Building Solidarity and Resilience in an Uncertain Time

Dear friends,

Given all of the chaos of this moment, we wanted to offer some points of connection and reminders of the resilience that we’ve been building as a wider community over the last ten years.

One of the foundational tenets of the Resilience Hub is to support individuals, households, and communities in becoming more resilient, and in our collective ability to bounce back from disruption. We acknowledge this is a time of severe disruption. Over the past 15 years, the Hub has built a 3,000+ person network of people who are interested in this work. Together, this body of people holds a massive amount of knowledge, diversified skills, land, food, and resources towards how to build a world that is healthy, just, and abundant. The Hub has supported many residential and community spaces to plant food forests and to build resilient systems with massive food growing capacity. While there are still not enough of these sites, their existence is a glimpse into one component of a decentralized, accessible food system. 

The Resilience Hub is, at its core, a network made up of people. We need your input regarding how to show up for our community. What do you want and need from this network in this uncertain time? We invite you to fill out this survey asking what needs you see for yourself and the community, as well as what services and resources you might be able to offer to assist others. We welcome your ideas.

This moment lays bare both the inequities and the interconnectedness amongst us. It is an opportunity to acknowledge resources and recognize them as privileges: be that access to land, financial resources, food growing capacity, skills – and to leverage them in support of our community in the spirit of solidarity. We also acknowledge the very real material needs that many of us may be experiencing, and the range of emotions present. The Resilience Hub has been committed to the practice of mutual aid and reciprocity since its inception, and we’re calling for that from each other now. How can we put our beliefs into practice? 

Asks:

• We’re looking for people with skills in social media, communications, or technology to join our communications working group in order to support communications and logistics during this crisis and beyond. 
• Are you gardening in your backyard? Would you be willing to commit to planting extra this year to support food access in the greater Portland area?  
• Do you have available space in your yard but don’t feel like you can do the gardening on your end? Would you be willing to share yard space in support of food security in your community? 
• If yes to any of the above, please complete the survey or don’t hesitate to reach out. 
• If you have available financial resources in this time, please consider giving to one of the mutual aid funds that have been set up. Please share information about these funds and mutual aid networks widely. 
  • People’s Emergency Fund: This is a locally-based people’s emergency fund to raise money for the most vulnerable people in our communities. The funds will be used to purchase basic survival goods (food, medicine, etc) and distribute those goods and money during the COVID-19 crisis to people most marginalized in this crisis, with the least access to other forms of aid.
  • Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America Assistance Fund: Assistance fund and mutual aid network.
  • Maine People’s Alliance Assistance Fund: state-wide assistance fund and mutual aid network. 

We take seriously the threat COVID-19 poses, and as such will not be hosting in person gatherings for an indefinite period of time. Please take adequate precautions and gentle care of yourselves. Our individual actions as part of the whole will be key to stemming the spread of the virus. Here are some things that we’ll be offering over the next few months:

• Our Education Working Group is working to put together a series of virtual talks, workshops, and educational offerings particularly geared towards building resilience in this crisis. If you are interested in offering a talk, or have something specific you’d like to learn about, please let us know. 
• We are still planning for a season of permablitzes, even if we have to modify them in some fashion. We will have more details about this over the coming weeks.
• We’re looking to expand communications and information sharing and will be exploring the best way to do this.
• Platforms to support gardening mentorship, yard-sharing, and food production and distribution. 

There’s no good way to sum up this moment. When we look to nature for guidance, we see disruption creating devastating loss and creating opportunity for growth and regeneration. May we continue to build a community that can hold each other through both. 

With you in Community, 

Kate, Toxtli, Eli, Josh, and Heather