SURJ Boston

We hope you, your loved ones, and your beloved communities are staying well and finding ways to stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these times, it is more important than ever to support each other. We know that this acute crisis--like the many ongoing and interrelated crises in our economic, healthcare, and other systems--stands to disproportionately impact communities of color, immigrant communities, incarcerated communities, and low-income communities. Please check out the below resources that grassroots groups have created to provide aid across Greater Boston. As the crisis unfolds, we encourage you to ask for what you need, give what you can, and take precautions while taking care of those around you. Together, we can get through this.

Meal and Supply Relief

✊ 💵 Violence in Boston Inc and Food for the Soul Grove Hall are providing lunch and dinner for Boston Public Schools students (lunch 12-2pm, dinner 5-8pm). They are also accepting donations of funds and needed items (toiletries, paper towels, tissues, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper). For more information, call 617-652-0151.

• Sign up to volunteer with the meal relief program.
• Drop off needed items at 651 Warren Street, Boston, 02121.
• Donate funds at paypal.me/violenceinboston

Free Groceries for All!

💵 Free groceries will be provided Mondays at 5:30 pm at Make Shift Boston (549 Columbus Avenue, Boston, 02118) for the duration of the crisis. Donate through the Lucy Parsons Center.

Neighborhood Mutual Aid Networks

✊ Neighborhoods are starting their own mutual aid systems where people can offer resources and request support. There are opportunities to volunteer, donate, and offer/request support at the links below.

• Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville

• Mutual Aid Jamaica Plain & Roxbury

• Mutual Aid Brookline

• How to start a network in your neighborhood!

Resources
Both the Asian American Resource Workshop and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice have compiled Boston and MA specific resources in response to COVID-19. This includes everything from grassroots demands around COVID-19, how to teach an accessible online class, and local resources for supplies and support. Many thanks to these organizations for compiling information, resources, and links about local mutual aid networks, community care, remote work plans, workers rights, etc.

Public Education

📋 ✊Protect the People: Close All Boston Public Library Locations!
Sign this petition to demand the closure of all Boston Public Library locations. You can also:

• Call 311 to complain about public libraries remaining open and encourage others to do so.
• Email the City Council Committee. On Monday they are holding a virtual hearing on Boston's COVID19 response: ccc.health@boston.gov
• Contact your city councilor by email in support of closing the BPL temporarily.

📋 ✊ Support SIM (Student Immigration Movement), and Unafraid Educators: Help fight to ensure that BPS has a transparent policy around sharing student information with ICE. They are trying to protect immigrant students in BPS. They have three steps you can take!

1. Sign and share the petition. Spread the word!

2. Come to the School Committee meeting on March 18th! We want a huge turn out to show the district that they need to adopt a stronger policy. Sign up here. **due to COVID-19 this might not be relevant anymore, watch for updates.

3. Testify at the School Committee meeting on 3/18! **due to COVID-19 this might not be relevant anymore, watch for updates.

📋 Lastly, please sign and share the Boston Education Justice Alliance (BEJA) pledge demanding that all Boston Public Schools have a baseline budget to assure funding for essentials such as clean water, libraries, teachers, counselors, nurses, etc. if you haven’t yet.

Housing Justice

☎️ Save the date: Phone bank for rent control and the Tenant Protection Act!

Saturday, 3/28, 1 P.M.
Join Housing Justice Action Partnership and the Allston/Brighton Base Group (remotely) for an afternoon of political education, virtual community building, and phone banking for a final push before the 3/31 committee vote! If interested, please RSVP. More details to come!

VICTORY UPDATE: MOST EVICTION HEARINGS POSTPONED!

The Chief Justice of Housing Court in Massachusetts just ordered the postponement of most eviction hearings to 4/21. Thanks for signing our petition w/ nearly 6k signatures! Next step: @CharlieBakerMA, pass the FULL MORATORIUM, HB. 4935!" Please continue to sign the petition to let MA hear the resounding call to put a moratorium on evictions in MA during COVID-19 and to receive updates from CLVU.

☎️ Call Gov. baker asking him to pass a full moratorium on evictions during covid-19.

WHEN: Monday 3/16
WHO: Gov. Baker: 617-725-4005
MESSAGE: Pass HD. 495 Immediately.

For your information, Massachusetts Representative Mike Connolly just filed a bill, An Act Providing for a Moratorium on Evictions and Foreclosures During the COVID19 Emergency. You can read about it here.

If you can't call, send an email:
Email Massachusetts' Governor Charlie Baker: cis@sec.state.ma.us
Please CC communications@clvu.org so we can track our collective advocacy!  

Suggested  heading: COVID-19: Moratorium on Evictions in MA  
Suggested text:

Dear Governor Baker,

I'm a resident of Massachusetts who is calling on you to put an immediate moratorium on evictions in our state during the COVID-19 State of Emergency. I request that you continue all cases to litigants in all housing matters until the COVID-19 state of emergency ends. I also respectfully request that the Court vacate all default judgments from March 10th, 2020 - the beginning of Massachusetts' State of Emergency - onward. Finally, the court should not enter a judgment against a tenant in an ongoing eviction case until the State of Emergency is over.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Prison Abolition

📋 FREE RAYMOND GAINES

Sign this petition to demand a retrial for Raymond Gaines who was wrongfully convicted of 1st degree murder and armed robbery in 1975. He has been wrongfully imprisoned for 44 years, stolen from his family, loved ones, and community.

💵 Donate Retired Cellphones!

Our friend Jude Glaubman is collecting retired cell phones for women leaving incarceration. If you have phones in usable condition to donate, get in touch with Jude at jglaubman@thecouncil.us.

✊ BLACK & PINK VOLUNTEER DROP IN

Black and Pink’s mission is to abolish the criminal punishment system and to liberate LGBTQ+/HIV+ people through advocacy, support, and organizing.

These drop ins welcome any kind of abolitionist energy, whether reading and entering mail into the database, writing letters, playing cards, or chatting. Formerly incarcerated and court involved people especially encouraged to attend. Cis, straight and/or free world allies are welcome!

• 1st/3rd Wednesdays in JP: 7-9pm at First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, MA.  Contact Annie at annieatwater@gmail.com; wheelchair accessible.
• Sundays in Cambridge: 3-6pm at Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn St in Cambridge; partially wheelchair accessible, no accessible bathroom.

Immigration Justice

☎️ Take (Remote) Action to Demand ICE Release All People from Detention!

In response to COVID-19, the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network calls for the following demands. Please amplify, share, and make calls to your elected officials as possible! Here is a separate organizational sign-on letter that is being circulated for organizations to request that ICE #ReleaseThemAll.

☎️ REMOTE:DRIVING LICENSES FOR ALL PHONE BANK
March 22. 4-6 PM.
Phone bank remotely through Activist Afternoons to help all Massachusetts residents, regardless of immigration status, access the basic right of a driver's license! We need your help to show the legislature the power of our coalition. Please sign up here so that we'll be able to contact you with more information!

💵 WELCOME THY HOME!

With support from his family and community, Thy Chea returned home on 2/26 after an 18-month fight against the Department of Homeland Security for a wrongful deportation. Support AARW in raising money for his resettlement back to the US! Learn more about his story and contribute here.

✊ Milk with Dignity Tour

Join Massachusetts Jobs with Justice! on Tuesday, March 17 at 6 PM for a 1.5 hour presentation with farmworker leaders from Vermont’s dairy industry. Learn more about Milk with Dignity, the current Hannaford campaign, and how to get involved!

💵 SIM DACA Renewal Fund
The SIM DACA fund is being created to provide economic support to DACA recipients in MA. Applicants have to pay $495 in fees for their renewal application. Many members of our community, including DACA folks, live paycheck to paycheck and often are not able to pay for the application fees. We are asking our community to help the DACA recipients here in MA who are part of our community with any monetary support for their DACA renewal application.

Childcare

✊ Volunteer with the Greater Boston Childcare Collective

GBCC supports local racial justice and intersectional organizing by providing free childcare during meetings, events, and actions so that caregivers and children can fully participate. We provide care for groups being led by folks most impacted by oppression and who are on the front lines of their movements. Find out more information about GBCC here and on Facebook.

The GBCC Planning Team is looking for people who want to volunteer as a carer and for those interested in volunteering as a member of the GBCC Planning Team. The Planning Team does all the behind-the-scenes work of partner relationship building, care coordinating, and future planning. As we enter our fourth year of existence, we want to grow our network, Planning Team, and sustainability. Join us if you are invested in racial justice and enjoy caring for kids!

Fill out our Volunteer Interest Form if you'd like to become a volunteer carer.

Contact Morgan at morganch93@gmail.com if you'd like to learn more about joining the GBCC Planning Team or with any questions.