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.

💵 Fundraisers for Solidarity during COVID-19

The SURJB COVID19 Emergency Fundraising Team has curated this list of fundraisers to highlight.

💵 SURJB Funding Pool:

Don’t have much to give? Overwhelmed by the number of fundraisers out there? SURJ Boston members and supporters have pooled over $13,000 so far to increase our impact during the novel coronavirus crisis. We have been working with partner organizations to direct these funds into groups primarily working in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan.

Keep donating for ingredients and supplies for Violence in Boston, Inc. meals! They are partnering with Food for the Soul Grove Hall to provide delivered lunch and dinner for Boston Public Schools students (lunch 12-2pm, dinner 5-8pm).

Massachusetts Undocufund: Massachusetts Jobs with Justice has partnered with One Fair Wage and the Matahari Women Worker’s Center to create the MassUndocufund, which will collect donations and provide direct assistance to undocumented folks struggling through this crisis.

Solidarity Supply Distro: SSD provides free groceries for all, both for delivery and pick up. Their effort will require a steady stream of funds! Please donate so they can support the community as long as the crisis lasts.

National Domestic Workers Alliance Coronavirus Care Fund: The money you donate to the Coronavirus Care Fund will provide immediate financial support for domestic workers, and enable them to stay home and healthy.

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP): MAAP is offering material aid to people experiencing homelessness and responding to the needs of the community as they change depending on circumstances.

Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center Emergency Family Fund: BCNC will give gift cards to its participants who are facing critical needs at this time. 100% of these funds raised will go directly to BCNC participants. To support a BCNC family affected by the COVID-19 crisis, please make a gift by April 10th.

SURJB COVID19 Action Hours

✊ The novel coronavirus/COVID19 pandemic continues to reveal the layers of suffering endemic to capitalism and white supremacy in the US. Many of the white people in SURJB's networks are both awash and overwhelmed by the multitude of asks and newly transitioned to working digitally. We invite you two action hours where we will take 1 hour to sign petitions, contact elected officials, volunteer our time, donate/publicize fundraisers, and connect with each other

LUNCH: Wednesday, 4/1, 12-1 pm
Please register for Wednesday here

EVENING: Thursday, 4/2, 5-6 pm
Please register for Thursday evening here

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 https://www.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.

Resource Redistribution Phone Banks

☎️ Resource Redistribution Phonebank! #3

Recurring event: Saturdays, 12-2pm

Zoom registration for 4/4:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/upApcu6qqTstJe_MPPjMK022B_qRVpfwDQ

PLEASE NOTE: the link will change every week, so check the newsletter or SURJB facebook page for the correct registration link

As the crisis continues to escalate, community members in predominantly people of color neighborhoods of Boston need to get connected to resources from various mutual aid efforts in the city.

Liz Miranda, and other state representatives, are providing us with lists to call our communities and get them connected: we will provide a brief training, script, and encouragement!

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 Cambridge

• Mutual Aid Dorchester

• Mutual Aid Brookline
  

• Mutual Aid East Boston

• 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.

Solidarity with Palestine!

✊END THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA: #SPREADSOLIDARITY RALLY AND TWITTERSTORM

Rally: 1-2pm EST / 5-6pm UK / 7-8pm Palestine
Twitterstorm: 1-3pm EST / 5-7pm UK / 7-9pm Palestine
Register here!
Join us for a live streamed Zoom-based rally and Twitterstorm to mobilize support for Palestinians in Gaza facing COVID-19 under blockade.

Stand with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe!

✊📋 SIGN THE PETITION: PROTECT MASHPEE WAMPANOAG RESERVATION LANDS

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the very tribe that welcomed the Pilgrims in the 1600s, is at risk of losing what is left of their homelands due to a determination made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Sign the petition today: tell Congress to protect Mashpee Wampanoag reservation land!

Public Education

☎️ ✊ 📋 support Boston teachers, families and students

Boston Education Justice Alliance (BEJA) is asking that folks sign a petition supporting teachers, families, and students due to a new partnership with the state, a form of receivership that takes away local power. Learn more and sign the petition here: https://btu.org/ourcityourschools/.
Other ways to get involved:

• Call/Email/Tweet the list of folks included in this linked document. Sample scripts are included for your convenience.
• Share information with other parents, students, and educators and let them know what is going on and how they can take action.
• Go online for the livestream of the virtual meeting of the MA Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, happening Tuesday, March 31, 9-11am. Even if you can’t pay full attention, the show of interest is important.
  

Boston Teachers Union Updates

The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) has helpful information on how COVID-19 is impacting Boston Public Schools (BPS). For the latest information and to learn about their Volunteer Corps, go to https://btu.org/coronavirus/

Housing is a Human Right!

☎️ Keep making calls! tell gov. baker and house ways & means to demand a full moratorium on evictions

Make 3 calls to decision-makers to pass HD.4935 for a state-wide, full eviction moratorium:

• Governor: Charlie Baker, (617) 725-4005 (@CharlieBakerMA)
• Representative Michlewitz, (617) 722-2990 (@RepMichlewitz)
• Sen. Michael Rodriguez, (617) 722-1114 (@SenRodrigues)

Script: "Hello, my name is ________, and I'm a resident of Massachusetts. I'm calling on you to put an immediate moratorium on evictions in our state during the COVID-19 State of Emergency. I request that you do everything in your power to pass HD.4935, the bill to implement a moratorium. Thank you."

WORRIED ABOUT EVICTION OR PAYING RENT ON DURING COVID-19?

Please check out City Life/Vida Urbana's Housing Rights and Resources during COVID-19:

• CLVU's hotline: (617) 934-506 (English) or (617) 397-3773 (Spanish)
• Template for writing a letter to your landlord or bank
• Know Your Rights fact sheet: Most evictions in MA are postponed to after 4/21/20

We are continuing to build around the rent control campaigN!

To get involved, contact Lisa directly at dentilisa@gmail.com

Prison Abolition

STAY TUNED: Another Week of Action for Decarceration Coming Up!

Last week hundreds of you and thousands across the state took action to target district attorneys, sheriffs, elected officials, and the Governor to demand our people be released & affirm our love for them! Please look for an email with further details, and continue to follow Building Up People Not Prisons on facebook and twitter, as well as SURJ Boston on facebook and twitter.

FUNDRAISER: NEW BEGINNINGS RE-ENTRY SERVICES VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, 3/29 at 2 pm - through facebook live!
Can’t attend the virtual tour? Plan to make a donation (as of this writing, technical issues with the donate page are present, please check back regularly).

📋 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

SUPPORT THE MASSACHUSETTS UNDOCUFUND

The MassUndocuFund for Covid-19 Relief was launched by a coalition of immigrant service providers and advocates to provide direct assistance to undocumented victims of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Massachusetts. Donate today to support undocumented children, families, and communities affected by the pandemic to recover and rebuild.

✊ #FreeThemAll Virtual Vigil — Solidarity with Immigrants Detained at Bristol County Jail

UPLOAD A PHOTO to join the virtual candlelight vigil in solidarity with those detained in Bristol County and all people in immigration detention! On March 18, 51 immigrants detained by ICE inside Unit B of the Bristol County Jail sent a public letter calling for the immediate release of all detainees with serious medical conditions, detainees considered low-risk (to the public), bond hearings for all detainees whose court date was rescheduled, and the quick departure of detainees already ordered deported. Find out how to show solidarity here.

☎️ 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! #ReleaseThemAll

💵 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.

💵 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.