Common Good Mutual Aid

Common Good Mutual Aid – Richmond Highlands, Shoreline 

We are neighbors coming together in solidarity to care for one another and resist the systems that keep our communities struggling. Common Good Mutual Aid exists to support vulnerable neighbors, redistribute resources, and embody a vision of collective liberation where everyone belongs and has enough. 

Mutual aid is rooted in the belief that neighbors and community members have a duty to take care of one another, recognizing that we each have unique needs, strengths, and resources we can use to support each other. Mutual aid isn’t charity. Instead, it’s based on solidarity, trust, and mutual support.

Mutual aid is the idea that we all share the responsibility of caring for our community. Too often, we have outsourced care to government and institutions that often deeply fail our neighbors. Mutual aid can look like direct cash assistance, grocery and meal distribution, offering a room in your house, asylum-seeking accompaniment, bystander intervention, fundraising for personal care items, or neighborhood projects.

Our society is deeply unequal and rooted in systemic oppression – and for many marginalized communities, mutual aid means survival. Mutual aid isn’t a new concept, but the way it’s practiced has changed and evolved as communities have. Traditions and customs of mutual aid might look like bringing pre-cooked meals for those grieving the loss of a loved one, taking care of neighbors’ kids, sharing food from your garden, or helping new parents with groceries or household chores.

Unlike charity, mutual aid rejects individualism and instead favors social collectivism. The value of a society isn’t determined by how hard individuals can work to remain outside of poverty; emphasis is placed on how a community can work together to support everyone’s quality of life. Mutual aid asks us to equitably redistribute resources to community members and forces us to ask why resources are so inequitably allocated in the first place.

Right now, we are raising funds to help two immigrant families in our neighborhood secure stable housing, cover move-in costs, repair a broken car, and get back on their feet in the face of exorbitant housing costs. But this is just the beginning. As needs arise, we will continue to stand together — sharing resources, resisting isolation, and building a community rooted in abundance rather than scarcity.

When we come together as community and offer our gifts big and small, there is always more than enough.

Join us in making the common good real in Richmond Highlands.

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