Marronage
Mutual Aid
Through our emergent and Alternative Housing initiatives we aim to create a world where everyone, especially minoritized, students and community organizers are not left with dreams deferred.
Marronage Mutual Aid draws inspiration from the resilient Maroon Communities—groups of runaway formerly enslaved Black individuals in the US and Caribbean who forged their own havens of freedom in swamps and mountains prior to the emancipation proclamation and other such edicts. Unyielding in its commitment, Marronage Mutual Aid champions liberation by offering free, emergent safe tiny housing, empowering students and community organizers to find stability to pursue their constructive endeavors.
Mission
Our vision is to serve as a beacon of hope, connecting students and community organizers to hard-to-find resources such as 1-3 months of emergency housing, job support, and assistance in overcoming tuition-related. These transformative initiatives are designed to breathe life into the dreams of students and community organizers who are BIPOC, undocumented individuals, queer individuals, disabled students, first-generation students, and beyond. We envision a future where every individual, starting with minoritized students, can access the support needed to realize the aspirations of their ancestors.
We view our emergent tiny house pilot, share the land pilot, and emergent fund as a means to offer innovative solutions and encourage other community land trusts, nonprofits, and conscious groups to provide harm-reducing support to engage with homelessness in urban cities.
Vision
Starting in July 2024, this pilot project aims to house a student or community organizer in an ADA-accessible tiny house bus for 1-3 months while we assist them in finding more stable, long-term housing.
We view our emergent tiny house pilot as a means to offer innovative solutions and encourage community land trusts, nonprofits, and groups of conscience to provide harm-reducing support in addressing homelessness in urban cities.
tiny house pilot project
Commencing in February 2024, our mission is to explore innovative avenues for land sharing or land giving near the five boroughs of New York City and nearby New Jersey.
We seek forward-thinking partners (landowners and/non profits) willing to rent or donate driveway space near and within New York City or nearby New Jersey for our Tiny House Pilot Project .
This initiative is also geared towards supporting our community members who are working-class and formerly working-class people and who already have tiny homes remain in and around New York City. Together, we aim to create a network of supportive landowners that fosters sustainable and alternative housing solutions, thereby enhancing the well-being of those in need.
Example Share the Land In-Kind Request:
We are currently seeking to build relationships with landowners who have a driveway in one of the five boroughs of New York City (or Nearby New Jersey). This is an insured vehicle that would pay monthly rent. This requires a driveway equipped with an outside electrical outlet and water spigot, to park our tiny house bus 1-3 months, with the possibility of extension.
Share the land pilot project
Starting in early 2024, our second funding cycle will begin. In our first funding cycle, we distributed $31,000, primarily to BIPOC, undocumented, low-income, disabled, trans, and queer students. Through grassroots fundraising we raised 10k.
To continue to help us distribute direct mutual aid to students and community organizers.
emergent fund
DEIJ Out- Liberation Praxis In: How to keep students at the margins in school now through Mutual Aid (workshop series and coaching)
Harnessing the insights gained from a four-year-long, grant-funded Mutual Aid Group at CUNY, shaped by the principles of Equity and Liberation praxis, this workshop incorporates research-based tools to create infrastructure to support students including but beyond student affairs. The aim is to showcase how grassroots organizing on college campuses plays a pivotal role in fortifying support structures for students at the margins. Through these efforts, we aspire to empower students, faculty, and staff providing them with the resources and networks necessary to persist.
Mutual Aid Workshop & Coaching
The surge in recent homelessness, intensified scrutiny on community organizers, and the erosion of Affirmative Action underscore the crucial significance of our mission. It has propelled us to spotlight the urgent need of emergent housing. As we face the looming specter of housing instability and enrollment challenges in the upcoming year, our commitment to innovating around these pressing issues becomes even more paramount.
Why Now
Testimonials from Students and Staff
“I have called on the Mutual Aid Project MULTIPLE times to provide support for students that were not able to obtain services from the college due to lack of resources or special situations (undocumented students). The group provided life-changing support (e.g. finding housing) that allowed students to stay enrolled.”
— CUNY Grant supporter 2023
“I would like to share how helpful the mutual aid program has been as a student of color trying to make a better life. During the height of the quarantine I was put out of the college dorms after I could not continue to pay due to loss of income related to the pandemic. The mutual aid group supported me through every step of my time of distress. From helping me find safe emergency housing to connecting me with funding to find safe long term housing and employment. I am now trying to come back to the college and this group even in their distress is trying to help me plan and strategize to pay off my debt.”
— CUNY Grant recipient 2023
The group was able to help me in connecting to funding to stay in college and in advisement. This semester, my professor kept telling me I should withdraw from my course due to some legitimate medical issues I have that caused me to turn in work late. I want to say thank you to QC mutual aid group. You all gave me advice that my advisor wasn't even able to give me. They dismissed my situation. But you not only heard me but also gave me advice to go to the right people. I prayed for your group the same day. If it wasn't for your intervention I would have probably dropped the course which would have an adverse effect on my ability to graduate. As one of the major income winners of my family, I don't have additional funds to retake courses I should be passing with flying colors. This work must continue.”