It takes a village: Community Yahoos help Slavic Village during Covid-19 pandemic

Once regarded as the region in Sao Paulo with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, Brasilandia residents mobilized their community to create a volunteer solidarity network that encouraged people to stay at home. The effort started with just a handful of participants but grew to over 200 volunteers with each new addition joining an action plan team that utilized a different form of campaigning, such as music or art. Since the implementation of the network Brasilandia "went from 1st to 2nd highest number of COVID-19 related deaths in the city."

People in Bend, Oregon have turned to social media in order to help at-risk community members during the coronavirus pandemic. Utilizing Facebook Groups to connect with one another, the moderators aim to conduct "acts of kindness that are most easily crowdsourced" such as picking up groceries or walking a neighbor's dog.

A community effort to help provide food to those who are food insecure during the pandemic has brought together local bakers to bake bread for food banks. The initiative, known as Community Loaves, has amassed 700 volunteers and donated 15,000 loaves to 11 food pantries across the Seattle area, and is now also gaining momentum in Oregon.

The New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (NSM) adjusted its promotora model of organizing, which relies on neighbor-to-neighbor interaction to assess community needs, due to Covid-19. The immigrant justice nonprofit now runs zoom meetings and phone banks to talk with hard hit immigrant communities. NSM, fundraising with a coalition of 40 other groups, also provides financial support to immigrant families who cannot access federal aid. They gave money to 150 families, with 100 more on the waitlist. They hired a few laid off community members and try to give promotores some money, but funding is limited.

As social distancing and isolation become increasingly important in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, volunteers and neighborhood groups are helping seniors and Immunocompromised people access necessessities. In New York, volunteering to help neighbors in times of crisis is not new – many local community groups emerged after Hurricane Sandy – but recent health restrictions have created cause for new protocols such as contactless support.

Across the world, communities are beginning to use a variety of different methodologies to better connect with their neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic. From social media to public Google documents, neighborhoods are working together to combat loneliness during social distancing and help make sure the most vulnerable have the necessities.

Although many mutual aid networks have formed to serve a need during the coronavirus pandemic, the concept has been in practice for centuries and has "deep roots in communities of color." While these grassroots community efforts aren't always referred to as mutual aid, they have nonetheless come into existence to provide economic stability for communities and individuals when governmental structures have failed to do so.

Residents of California are working together to crowdsource where COVID-19 vaccinations are being offered, and who they're being offered to. While the state has failed to implement a transparent dissemination strategy, 70 volunteers joined forces to create a spreadsheet that keeps track of what clinics are offering the shot and what parameters must be met to receive it. Users have reported that they were able to schedule an appointment because of this effort.

Lacking assistance from the government during the coronavirus pandemic, residents in one of the largest favelas in Sao Paulo, Brazil organized to raise funds and launch a series of initiatives to protect their community. Although not all were supportive of the efforts – which included residents acting as neighborhood monitors and using two schools as quarantine shelters – the community has been able to reduce transmission and keep the case count manageable.

Facing a shortage of supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic and with little help from the government on the horizon, doctors and community members across Venezuela "created a grassroots support network" as a means of making sure doctors would be properly outfitted to treat patients. Between pooled resources and various donations, the effort has resulted in "3,000 face masks, 2,000 meals, gallons of sanitizing alcohol, hand disinfectant and soap, and boxes of gloves" being delivered to medical professionals.