Solidarity Fund - WI’s Undocumented Families
Donation protected
As undocumented families face escalating threats to their health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government continues to exclude them from any kind of federal assistance, including unemployment benefits and stimulus checks. It is clear that at this moment it is up to those with resources to be in solidarity and provide mutual aid to our immigrant siblings in need.
Ayuda Mutua MKE seeks to provide support for undocumented folks whose livelihoods are being affected by COVID-19. Whether it’s from a decline in business for street vendors or lay-offs in domestic and restaurant industries, we seek to help alleviate some of the financial stress on undocumented community members living in Wisconsin.
The funds are meant to help non-traditional service workers such as:
▪️Canners/ bottle collectors
▪️House cleaners (limpiadores de casa)
▪️Restaurant workers (kitchen staff, bussers, runners, servers)
▪️Street vendors (eloteros, churros, taqueros)
▪️Catalog home sales agents (provedores de ventas por catalogo)
▪️Seamstress (costureros)
▪️Undocumented self-employed workers (personas indocumentadas que generan su propio trabajo/ingresos)
▪️Farmworkers (trabajadores de campo)
▪️Others who hustle for a living - for example, people who pick up free items, repurpose and sell (personas que se las ingenian para conseguir fondos, por ejemplo reventa de productos).
Who We Are:
Ayuda Mutua MKE is a collective of artists, organizers, and cultural workers on the south side of Milwaukee who believe in solidarity, not charity. That means that our community decides and drives our work, we are accountable to our community and we recognize that systemic oppression is the root cause of our current crisis.
This fundraiser will launch on April 6, 2020, and close when we have met our goal.
NO STATE ENTITIES will have access to applications.
Application and funds distribution:
We are following other platforms and their application and distribution schemes. I (Jeanette) was inspired by the "COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund for LGBTQI+ BIPOC Folks" and are citing them directly here:
"We wanted to absolutely avoid parsing through people’s narratives and deciding whose needs were more important than others. We agree with adrienne maree brown who quotes Lao Tzu (author of Tao Te Ching) in Emergent Strategy: 'If you do not trust the people, they will become untrustworthy.' We are choosing to trust the people. We are not social workers and we refuse to replicate that position and dynamic."
How the process will work:
➖Simple application (will go live once enough funds become available).
➖We understand that many community members will not have access to digital tools, so we will have a hotline to fill out people's applications.
➖The application will close 2 weeks after opening. The deadline will be announced in the coming days.
➖The number of applications will be published.
➖Distribution begins.
We will fund $100 per family. If we can hit our fundraising goal, we will have been able to support 250 families across Wisconsin.
Ayuda Mutua MKE seeks to provide support for undocumented folks whose livelihoods are being affected by COVID-19. Whether it’s from a decline in business for street vendors or lay-offs in domestic and restaurant industries, we seek to help alleviate some of the financial stress on undocumented community members living in Wisconsin.
The funds are meant to help non-traditional service workers such as:
▪️Canners/ bottle collectors
▪️House cleaners (limpiadores de casa)
▪️Restaurant workers (kitchen staff, bussers, runners, servers)
▪️Street vendors (eloteros, churros, taqueros)
▪️Catalog home sales agents (provedores de ventas por catalogo)
▪️Seamstress (costureros)
▪️Undocumented self-employed workers (personas indocumentadas que generan su propio trabajo/ingresos)
▪️Farmworkers (trabajadores de campo)
▪️Others who hustle for a living - for example, people who pick up free items, repurpose and sell (personas que se las ingenian para conseguir fondos, por ejemplo reventa de productos).
Who We Are:
Ayuda Mutua MKE is a collective of artists, organizers, and cultural workers on the south side of Milwaukee who believe in solidarity, not charity. That means that our community decides and drives our work, we are accountable to our community and we recognize that systemic oppression is the root cause of our current crisis.
This fundraiser will launch on April 6, 2020, and close when we have met our goal.
NO STATE ENTITIES will have access to applications.
Application and funds distribution:
We are following other platforms and their application and distribution schemes. I (Jeanette) was inspired by the "COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund for LGBTQI+ BIPOC Folks" and are citing them directly here:
"We wanted to absolutely avoid parsing through people’s narratives and deciding whose needs were more important than others. We agree with adrienne maree brown who quotes Lao Tzu (author of Tao Te Ching) in Emergent Strategy: 'If you do not trust the people, they will become untrustworthy.' We are choosing to trust the people. We are not social workers and we refuse to replicate that position and dynamic."
How the process will work:
➖Simple application (will go live once enough funds become available).
➖We understand that many community members will not have access to digital tools, so we will have a hotline to fill out people's applications.
➖The application will close 2 weeks after opening. The deadline will be announced in the coming days.
➖The number of applications will be published.
➖Distribution begins.
We will fund $100 per family. If we can hit our fundraising goal, we will have been able to support 250 families across Wisconsin.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ayuda Mutua MKE
Organizer
Milwaukee, WI
Erick Ledesma
Beneficiary