In 2020, a city wide, all volunteer crisis response pod formed. We called ourselves Mutual Aid Hartford. Some of us were organizers, some of us were artists, many of us were mothers, all of us had a deep commitment to showing up for Hartford. We were neighbors, helping neighbors. For the two years that followed, Mutual Aid Hartford (MAH) would distribute over $100,000 in food, goods, direct cash, and covid safety supplies. We started, coordinated and funded, three distinct food distribution hubs in Hartford; Northeast, Parkville, and Asylum Hill. This effort existed with the collaboration, cooperation and determination of dozens of Hartford residents, and a handful of dedicated organizations. 

In Fall 2023, with giving slowed to a halt, MAH began discussing what sustainable infrastructure and the principles of mutual aid, rooted in organizing and community power building look like in Hartford “post covid”. Through a facilitated twelve month transformation process, taking the lessons learned in previous years, MAH has arrived with three main pillars of community power building. We believe this is the culture shift work currently needed to make creative cooperative work viable in the city of Hartford. Today we are focused on:

• education & training: 

• Imaginal Cell (SCC Cohort): 6-month cohort learning space to build hyper-local mutual aid networks

• D42D: multi-day practice & learning space for culture making & movement connection

• care & support:

• BMGC: support group for new and expecting mothers 

• Peoples Clinics: spaces for emotional healing, embodiment, and alignment with social movement ethics

• third space

• Hartford Creative Campus: a vibrant space for artist training programs and a hub for Hartford’s creative economy

• Semilla Cafe + Studio: a cultural space that serves as a home base for person to person connection, social movement work, and mutual aid activities

• MAH House: a home base for Mutual Aid Hartford and Connecticut’s social movements

Through purposeful gathering, training and emphasis on care and community, Mutual Aid Hartford has continued its commitment to its founding values of building community power through person to person care and connection.