Our Mission
Mutual aid reflects the belief that we can transform our social relationships through solidarity and a commitment to the material needs of each other in our community. The Syracuse DSA Mutual Aid Committee recognizes and seeks to address this struggle through networks of cooperation that disconnect the provision of basic needs from the will of the market. We do this by regrounding the struggle of the individual within the collective struggle of Syracuse and its surrounding areas. We recognize the need to adapt to the specific forms of oppression confronting marginalized members of our community such as those who are poor, sick, elderly, disabled, undocumented, LGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous and/or people of color. By forging viable alternatives based within and responsive to our community, we can make a sustainable structure for class struggle and community cooperation that grounds our current political goals of establishing dignity and respect for all in the society we envision. Mutual aid is thus solidarity in practice; it reflects a democratic vision of a new world run by and for working people.
We meet biweekly on Mondays at 7:30pm. To join our meetings or subscribe to our call outs please email us at syrdsa.mutualaid@gmail.com. We are centrally located in Syracuse but work with folks all over Onondaga County!
Our Campaigns
Currently our Committee’s organizing is dedicated to two areas of work: general mutual aid and housing. Our decision to pursue housing justice work grew naturally out of our mission to build a sustainable structure for class struggle and community cooperation. We continue to dedicate efforts towards both areas of work because they are two fronts in the common struggle for real democratic power for working people.
Housing
- Syracuse Tenants Organizing for Power! (STOP)- Since 2020, Syracuse DSA has helped launch a city-wide housing coalition: Syracuse Tenants Organizing for Power! (STOP). Together with Syracuse Tenants Union (STU) and Syracuse Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), we have
- Canvassed over 1000 residences, where we informed tenants on how to qualify for the New York State eviction moratorium.
- Begun organizing large apartment blocks while simultaneously working with tenants on winning city code enforcement and public awareness.
- Initiated work on a “Good Cause Eviction” ordinance
- Community Land Trust – Syracuse DSA Mutual Aid has organized a community land trust working group: Syracuse Action for Lands in Trust (SALT)
- A community land trust (CLT) is a tool to remove land from the market and limit capitalist speculation. It is one tactic to combat gentrification and make housing accessible.
- The SALT coalition is working to build a CLT on the Southside, one that works with other CLTs and the working-class movement for social housing.
Mutual Aid
- 911 Alternatives Flyer and Online Resource (updates every 6 months)
- This resource offers alternatives to calling the police for various social issues. This work is dedicated towards combating and ultimately dismantling carceral solutions for social problems and the vital need to reimagine community safety.
- Covid Safety Kits in partnership with Cooperative Sankofa Cafe, Raha Syracuse, and more!
- This project allows us to build infrastructure to meet the direct material needs of working people in Central New York.
- We have fundraised, assembled, and distributed over 200 kits to organizations in Syracuse.
- Community Education – a Skillshare and Speaker Series
- We have hosted panel discussions on social issues facing Central New York, including food security, COVID safety, and housing justice from a socialist perspective.
- We are also working to develop internal skillshares based on surveyed skills in the chapter.