RESOURCES FOR MAINTAINING COMMUNITY, WELLBEING, AND SAFETY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
The SPICY Team has compiled the below resources in hopes of offering guidance and assistance as we navigate this new reality. The resources include, but are not limited to, mutual aid funds, fact sheets, best practices for virtual organizing, and wellness support. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about what is shared below, please let us know. If you’d like to add a resource to this list, please email hello@spicyzine.com.
A living document meant to organize mutual aid resources for those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was created by a group of QTPOC in the BUFU community. Committee members and anyone else with useful information can make comments and suggested edits. The core committee will add suggestions to the doc, and edits will be open and ongoing for as long as this resource is needed.
A document with information on how to take care of yourself should you contract coronavirus. It includes medicines you may need, practices to implement, ways to protect housemates/family, and more.
Author and advocate adrienne maree brown has been releasing a series of COVID-19-themed podcast episodes, tackling subjects like cancelling plans and wisdom from a social justice lens. Listen and access transcripts and other resources here, and consider sharing these resources with those around you to help make grounded decisions together.
A growing directory of independent artists impacted by COVID-19. Most on this list identify as QTBIPOC (listed first). Supporters: check out these artists' work, commission them, donate directly to them, and spread the word! Artists: fill out this form to be added to the directory.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the particular vulnerability of queer, transgender, non-binary and/or intersex Black and Indigenous folks and other LGBTQI+ people of color (QTIBIPOC). As a result of disproportionate violence and discrimination, many of our community members are impoverished and housing unstable. This fund will funnel money directly to them.
A fund which will provide emergency and preventative resources to those in financial jeopardy. The organizers of this fund will be supporting low-income, BIPOC, trans/GNC/NB/Queer artists and freelancers whose livelihoods are have been affected by this pandemic in NYC. Whether it's from canceled gigs, lost jobs, or a lack of business, they hope to orchestrate an egalitarian approach to crowdsourcing.
The Arts Administrators of Color Network has set up the Arts Leaders of Color Emergency Fund which people can directly donate to in support of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) artists AND administrators (consultants, facilitators, box office staff, seasonal/temporary employees, etc.) who have been financially impacted due to COVID-19. Creatives practicing and teaching their art, as well as the administrators who are supporting that art, will need our financial support to weather this unexpected storm.
Street vendors are an essential part of New York City, and in the past few weeks, these small business owners have been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. 90% of the Street Vendor Project's members are low-wage immigrant workers who rely on busy streets in order to survive day-to-day. Without a safety net to rely on, they are forced to work and risk their well-being in the process.