Big Door Brigade

Sarah and Natalie, readers of this site, wrote to share lists of resources she has found helpful in her own work to prepare her community for disasters. They are not mutual aid projects, but they are resources that might help people engaging with mutual aid work, so I am including them here. Thanks for the research, Sarah!

• CDC Guide to Extreme Heat 
• Disaster Preparedness at Home: Filter Out the Damage
• Disaster Prep & Self Storage – What You Need to Know
• PA DMV Emergency Driving Tips 
• Emergency Preparedness for Seniors & the Disabled
• Humane Society – Protect Your Pets 
• Disaster Safety for Renters
• Ready for Anything: First Aid for Pets
• Homeowners Guide to Lightning Safety
• Preparing for Disasters in Your Home: What to Buy, What to Skip
• Emergency Preparedness and Pets 
• Important Legal Document for Disaster Preparedness
• Emergency Preparedness for Seniors
• How to Organize and Prepare for Disasters

These resources are from mainstream sources like the US government and insurance and real estate companies, so people engaging in mutual aid for vulnerable communities may have to do a lot of reading between the lines to find what is most useful here. But in case any of it is useful, I’m posting it.

Don’t miss these inspiring new tools:

• No One Is Illegal just released this new guide, “Border Rights for RefugeesA free multilingual guide for non-U.S. citizens coming to Canada from the U.S. to make a refugee claim.”
• Northwest Detention Center Resistance/Resistencia al NWDC just released The Hunger Strikers’ Handbook, a beautifully illustrated booklet that tells the story of hunger strikers in an immigration prison.

Thanks to everyone for helping spread the word about this toolkit and for sending in materials to be added to it. Please keep them coming!

Two new tools recently came out specifically addressed to this moment that we wanted to highlight:

• Mijente just released this new Community Defense Zone Starter Guide. It is meant to be adaptable for small towns and big cities, relevant to red state and blue, meant to get us beyond our usual circles.
• Gay Shame just released a new zine about how to do direct action that includes useful guidance about forming groups and initiating projects. You can also email gayshamesf at yahoo dot com and they can send you a lot of paper copies to distribute in your community.

Welcome to the Big Door Brigade website! Please check out our new Mutual Aid Toolbox and write to us about resources we should add to it.