One of the consequences of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak that may not have occurred to people is the impact it is having on the operations of activist groups, especially grassroots organizations. Rallies, Town Hall Meetings, teach-ins, lectures, celebrations and commemorations are not being held because by definition they involve assembling people together in large groups that will be packed relatively tightly together. Several states have postponed political primary elections, including those for the Democratic nomination for president. While many organizations are using this time for reorganization, study and preparation for the day when mass gatherings are again possible, some are making moves to adjust to the inability to gather people together in one space. Some of these organizations have announced their immediate plans, while others will likely do so in the near future. Here are just a few:

The MARYLAND COUNCIL OF ELDERS (MCOE) (https://www.facebook.com/mcoe1958/); (https://bmorechristnewschr.wixsite.com/marylandcouncilofeld) is making plans for their annual Afrikan Liberation Day (ALD) event. The event has been held on a national level, concentrated in Washington, DC, for over thirty years, led by the All-Afrikan People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP). The last two years, ALD has been commemorated in Baltimore, Maryland by the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE), many of whose members are also affiliated with the A-APRP. Those events were mass gatherings in Harlem Park and Lafayette Park in West Baltimore, but the current COVID-19 outbreak has rendered that plan all but impossible, as the state of Maryland has banned groups of that size from meeting and city parks remain closed for mass gatherings. The MCOE does not plan to let that derail the effort to observe ALD, however, and plans are being made for a “virtual symposium”, a panel discussion which would be broadcast over the Web on the last Friday of May, and a “virtual rally” on the last Saturday. This year’s event is likely to be scheduled on May 29-30, but further details will be announced on this page as well as the MCOE Facebook page after they have worked out the details.

The FOOD, CLOTHING AND RESISTANCE COLLECTIVE (https://www.facebook.com/fcrcollective/) has been conducting “Feed The People” events at which collected food is donated to poor residents. The current outbreak has, of course, added complications to their important work. But their effort continues to feed hungry communities, especially the homeless. A recent project is a mutual aid and emergency relief fundraising drive (https://www.facebook.com/donate/201582851152373/2765153733540515/):

Food, Clothing & Resistance Collective – Maroon Movement is doing a mutual aid & emergency relief fundraising drive, and pop-up distributions, for anyone who may need some “extra assistance” to stock up food, toiletries and medical supplies in Baltimore during this still very early stage of an emerging pandemic (Covid-19), in the middle of another pandemic (Influenza).

Due to so many local closures and loss of income for some now, and many others possibly in the near future, we as usual want to do our part to help out those who are most vulnerable in our community. Please help us with a monetary donation or donation of canned, boxed or bagged food items, baby formula, produce, toiletries (including pampers) and over the counter medical supplies.

For more info, or to set up a scheduled drop off of items, or to volunteer please message us or email us at: maroonmovement@gmail.com.

Thank you for your solidarity!

Additional Donation links:
Paypal: fcrcollective@gmail.com
Cashapp: $Simaleerbg
Venmo: @Simaleerbg
Bandcamp: simalee.bandcamp.com

HOUSING OUR NEIGHBORS (HON) (https://www.facebook.com/HousingOurNeighbors/); (www.HONBaltimore.org), a Baltimore-area community organization founded November 30, 2012 that advocates on behalf of the city’s homeless populations, posted an alert on March 22:

📣CALL TO ACTION: People living on the street or in shelters are some of the most vulnerable during this pandemic. Baltimore City has yet to take any serious measures to protect it’s homeless population. Current Mayor’s Office guidance for our crowded shelters includes such things as “encourage clients to sleep head to toe to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” which is not an evidence based practice to reduce the spread of a highly contagious virus. This is appalling and shows a lack of bold leadership in light of this crisis.

Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young alone has the ability to release funds and IMMEDIATELY move people into hotels or housing as we ride out this pandemic. We urge you to call Mayor Young NOW and demand he do just this.

Mayor Young: 410-396-4900

*Update: Try calling during business hours, as this does not have a working voicemail. You can also send him an email at Mayor@BaltimoreCity.gov or fill out the form here: https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/contact-mayor

**If you can, also call your Council Member and ask them to help address this: http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/council-members

Please share with your networks and ask them to call too.
#cvd19 #coronavirus #covid19 #cv19 #homeless #baltimore #housing #humanrights #dignity

In case you’re not familiar with HON, here is some information on them from their Facebook page:

Our Mission:
Housing Our Neighbors is a community group comprised of people experiencing homelessness, allies and advocates promoting the human right to housing. We are working to end homelessness in Baltimore City through access to permanent affordable housing for all.

We advance the right to housing through education, leadership development, direct actions, political advocacy, and grassroots community organizing. We practice consensus decision making and believe that every voice will be heard and respected.

Background:
Housing Our Neighbors started in November 2012 with a group of homeless neighbors, community activists, and students who worked together on National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. We were inspired by the solidarity, demonstration, and dedication we experienced during the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week- Baltimore Sleepout 2012. Following the sleep-out, we committed ourselves and invited others to attend weekly meetings, in order to establish a community of activists dedicated to awareness, advocacy and action to end homelessness in Baltimore.

Housing, nutrition, health care, education and a living wage are essential human rights. Housing Our Neighbors will see an end to homelessness in Baltimore City through policies and practices that respect everybody’s right to these core values.

To see more of our work, visit us at www.HONBaltimore.org

LEADERS OF A BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE (LBS) (https://lbsbaltimore.com/) issued the following statement regarding their adherence to “social distancing” in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, but maintaining their commitment to continue with their essential mission:

The UJIMA PEOPLES PROGRESS PARTY (UPP) (https://www.facebook.com/UPPMaryland/) has issued several statements during the COVID-19 outbreak, and has posted video discussions of the issues surrounding universal healthcare, the for-profit sick-care system and the marginalization of the efforts of nations like Cuba, which not only welcomed a United Kingdom cruise ship into its harbor to assist in treating several Covid-19-positive passengers according to an article on the Web site of The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-cruise-cuba-trump-us-covid-19-a9407846.html?fbclid=IwAR1W9jQeyqqmbWrdn1REIA46UvnC3fsegeTaIY-5EPog2iW4AzFP3NoIMng), but has also pioneered the use of the drug Interferon Alpha-2b as a treatment. The success of Cuba’s efforts hasn’t been widely reported, and thus anti-Cuba critics will refuse to recognize them.

One of UPP’s recent posts reads as follows:

People outside the Black community often wonder why our folks are suspicious of U.S. health system information and advisories.

As we deal with COVID-19 worldwide, we need to listen to information from the CDC, state medical officials and personal physicians. We also need to use our common sense and remember that the U.S. ruling class has never valued the health of Black workers and poor people.

We have been under served and marginalized by the U.S. profit driven medical system. Our demand for Black community controlled and free universal healthcare for all centers our need as a nation and class to have power over our lives. Never again can large sectors of our people be misused as guinea pigs for medical experiments and treatments.

We stand for universal health care and community control of healthcare facilities.

We call for a single-payer-universal-health-care plan for all residents of Maryland. We call for the expanded access to holistic healthcare practitioners to provide more medical care options for residents. We call the empowerment of communities to have healthcare access that specifically serves the health needs of the residents of the local communities.

The COVID-19 national crisis is exposing all the fault lines in the facade of the American public health system.

CLLCTIVLY was established five years ago in an effort to develop a platform through which different organizations are able to cooperate with each other,  especially in the area of cooperatively pooling and sharing resources and energy. In many ways, CLLCTIVLY seeks to establish a spirit consistent with that of the Cooperative Coalition we have often discussed and sought to establish in the Baltimore, Maryland area (See the “Spokes of the Wheel” article elsewhere on this site) and of the more global Pan African Diaspora Union (PADU) which was pursued in 2011-2012 to unite Afrikan-centered organizations from across the United States and in Afrika, Europe, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This is CLLCTIVLY’s statement explaining its founding:

In 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray, a coalition of grassroots activists and concerned citizens came together to form Baltimore United for Change. In the days following the Uprising we launched a skills bank to create an “on ramp” for concern community members that wanted to serve. Over 260 individuals and organizations answered the call.

Community organizations often work in silos, these silos lead to fragmentation, fragmentation leads to duplication, and duplication leads to wasted resources – time, talent and treasure. The first phase of our project (CLLCTIV ASSETS) will create an online asset map/directory of organizations in Greater Baltimore listed by neighborhood and area of concentration.

CLLCTIVLY is a hyper-local social change ecosystem using an asset-based framework to focus on racial equity, narrative change, and social connectedness.

Our mission is to end the fragmentation and duplication of programs, to learn from and about each other, and to be a resource for the Greater Baltimore community that seeks to find, fund and partner with Black social change organizations.

The organization released a statement on March 19 in support of their COVID-19 Response Survey, which they hope will assist them in better fulfilling their mission in this time of “social distancing”.

CLLCTIVLY and our partners recognize that COVID-19 and the necessary public health measures to address it will affect our community in many ways – in the weeks ahead and the months to come.

Please take a moment to fill out the survey at https://cllctivly.typeform.com/to/urbZ78?mc_cid=39acea2328&mc_eid=2cc3ee829e. Your input will help us better support one another as we chart new territory.

As more information comes to our attention about organizational responses to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will make it available to the Community through our Web site, as will the different organizations involved from their Web sites and Facebook pages.