The Role of Mutual Aid
in the Success of
Activist Organizations
Mutual Aid
A type of organizing where
members of a community
work together to meet
each other’s needs.
The Black Panthers
A Black Power organization
operating out of Oakland during
the 1960s and 70s. Ran mutual aid
programs in communities around
the country.
Research Questions
Do mutual aid programs help
activist organizations achieve
their goals?
What can contemporary activist
organizations learn from the
Black Panther’s mutual aid
programs?
Spades Principles of
Mutual Aid
1: Build shared understanding
about why government is failing to
meet the needs of the community.
2: Politically mobilize community
against the systems that are failing
them.
3: Work to solve problems
through collective action rather
than “waiting for saviors”.
Methods
Black Panther Party and their Free Breakfast
Program as a case study.
Interviews from former Panthers, media coverage,
congressional hearings, and FBI documents on the
impact of their programs.
Analysis of how contemporary activist groups
are/aren’t utilizing mutual aid
Anticipated Findings
Mutual Aid builds autonomy and solidarity by
involving everyone in both the processes of
receiving aid and providing it.
People are more likely to join and contribute to
activist groups that prove themselves capable
of providing small-scale workable solutions to
the issues they advocate.