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The appeal was heartbreaking, but not particularly unusual these days. 鈥淚 am writing with a need. I am currently in a position where I am not able to pay my half of the rent for several reasons. I have four small children too. Does anyone know of any resources at all that can help with rent?鈥� 

The writer had posted it on a new Facebook page for residents in Durham, North Carolina, that aims to connect residents in need with those who might be able to help. In her case, it worked. Within a week, readers had contributed enough cash to cover her rent, and she鈥檇 received so much donated food that she鈥檇 started giving some away to others in need.

Durham isn鈥檛 unique. Over the past month, hundreds or maybe even thousands of homegrown assistance networks like this one have sprung up around the country. Most call themselves 鈥渕utual aid,鈥� and their goals are generally to meet needs that have arisen during this scary time of quarantines, social distancing, and sheltering in place. For every person who has lost a job and is now worried about how to make ends meet, who can鈥檛 go to the grocery store because they鈥檙e immunocompromised, or who is simply desperate for a little one-on-one contact, there鈥檚 likely someone else who鈥檚 been relatively unscathed by the crisis and can help鈥攚ants to help, in fact. 

It鈥檚 a beautiful impulse, and one that makes immediate sense. Ultimately, we鈥檙e neighbors; we should lean on one another. 

But that enthusiasm and goodwill masks an unpleasant reality. With much of our interactions confined to online spaces during this novel coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak, only some people are gaining access to that assistance鈥攁nd it鈥檚 generally not the folks who need it the most.  toward closing the digital divide, most lower-income people, especially those who are elderly, don鈥檛 have regular access to WiFi or familiarity with a range of relevant websites. Forums for assistance advertised on social media, in emails or texts may never make it to people living in generational poverty, and segregated by income. 

At this time in our recent history, like no other, we are witnessing how our circles are limited to our own socioeconomic statuses. Where mutual aid efforts are organized around neighborhood 鈥減ods鈥� to facilitate direct neighbor-to-neighbor engagement such as those in Seattle, or municipalities around Boston and other affluent areas, people in the poorest communities wind up with little contact with those who have ample means to help out.

The problem, however, isn鈥檛 endemic to this particular time. 鈥淚ncome inequality readily translates into information inequality in the United States,鈥� wrote James Hamilton, a Stanford University professor, and Fiona Morgan of Branchhead Consulting, in a 2018  on the topic. 鈥淟ow-income individuals who are not connected with the web or communicating via smartphones miss out on this online network of expression and thus miss opportunities to share and receive information and tell their stories.鈥� 

According to a  by the Pew Research Center, almost a third of U.S. adults in low-income households don鈥檛 own smartphones; more than 40% lack high speed internet or a computer. 

鈥淭he people who are most vulnerable don鈥檛 have broadband; they can鈥檛 go to a library [now],鈥� Morgan says. 鈥淪o how do we adapt to social distancing, and still not only rely on the low-hanging fruit of social media, when the people we most need to help aren鈥檛 part of our social network?鈥�

That鈥檚 a critical, eternal question, says Shirin Senegal, who鈥檚 behind the mutual aid project in . 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been the biggest issue, whether it鈥檚 the mortgage crisis or day-to-day struggles鈥攖hat digital divide and not meeting people where they are,鈥� she says. 

Like many other mutual aid groups around the country, Senegal began her efforts by creating a Google form where residents could enter their specific needs, and others could respond with assistance. But she鈥檚 a longtime community organizer, which means that she has a deep understanding of how to work with vulnerable communities. 

鈥淚 hit the pavement,鈥� says Senegal, explaining how she created fliers advertising the initiative and distributed them to small businesses, community members, and places that lower-income people might visit, such as laundromats. She also established a 24-hour phone line where people can leave a message; she or other volunteers respond within a day. 

But above all, Senegal says, it鈥檚 about collaboration. Getting in touch with neighborhood groups that help the elderly. Contacting nonprofits that work with the homeless. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important to create those on-the-ground networks,鈥� she continues. 鈥淏y empowering community members like that, the reach is much bigger and broader.鈥�

Using those relationships is key, say organizers from the Highlander Center, a social justice training center in Tennessee that鈥檚 been around since 1932. Highlander recently held giant public conference calls on mutual aid, emphasizing that the practice has been around for centuries among marginalized communities like formerly enslaved Africans and poor immigrants who have lacked access to conventional services. 

鈥淩eal mutual aid is bottom-up,鈥� says Highlander鈥檚 co-director Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about talking to people and engaging them in the work. Allowing those who are directly affected to be empowered to help others.鈥� 

In Atlanta,  has been doing that from the start. Unlike many other efforts around the country, its mutual aid initiative started back in 2017, long before the current crisis, to support and strengthen the community there. As a result, its organizers already have connections among residents. 

鈥淎 lot of our communication, because of access issues with the internet, is more phone and door-to-door communication,鈥� says Project South鈥檚 co-director Emery Wright. He and other organizers are making sure they have accurate phone lists for everyone in the neighborhood, and created a survey to ensure that residents have the medication, food, or hygiene products they need. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a 21st century challenge: How social movements are able to become powerful enough to respond to scales of disaster, even on this global scale,鈥� Wright says.

Every mutual aid effort is a little different. Some have existing deep roots; others never realize how important those roots are. And some aim to build them from scratch. That鈥檚 true for the , which recently formed serendipitously among a handful of unconnected people. They realized they needed to work hard to connect with the poorest members of the community.

鈥淭here鈥檚 never really any overcoming it鈥攊t鈥檚 a basic inequity in our society,鈥� says Dave Peattie, one of the project鈥檚 organizers, of the digital disconnect. But they鈥檙e trying. He and the other leaders put up roughly 6,000 posters in English and Spanish around the city. They鈥檙e collaborating with a large affordable housing organization that will distribute fliers to its 1,400 housing units. And Peattie is aiming to reach out to every church and synagogue in Berkeley, to encourage them to share information about the initiative with congregants. 

Berkeley鈥檚 program has a unique element. Rather than helping to fill one-off requests, the organizers match up those in need with those who want to help on a longer-term basis鈥攁 buddy system, if you will. 

鈥淪o each person making a request has someone checking in with them on a regular basis,鈥� explains Helen Marks, who鈥檚 in charge of matching pairs of residents. She and others try to find the best fit possible: among needs and abilities, personal styles, and geographic location. They ask that the pairs be in touch at least once a week, to stay on top of a situation that鈥檚 still evolving for everyone. 

鈥淸The requester] knows someone will keep checking in on them,鈥� Peattie says. 鈥淲e want to make sure everyone is being cared for as much as possible.鈥� 

The matching feature has been extremely successful, with residents on both sides of the equation gushing over their partners and discussing plans to remain in contact later. It鈥檚 a very clear, tangible way to improve people鈥檚 lives鈥攂oth those in need, and those with help to give. 

And in a more subtle way, those pairings are helping the community become a little less stratified, couple by couple. In an America where different socioeconomic groups can barely find footing to communicate, that鈥檚 an incredible feat. 

鈥淔or volunteers, it鈥檚 just seeing what it must be like to have an empty fridge, or what it鈥檚 like to be immunocompromised or struggling for money鈥攖his exposure to different lives, different people who you wouldn鈥檛 have met otherwise,鈥� Marks says. 鈥淧robably the No. 1 thing that gives me hope for the future is how everyone鈥檚 learning.鈥�