BULLETIN items to folks in need.
BULLETIN
Upcoming Actions & Community Events Tuesday 4/26 @ 2:30 PM: Protest to End Homelessness in RI Now! Join the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP), HOPE and other direct-service organizations at the State House to advocate for every Rhode Islander’s right to be housed! We must END HOMELESSNESS today. SHOW UP for yourself and your community. If there is someone sleeping on the streets in our city, it is everyone’s responsibility! Location: Rhode Island State House Saturday 4/23 @ 3 PM - 5 PM: Adult Ally Open House - Spring Break Edition The Providence Student Union will be hosting an Adult Ally Open House—come tour the office, meet and greet their youth leaders + staff, learn about ongoing campaigns, enjoy food from Small Format, and more! RSVP at: https://tinyurl.com/psuadultally Location: Providence Student Union Office, 769 Westminster Street, Providence Saturday 4/30 @ 8 - 2AM: Ocean State A$$ Birthday Fundraiser Celebrate O$A’s 2nd birthday and spend some cash on your local sex worker organizing group. Featuring local DJs, a dance party, and hot merch. Studio 54 theme - dress to impress! Location: The Salon, 57 Eddy St, Providence Tuesday 5/3 @ 6 PM: The Fundamentals of Political Economy Reading Group This is an opportunity for free education, networking with fellow leftists in the area, and acquiring the intellectual tools needed to build a better world. Every first and third Tuesday from May 3rd to August 2nd, hosted by the RI CPUSA and Red Ink. Please RSVP if you plan on attending, and let them know if you need help finding copies of the books. The first meeting (May 3) will be introductions. RSVP at: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/fundamentals-of-political-e Location: Red Ink Community Library, 130 Cypress St., Providence Sundays in April @ 3-5PM: Queer Knitting Circle at Small Format Queer knitting circle is back! Want to learn how to knit or refresh your knowledge? Looking for more queer community? Bring needles and yarn for a lesson! The group will meet every Sunday through April. Location: Small Format, 335 Wickenden St., Providence
DESIGN SAM STEWART
ILLUSTRATION SOFIA BERGER
Mutual aid* & community fundraisers
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*Mutual aid is “survival pending on revolution,” as described by the Black Panthers. Join in redistributing wealth to create an ecosystem of care in response to a system of institutions that have failed or harmed our communities. +
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Community Support Needed Donate at https://givebutter.com/amor4sol AMOR is fundraising for Sulayman, “Sol”, a Gambian father to an 8-year old boy from Providence. Sol was detained by ICE in late 2018, and ultimately deported to Gambia in March of 2019. Now, his family are beginning the process of getting Sol back to the US to reunite with his wife and son. Any help would be appreciated. Support a Black mom who is grieving Donate at tinyurl.com/Black-mom-grieving This fundraiser is intended to raise money for a Providence community member who has faced several trials this past year: assaults on her family at the hands of police, traumatizing DCYF raids, and the passing of close family members and friends, including her father. While battling cancer, she is also the primary caretaker of several grandchildren, and needs the funds to provide for them and pay for her father’s service.
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Queer and Trans Mutual Aid PVD Venmo @qtmapvd, PayPal.me/qtmapvd Support mutual aid for LGBTQIA people in Rhode Island! There are currently 16 outstanding requests for aid, equal to $1600. Help QTMA fill this need!
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Kennedy Plaza Survival Drive (by Wide Awake Collective) Venmo WideAwakes-PVD, Cashapp: $MutualAidMondays Support weekly survival drives on Saturdays at Kennedy Plaza! This drive distributes food, water, hygiene materials, warm clothing and other important
THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT
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Railroad Fund PVD Venmo: theorytakespraxis The railroad fund provides sustainable support to people currently incarcerated in Rhode Island. Please donate and help Railroad support a friend who is in need of continued survival and support this winter.
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Ocean State A$$ Mutual Aid Fund 2022 Venmo: OSA-funds Support local sex workers by donating to the venmo above and consider buying an Ocean State A$$ calendar, on sale at Fortnight Wine Bar, Hungry Ghost Press, Symposium Books, Mister Sister Erotica, and RiffRaff.
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COYOTE RI Closet (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics RI) Now accepting donations of hygiene products and new or used clothing at the Love and Compassion Day Health Center; 92 East Avenue, Pawtucket RI, 02904. Contact Sheila Brown (401) 548-3756 to donate or collect items.
A message from the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project: We are calling on Rhode Island’s state and municipal governments to end homelessness in Providence and Rhode Island. Funding is now expiring for 525 hotel and emergency winter shelter beds created due to the Covid-19 crisis. Those who have occupied those beds are now being evicted. At least 255 people have been reported as living outside in the last two weeks alone—these numbers are an underestimate, and will only increase as people are forced to leave winter shelter. People being evicted from these winter shelter beds have nowhere to go: there are already 932 individuals on waiting lists for shelter. Despite knowing of this issue since May 2021, our state government has not adequately addressed this crisis. This is a failure of leadership on part of both the Governor and the General Assembly. The governor must immediately order temporary emergency shelters with 500 beds and find sites for them. This cannot wait until next fall. The governor and General Assembly must also find creative ways to begin the process of generating 500 new permanent supportive housing units. As outreach workers and others working directly with people forced to stay outside, we are beyond frustrated by the lack of urgency within municipal and state government to address the homelessness crisis, which has grown exponentially in recent years. These are not just horrifying statistics: we see and hear from these people every day. We ask that by hearing from us – and from those directly impacted – together we can make real progress toward ending homelessness in Rhode Island. Please take the following actions: 1. Join RIHAP, HOPE, and other direct-service organizations at the State House on Tuesday, April 26 at 2:30 to demand that the Governor responds to the needs of our community. 2. Sign this petition (https://chng.it/JTLn45TX) and share it with your networks and community. 3. Attend a RIHAP / Homeless Bill of Rights meeting—a peer-run advocacy groups that meets on Fridays at 11 am at DARE. 4. Contact your elected officials and community leaders. While the state has expanded its shelter capacity, an unprecedented need remains: we need significantly more permanent affordable housing for very low income people, and we need significant resources now to keep people safe until that housing comes. We need to end homelessness in Rhode Island now and for good
Do you have an event, action, or other information for the Providence community that you’d like to see shared on this page? Email us at indybulletinboard@gmail.com!