The Response

"Harm reduction is not just service delivery, it's not just a set of techniques, it's not just a viewpoint of how to engage problematic drug use or sex or whatever have you, it's also part of a social movement that looks for a more just world for drug users, sex workers — that population. So it has a social critique saying, no shit, this is not right." - Rafael Torruella This documentary episode of The Response explores how community-based harm reduction programs are responding to climate-fueled disasters and other systems-disrupting emergencies. The 40-min audio documentary features interviews with Rafael Torruella (executive director of Intercambios Puerto Rico), Justin Kunzelman (executive director and co-founder of Rebel Recovery Florida), and Savannah O'Neill (associate director of capacity building at the National Harm Reduction Coalition). Episode credits: Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Senior producer and scriptwriter: Robert Raymond Field production and script editing: Tom Llewellyn Additional script editing: Elizabeth Carr and Neal Gorenflo Graphic art created for this episode by Kane Lynch Theme music: Cultivate Beats A special thank you to everyone who was interviewed for this project

Over the course of producing three seasons of The Response podcast, we've explored how natural hazards and other disruptions disproportionately impact marginalized communities at length. But one population we haven't discussed before is people who use drugs. There is still so much stigma associated with using illegal and legal drugs despite the fact that it's a normal part of life for millions of people worldwide. For the past 9 months, our team at Shareable have been working with Higher Ground Harm Reduction to explore how community-based harm reduction programs (and people who use drugs) are impacted by, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from climate-related and other systems-disrupting emergencies (like the pandemic). I recently spoke at length with Christine Rodriguez, the executive director of Higher Ground Harm Reduction. We touch on her personal journey, what harm reduction actually is, how the current climate of disasters has impacted this work, and why we need to have more compassion for one another. Next week, we'll bring you part 2 of this special series with an audio documentary exploring the impact of disasters on harm reduction through the experiences of community service providers in California, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The Response is executive produced and hosted by Tom Llewellyn, the series producer is Robert Raymond, and our theme music was provided by Cultivate Beats. The Response is a project of Shareable, a nonprofit media outlet, action network, and consultancy promoting people-powered solutions for the common good. Our latest book, "Lessons from the First Wave: Resilience in the age of COVID-19", is available as a free download at shareable.net. Support for this project has been provided by the Threshold, Shift, Guerrilla, Clif Bar Family, and Abundant Earth foundations, Shareable's sponsors including Tipalti, MyTurn, and NearMe, and tax-deductible donations from listeners like you. Additional funding for this research and 2-part series was provided by Resist, The Emergent Fund, Comer Foundation, NASTAD, and AIDS United. A full transcript of this episode is available at www.shareable.net/the-response If you like the show, please hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And send your feedback about the show to theresponse@shareable.net

A groundswell of grassroots action emerged in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, hidden beneath the surface, the community-led response grew rapidly in scope and scale; often forming spontaneously by individuals and groups who recognized the immediate needs of those around them. It's become such a widespread trend that the term "mutual aid" has increasingly become mainstream as local newspapers, CNN, and even Teen Vogue have published stories about it. The glaring lack of leadership by some authorities put the burden of crisis response on ordinary people — and they're continuing to rise to the challenge. Community organizers have formed thousands of mutual aid groups, makers are developing open-source medical equipment, restaurants are serving free meals to front-line medical workers, and much, much more. As the daily case count is rising once again, now is the time to take stock of everything we've learned from dealing with the pandemic over the past year. To aid in that task, we've pulled together the best of our recent reporting into a new book. Today we're pleased to release "Lessons from the First Wave: Resilience in the Age of COVID-19." The free book features 25 case studies, interviews, and how-to guides that showcase some of the most effective community-led responses to this global crisis. Topics include: Ways to share during the pandemicNavigating multiple disasters during the pandemic Community wealth building The many ways libraries have stepped up to serve their communities (and how yours can too) Fostering community connection to reduce loneliness How to start a local mutual aid network (and a mutual aid fund too) And much more!

Unhoused populations are struggling to find enough to eat. Farmers are faced with both surplus produce and lower incomes as they are left without places to sell. Individuals have a renewed desire to plant gardens as they grapple with long grocery lines and rising food prices. In short, the pandemic is surfacing many of the systemic issues in the global food system that we've been mostly ignoring for a long time. But what can we do about this at the community, town, or city levels? One grassroots organization in the San Francisco Bay Area is attempting to answer that question. Today, we're bringing you the audio from a live roundtable discussion we co-hosted with NorCal Resilience Network last week as part of the launch of "Produce for the People." The new initiative will activate NorCal's existing coalition of organizations and Resilience Hubs to address critical food security needs in a way that can be replicated on a larger scale in communities all over the world. Featured Speakers: Keneda Gibson: artist, community organizer with the East Oakland Neighborhood Initiative, and recipient of a Resilience Hub grant to develop a garden rooted in community at her house Wanda Stewart: Executive Director of Common Vision and garden educator at Hoover Elementary School AshEL Seasunz Eldridge: co-founder of Essential Food and Medicine (EFAM) which reclaims surplus and locally grown produce to make juice, soups, smoothies, and natural medicines that directly serve the most vulnerable people in their communities for free. Moderated by Ayano K. Jeffers-Fabro: independent consultant for community food initiatives (most recently acting as project manager for incubating a community-led grocery cooperative in East Oakland). Our panelists dove into many difficult topics and questions including: The history of racial inequities within the food industry and how this intersection between food justice and racial justice could evolve moving forward How communities have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic What an equitable hyper-local food web could look like in the future (based on the building blocks that currently exist), including resilience hubs as centers for food growing and distribution And how to "squash the beef" by physically working through conflict together while digging into common ground. A full transcript of this episode is available at www.shareable.net/the-response If you like the show, please hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And send your feedback about the show to theresponse@shareable.net

The Response, a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. One of the biggest challenges to executing an effective response to the pandemic is data. Without enough accurate data, it's impossible to know exactly how far-reaching and deadly the coronavirus is. There's still so much uncertainty about basic things like the infection rate of asymptomatic carriers, or how easy it is for them to pass it on to others. As this crisis continues to drag on, we're starting to see some of the damaging results of incomplete data. As It's become increasingly difficult for communities to advocate for the resources they need without it. One place, where the lack of support has become a lived reality, are the favelas in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. This week, we spoke with Theresa Willamson, the founder and director of Catalytic Communities in Rio. Over the course of our conversation, we discussed many of the favela-led responses to the pandemic — things like food distribution, communication techniques, and the tracking dashboard. We also touched on the importance of historical memory following disasters and other crises' and how Rio's legacy of being the world's largest slave port is continuing to exacerbate the ongoing social disaster the favelas were facing before the pandemic. The transcript of this episode is available here: www.shareable.net/the-response-crowdsourcing-data-to-fight-the-pandemic-in-rios-favelas If you're interested in contributing to Catalytic Communities' Covid-19 response efforts in Rio de Janeiro's favelas, check out their crowdfunding campaign at www.bit.ly/FavelaCovidResponse.

The Response, a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters with host Tom Llewellyn. In this episode, we'll travel halfway across the world to the Western Balkans, where thousands of asylum seekers are being brutalized as they flee from places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Northern Africa. The Western Balkans are the entryway into the European Union, and as they approach this region, many are hunted down by authorities, violently beaten, and forced into camps with terrible conditions. In the face of this crisis, a project emerged to help provide food and other basic necessities to these asylum seekers. It's known as No Name Kitchen, but don't let the name fool you, as you'll see, the project is much, much more than just a community kitchen. Response producer Robert Raymond, spoke with one of the project's co-founders, Bruno Morán, about what exactly is going on in the region and how No Name Kitchen is helping to build community while providing mutual aid to one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. https://www.nonamekitchen.org/en/

Update: Three years ago this week, an avoidable fire ripped through a London public housing apartment resulting in 72 deaths, most of which were people of color. Today, we're reposting this episode of The Response from 2019 because it covers a prime example of how structural racism has permeated many aspects of society around the globe. Racism doesn't stop with a discriminatory (in)justice system. It rears its ugly head in reduced quality of education, health care, access to finance, salaries, housing… the list goes on. Be sure to listen to the end (or scroll down to the bottom of the transcript) for a short update on where things stand in this evolving story. The Response revisits a disaster that has its roots in inequality, austerity, and institutional racism. On June 14, 2017, a fire started in a 24-story public housing apartment building in West London called Grenfell Tower. The fire raged all night and reduced the building to a shell. Seventy-two people lost their lives, making the Grenfell Fire the United Kingdom's deadliest disaster since World War II (up until the COVID-19 Pandemic). Through the voices of survivors, their families, and others who were impacted, the episode examines the events that led up to the Grenfell Tower fire and explores how the community has responded. What has the healing process looked like for survivors and the bereaved? How has the community come together to increase its resilience while simultaneously fighting for justice and accountability? And what is being done to ensure that something like this never, ever happens again?

This week on The Response podcast, we're bringing you a round table discussion with Lydia Violet Harutoonian from the Music As Medicine Project, Don Hall from Transition US, and Ryan Rising from Permaculture Action Network. While the conversation covered a lot of ground, we focussed on some of the core components of thriving resilient communities, the solidarity economy, and several pathways to move through the multiple crises we're facing as a global community. This episode was produced in partnership with Thriving Resilient Communities Collaboratory. TRCC is a US-based network of regional and national leaders who use systemic and collaborative approaches to help communities become more thriving and resilient. You can learn more about TRCC, all of the organizations involved in the program, and make a tax-deductible donation to support the entire cohort by visiting: thrivingresilience.org/get-involved Additional information about Don Hall and Transition US can be found at transitionus.org and learn more about their regenerative approach to preparedness and resilience at readytogether.net. Music As Medicine has an online school where you can find accessible support groups, facilitator trainings, and workshops with folks like Joanna Macy, Leah Song, Adrienne maree brown, and Lydia Violet herself. Find out more information at musicasmedicineproject.org Ryan Rising and Permaculture Action Network can be found online at PermacultureAction.org or @PermacultureAction on Facebook and instagram. Visit their website to learn more about the Just Transition Mapping Project or to sign up for future action days in your region. Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Series Producer: Robert Raymond The Sketchnote was created by Elizabeth Niarhos @lizar_tristry Thank you to this week's guests and Thriving Resilient Communities Collaboratory Theme Song: Cultivate Beats Additional songs sung by Lydia Violet Harutoonian included a rendition of the traditional, "I'm Gonna Do What the Spirit Says" and her version of MaMuse's "We Shall Be Known" which you'll hear at the end of the credits. The Response is a project of Shareable, a nonprofit media outlet, action network, and consultancy promoting people-powered solutions for the common good. Visit Shareable.net to find our full coverage of The People's COVID-19 Response, to find all of our episodes, and for special bonus content like our free ebook. Support for this project has been provided by the Threshold, Shift, Guerrilla, Clif Bar Family, and Abundant Earth foundations, Shareable's sponsors including Tipalti, MyTurn, and NearMe, and tax-deductible donations from listeners like you. And don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, to hear more stories like this.

In this documentary episode of The Response Podcast, we take a deep dive into the work being done by the Chico chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. Their mutual aid work in response to the coronavirus pandemic is just a microcosm of the whole country, from major cities to rural communities, where DSA and other, similar organizations have been stepping in to fill many of the gaps left by the local, state, and federal response. Episode credits: Host and executive producer: Tom Llewellyn Senior producer, field production, and scriptwriter: Robert Raymond Script editors: Courtney Pankrat, Tom Llewellyn, and Neal Gorenflo. The graphic art created for this episode by Kane Lynch was inspired by photos taken by Brittany White. Information gathering and fact-checking: Addison and Alex (Chico DSA) A special thank you to all the volunteers at Chico DSA, and to those who are living at Bird Street and Comanche Creek Greenway for letting us into their homes. Music by: Pele Strongboi Ada Lea

Shareable and FSTV recently co-hosted a panel discussion after the television premiere of the documentary film, "The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People." Panelists Susan Silber, Tré Vasquez, Juan C. Dávila, and Christine Nieves explored a wide range of topics including mutual aid, community resilience, and the impact of colonialism on Puerto Rico's response to COVID-19. Designed to provide a deeper context for the ongoing impact of disasters on Puerto Ricans and other communities in the U.S., panelists explored how people are working together to increase their collective resilience. The entire discussion is available in several formats. In addition to this podcast, the video recording and written transcript are available on shareable.net. The Response film is available for free virtual community or educational screenings and is an effective tool for convening local, regional, and national organizing meetings aimed at launching and strengthening mutual aid and resilience work. Sign up to host a screening at www.shareable.net/the-response-film or find out more information by sending an email to theresponse@shareable.net.