---
title: About
updated: 2026-05-15
description: The mission, purpose, and guiding principles of Riverton Mutual Aid.
---

## Mission

Riverton Mutual Aid is a grassroots, volunteer-led network dedicated to building community resilience through solidarity, not charity. We exist to ensure that every neighbor has access to the resources, support, and care they need by fostering a culture of reciprocal aid and collective care.

We believe that we are all experts in our own lives, and that by sharing our diverse skills and resources we can build a more equitable and connected neighborhood.

## Purpose

We bridge the gaps left by systemic inequities and traditional social services. We aim to:

- **Facilitate resource sharing.** Build a transparent, accessible system for neighbors to request help and offer resources — food, supplies, skills, time.
- **Build community power.** Empower neighbors to take an active role in the well-being of their community, moving away from top-down philanthropic models toward horizontal cooperation. Support and build participatory movements; expand solidarity.
- **Foster social connection.** Combat isolation by creating meaningful relationships between neighbors across different backgrounds, ages, and lived experiences.

## What we commit to

- **Direct aid distribution.** Consistent systems — a community fridge, a tool library, grocery delivery — that meet immediate physical needs.
- **Skill-sharing and education.** Workshops and gatherings where neighbors teach each other, from urban gardening and home repair to navigating local bureaucracy.
- **Crisis response.** A rapid-response network for emergencies — extreme weather, public health crises, economic hardship, oppression.
- **Advocacy and awareness.** Identifying local systemic issues — housing insecurity, food deserts — and working collectively to raise awareness, help directly, and advocate for long-term solutions.
- **Building new connections** across neighborhoods that have been too segregated and atomized.
- **Inclusivity and accessibility.** Communications and physical spaces accessible to everyone — including non-English speakers and people with disabilities.

## Guiding principles

- **Democracy.** Volunteers and neighbors collaboratively decide how we organize and how we help. Everyone contributes their knowledge and abilities.
- **Solidarity, not charity.** We work *with* our neighbors, not *for* them. There is no hierarchy between giving and receiving.
- **No barriers to entry.** Aid is provided without means-testing, documentation requirements, or judgment.
- **Autonomy.** We respect the privacy and agency of every neighbor involved, and the need to protect vulnerable people in our community.
- **Sustainability.** We're volunteers, working to keep this a long-term resource for the community.
- **Not for profit.** Philanthropic charity models tend to come from the for-profit world. Our model promotes solidarity and resource-sharing instead.
- **Non-criminalization.** As a group, we are not involved in criminalizing anyone in our community.

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Questions? See the [FAQ](/faq.html), or [email us](mailto:hello@rivertonneighbors.me).