Hey all! A quick note following tonight's GA:<br><br>If you were adversely affected by the eviction from Dewey, or know anyone who is currently in need of food, housing, or transportation support, please share the following information with them. There are funds available for this purpose, which can be accessed either through your working group (outreach, street, or info) or through GA proper.<br>
<br>Wishing everyone a wonderful new year!<br><br>Best,<br><br>Katie<br><br>***********************************************************************************************************************************************<br>
<blockquote><p><strong>Mutual Aid Amendment Proposal</strong></p>
<ul><li>This proposal will supersede the previous Mutual Aid proposal of
$5,000 that was consented to by the Occupy Boston General Assembly on
December 20th, 2011.</li><li>The purpose of the aid provided by this proposal is to provide
transitional assistance to Occupy Boston activists who were most
physically affected by the eviction of the Dewey Square encampment and
the support network it provided. This will help members transition away
from life in the encampment and also help them be more productive
activists.The aid provided by this proposal is temporary. It will end
January 29 or when the allocated funds of $4400 are exhausted, whichever
comes first.</li><li>Assistance proposed will include and be limited to: T-Passes, Food, Cell phones assistance, Occupant Hosting assistance</li><li>To ensure that recipients of mutual aid are active members of Occupy
Boston and the Dewey Square encampment, individuals must have
signatures of two sponsors from the working groups in which the
individual is an active member in order to receive assistance.</li><li>All requests for aid must be made in writing and submitted to
assigned members of the Mutual Aid Working Group (MAWG) at General
Assemblies or MAWG meetings. Mutual Aid Working Group Members will
review requests and then request the approved amount of money from the
Financial Aid Working Group (FAWG). Aid will then be dispersed by MAWG
at the following General Assembly. Other forms of aid will be dispersed
via working groups, as described below.</li><li>As this proposal is meant to provide transitional assistance, aid
from this proposal will be available until January 29th, four weeks from
now.</li><li>Funds donated with the Mutual Aid WePay Button will be used to
offset the $4,400 taken out of the General Fund, up to $4,400. Nearly
$700 has been spent from the previous Mutual Aid proposal; this amount
will be subtracted from the final week that this presented proposal is
active.</li><li>We ask the Media Working Group to help promote Occupy Boston Mutual Aid to help generate donations to it.</li><li>Income checks are not required. We ask that those seeking aid are in
need of assistance and remember that others are seeking funds as well.</li><li>For members seeking individual support from their working groups,
requests must be put in writing to the working group, and MAWG will
collect written requests at General Assemblies in order to provide
accountability and oversight.<span id="more-4109"></span></li></ul>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration:underline">T-Passes:</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>For T-Pass assistance, T-Passes will be distributed via
working groups. From now until the 29th of January, working group weekly
budgets will be allocated a separate budget of $45.00, with the $45 to
be reserved for members of the working group to receive T-Passes. A
total limit of $375 per week will be made for working group expenses
outside the regular weekly budget. With the weekly limit of $375, Mutual
Aid expenses for T-Passes will not exceed $1,500 over the four weeks
that Mutual Aid will be active. $375/week is the cost of 25 $15
weeklong, unlimited T-Passes. Requests for the T-Pass aid are to be made
using the standard working group disbursement request.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Food:</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>For food assistance, aid will be made in the form of gift
cards to grocery stores. A limit of $25.00 per person per week will be
made. Written requests are to be submitted to MAWG, and, if approved,
will be made available at the following GA. A limit of $375 per week
will be made for purchase of grocery store gift cards, carrying a
four-week limit of $1,500.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Occupant Hosting Assistance:</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>For hosting displaced Occupants, $25 per week per hosted
Occupant will be made available to hosts who seek it. A limit of $50.00
per week will be made for those housing multiple Occupants. For
day-to-day hosts, $5/day will be made available, and $10/day for
multiple Occupants, with weekly limits of $25 and $50, respectively.
Funds will be dispersed directly to hosts after written requests, with
written signatures of those hosted, are made to MAWG. A limit $200/week
will be made for Occupant Hosting, carrying a total four-week limit of
$800.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration:underline">Cell Phone Assistance:</span></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>For cell phone support, assistance will be made via
working groups. One cell phone will be made available to working groups
whose members require cell phone assistance, and up to a total of ten
cell phones will be made available. Phones purchased will be available
on a first-come first-serve basis. Cell phones made available by this
proposal will be $20 to $30 Straight Talk phones, and a total of $35
from the Mutual Aid Fund will be spent on 4,000 minutes available for 30
days without rollover. These costs will be outside the weekly working
group budgets. Total costs to the Mutual Aid Fund for cell phone support
will not exceed $600. Requests for cell phones must be made by working
groups, following standard FAWG weekly disbursement procedures. We will
also seek donations of cell phones from within and outside the Occupy
Boston community to offset costs.</p></blockquote>