Since the onset of COVID-19, the Sustainable Economies Law Center and other legal professionals have worked to develop guidance and resources relating to tax, governance, and other immediate needs of mutual aid groups as they provide local support within communities affected by the pandemic and its economic consequences.

On July 22nd, 2020, our summer intern Erika Sato hosted a teach-in on the history of Mutual Aid Coops.

Below is a recording of the short presentation, which explored what legal structures mutual aid organizations could build and what challenges they might face as they gain institutional power, looking to the mutual aid cooperatives of the Great Depression as a historical model. Finally, Erika facilitated a broader discussion among mutual aid organizers and lawyers about the future of the movement.