Creating a community safety net in Mexico City

A selection of artwork that CDMX Ayuda Mutua sells to support both the artists and mutual aid

Finding a community.

It was a passion for art, education, and languages that led artist Rachel Finklestein to pursue a master's degree from Lesley in International Higher Education. Those same passions led her to Mexico City, where in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped develop a community-organized mutual aid society, CDMX Ayuda Mutua, that to date has assisted more than a thousand local families and provided income and resources for local artists and businesses.

A dedicated traveler, Rachel came to Mexico City from Boston by bicycle, finding a home where she could pursue her varied interests. “Being in Mexico allows me to do different things. There’s always a need for a balance of paid work, art work, and community work. They’re all connected.” She split her time painting and drawing, creating murals and community art projects, teaching English as a second language and working in human resources to recruit and hire teachers. “I always wanted to have a hand in the international higher education world,” she says, “to see what’s happening.” She forged friendships and connections with artists and educators, locals and expatriates.

A changed world.

In late March 2020, the global pandemic hit Mexico, shutting down businesses and closing schools. For many communities in Mexico City that rely on a less formal, often cash-based economy of small businesses, suppliers and vendors, the effects were immediate and devastating. With government assistance extremely limited, many local families couldn’t afford food or couldn't safely access groceries and basic supplies.

Forging a shared purpose.

Rachel and other locals and expatriates came together to figure out a way to respond to the crisis. “People reached out on Facebook saying ‘we have to do something.’” Following the model of mutual aid societies that were beginning to crop up in American communities in response to the pandemic, CDMX Ayuda Mutua emerged—a community-organized mutual aid society designed to help local families, artists, and businesses survive the pandemic.

“Part of the history of mutual aid societies is reframing support as solidarity rather than charity. A big part of that is asking ‘how do we mutually support each other?’” The original objective of the group was to help people who needed food. “We created a network of volunteers through Facebook and flyers. We delivered food to homes. It was slow to get started, but once one family in a neighborhood got help, the word would spread really quickly.”

From the start, CDMX put an emphasis on partnering with local organizations and institutions. Rather than doing deliveries from big supermarkets, they sought out local food distributors and smaller family-run businesses, forging connections with local producers and growers whose normal supply chains had been disrupted by the pandemic. They set up delivery services in different neighborhoods, helped to connect unemployed people with resources and rent assistance, and worked with another organization, Héroes Locales, to create maps of local vendors, from taco stands to florists.

The artwork followed. “As an artist and as someone who believes in the power of art to build community,” Rachel explains, “it made sense to me to involve both artists and anyone doing any kind of creative work.” The group started reaching out to artists to both offer aid and solicit support. They created an online art gallery on their web site where artists could showcase and sell their work, with half of the profits going to the artists and half going towards mutual aid. “One thing I’ve appreciated is getting artwork not just from professional artists. There’s a homeless man in the center of Mexico City who sells drawings for about fifteen dollars and we’ve featured his work on our site. You get a clear sense of where the money is going—fifteen dollars can buy him a night of shelter.”

Rachel’s love for Mexico City and for the life that she’s created there has been unshaken by the pandemic. Now that the crisis is no longer new, she’s looking forward to creating more murals, supplying more food to people, and developing stronger networks of community support.

“We’ve got to keep this moving. There’s so much to be done.”