Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund

The Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund is a non-profit organization led by a group of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Maine. The purpose of the Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund is to alleviate economic inequality and hardships in the UMaine community by supporting networks, acts, and norms of mutual aid and community care. Our goals are:

1. To establish a fund where members of the UMaine community can place any disposable dollars or money they do not feel they need, in order to make that money accessible when community members do feel they need it.

2. To practice community care by using this fund to facilitate mutual aid.

3. To use the presence and impact of the fund to assist in modeling norms of mutual aid and community care.

The Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund not only serves as an organization to redistribute funding to alleviate economic hardships within the community, but we also serve as an organization to build a culture of community care and resiliency. We believe that everyone needs help sometimes, and that’s just a part of being human. We understand that there is a significant social stigma against people experiencing financial insecurity, especially when it comes to asking for help, but we strongly believe that no one should feel ashamed or afraid of asking for help. We are here to bring people together and meet the needs of the community however we can.