New Haven is the second poorest city in Connecticut: 25% of residents live in poverty, 22% are food-insecure, and 40% struggle to afford food and housing. At the same time, Yale, a $42.3 billion institution, receives an annual tax break of $157 million. As members of the Yale community, we have a responsibility to address this glaring inequity. As we press back against the structural problems of Yale, we can also find individual ways to care for one another and change the material conditions of our neighbors. The intention of this project is to encourage folks, especially within the Yale community, to give back in a way that helps unhoused people in New Haven with their direct needs.

As previously mentioned, city programs intended to address these needs run dry due to lack of funding, in part caused by Yale's wealth hoarding. Though created with good intentions, state & federal assistance programs and nonprofits face regulations and use approaches that often leave the most fundamental needs unaddressed. Mutual aid offers a bottom-up approach, allowing marginalized peoples to voice what they need and their fellow neighbors to address that need directly.

Most importantly, mutual aid transcends existing systems of power: while traditional charity models enforce power imbalances between donor and recipient and fails to address the structural problem of , mutual aid creates community relationships, reciprocal aid between neighbors. long-term networks of support.

When you sign up, you will receive a monthly report on the how the New Haven Housing Fund has made use of that month’s contributions. During the last week of every month,  we will send out Venmo requests, and the total will be distributed among that month's beneficiaries once all donations are in.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to yhhap@dwighthall.org.
For further readings on mutual aid and wealth inequality in New Haven, visit yhhap.org/mutual-aid.