What You CAn Do
These are concrete actions organized by the type of work involved. You don't need to do all of these—pick one or two that match your skills and interests, then commit to them consistently.
The goal isn't to be everywhere doing everything. The goal is to find your lane and show up reliably.
Whether you're a teacher, artist, organizer, or someone who just knows how to show up—there's meaningful work here.
Choose what you can actually sustain, because movements need people who stay, not people who burn out after one month.
Build Skills In Your Community - Teach civics (how city council actually works, reading a budget), survival skills (wilderness first aid, de-escalation techniques), know your rights workshops (what to do when ICE shows up, how to refuse illegal searches), self-defense classes, digital security basics, food preservation, bike repair
Use Your Creative Skills - Make protest art and posters, document actions with photo/video, design flyers and social media graphics, write op-eds and press releases, create zines, host community theater, paint murals, amplify marginalized voices through your platform, make explainer videos about local issues
Shape Local Narratives - Write letters to the editor, attend city council and school board meetings and speak during public comment, build relationships with local reporters, organize groups to show up en masse to meetings, submit op-eds, counter misinformation in community Facebook groups and Nextdoor, testify at public hearings, organize press conferences
Reimagine and Build Alternatives - Start a neighborhood mutual aid pod, create tool libraries and free stores, organize community fridges, build childcare coops, start time banks, create neighborhood gardens, organize skill-sharing events, establish community land trusts, form tenant unions, start food buying clubs
Economic Resistance - Stop shopping at Target, Amazon, Walmart; move money to credit unions; organize workplace slowdowns and sick-outs; support worker strikes with donations and picket line presence; buy from worker coops and local businesses; practice "buy nothing" culture; organize rent strikes; divest from banks funding pipelines and prisons
Direct Support for Frontlines - Babysit organizers' kids, cook meals for action groups, send gas money or Venmo cash, offer your couch or spare room, provide rides to court or actions, pay bail, cover legal fees, show up for jail support, donate supplies (first aid kits, water, snacks), offer your professional skills for free
Use Your Privilege as a Tool - Be the white person who talks to police first, use your citizenship status to shield undocumented neighbors, leverage your professional credentials to access spaces, have hard conversations with racist family members, use your corporate job to leak harmful policies, risk arrest so more vulnerable people don't have to, stand between ICE and your neighbors
Build Resilient Infrastructure - Create paper address books with neighbors' phone numbers and skills, set up encrypted Signal groups, organize phone trees that work without internet, map safe houses in your neighborhood, stockpile medical supplies and cash, create emergency contact cards, establish neighborhood watch systems, build amateur radio networks
WhAT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE (By YOur Resources)
If You Have Money: Set up automatic monthly donations to bail funds, abortion funds, immigrant defense funds; pay an organizer's rent for a year; fund movement lawyers; be on-call to wire emergency money for bus tickets or hotel rooms; cover medical bills; donate to mutual aid networks; fund bail indefinitely for arrested protesters
If You Have Time: Attend every city council meeting, join a weekly mutual aid distribution, volunteer for court support every Friday, staff a community fridge twice a week, participate in monthly tenant union meetings, show up to the same organizing space consistently, build actual relationships through repeated presence
If You Can't Risk Much: Provide administrative support (taking notes, managing spreadsheets, sending emails), do childcare for organizers, cook meals, drive people to appointments, donate money consistently, offer your home for meetings, handle social media, make phone calls, stuff envelopes, do data entry for campaigns
What NOt To Do
Performance activism without substance, show up once then disappear, wait for the perfect moment, debate online instead of organizing in person, contradiction between values and shopping habits
Specifically DON'T:
Post protest selfies without showing up to meetings
Attend one march then disappear for months
Wait until you have the "perfect" plan before acting
Argue with strangers on Twitter instead of talking to your neighbors
Shop on Amazon while calling yourself a radical
Attend protests as lifestyle tourism
Only show up when it's trending