Hello and welcome to Project Mayday! We are a public and above-ground drug user mutual aid and harm reduction collective in Appalachia that works to strategically advance access to harm reduction and other services while critiquing current systems of control, educating people about harm reduction & drug user health, and aiming to develop an alternative model for drug user organizing in the region.

There are a lot of groups doing great work in Appalachia. This group will be different because we will be actively talking about drug use, harm reduction and the war on drugs, not just amongst ourselves. I think it’s important to dispel common misconceptions about drug use and harm reduction and advance it as a legitimate way of addressing anti-prohibitionist drug policies. And more than just talking about drug use and harm reduction, the group will use active projects to demonstrate how harm reduction and mutual aid principles work in practice and empower people to take care of each other instead of relying on existing institutions.

We are a group of dedicated organizers with a vision of anti-prohibition drug policies, comprehensive drug user health services, and mutual aid, looking strategically at how best to promote these strategies and support the community.

Project Mayday is a drug-user and peer led collective that operates within a harm reduction framework and participates in community-based mutual aid to ensure the collective well-being of our neighbors. Our mission is to center the health and well-being of folks who use drugs and those experiencing homelessness, especially in Appalachia by meeting them where they are, identifying systemic and institutional barriers, and providing support and resources to help mitigate those barriers.

Social Anarchism & communism – We primarily work from a vision of social Anarchism and communism; a vision of shared resources and community support built around the empowerment of the individual and the decentralization of power.

Individual Sovereignty – You are the exclusive controller of your body, energy, and life. You contribute your energy on your own terms.

Mutual Aid – Acting together for shared benefit through the voluntary exchange of resources and services.

Distributed Power – No one has more power than anyone else. People work together on equal footing.

Direct action – Creating change or highlighting issues in a community without relying on government or other indirect methods to accomplish goals.

Love-Focused – We commit to a radical love for our communities, our families, ourselves, and the earth.

Transformative Solidarity – We are committed to act in solidarity for the collective liberation of all; in particular, with folks who are being politically targeted: people of color, women, muslims, trans people, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, migrants, victims of the criminal ‘justice’ system, and all suffering under oppressive systems.

Strategic Nonviolence and Self Determination – As a group, we will mobilize using strategic nonviolence while respecting the right of communities to protect themselves.

Concrete Projects – We prioritize projects that: 1) Serve and educate the community; 2) Give people a sense of their own power; and, 3) Shift power from government and corporations to people and communities.

Collaboration – As social issues are bigger than any singular organization, we will work with other organizations and communities (anarchist or not) when we share a common cause to create social change. We collaborate while staying focused on our core values, methods, and mission.

Empower Individuals – By giving people the creative space to experience and experiment with their personal power, as well as their ability to impact their community, we will fan the flame(s) of self-liberation inside the hearts of our community.

Build for the Long Term – Projects we take on will lay the foundation for a stronger organization and larger projects in the future, whether they are entirely successful or not.

Inclusivity – We welcome anyone interested in the mission and principles of this group.

Responsive – We value input from the community and want to respond directly to the needs and concerns of those around us. We accept responsibility for our actions as individuals and as a group.

Autonomy – Individual’s ideas and energies are important and encouraged. We are structured to limit any coercion or control that could interfere with a person’s rights of self direction and empowerment.

Joyous – In a world full of drudgery and fear, we bring playfulness and joy to our projects.

Internal

We are ambassadors of harm reduction – For many people we will be their first exposure to harm reduction ideas. We are gentle, respectful, educational, and inviting.

Assume best intentions – We are all working towards the same goals; as such, we work to view the variety of individual expressions and actions through the lens of curiosity and comradery.

Constructive feedback is welcome – We’re all learning and growing. We do this through consistent individual and group reflection, discussion, and feedback. We are open to both give and receive.

Wholeness – We bring our whole selves to this group and respect the often emotional nature of social justice work and collective process. We strive to set aside our egos and the masks we often put on in public places in order to respect and appreciate everyone for who they are and the unique things they bring to our community.

Collective decision making – We look for opportunities to include everyone’s input to encourage broader investment in the process and group.

Teams – We appreciate opportunities to work in small groups because they provide accountability, excitement, a diversity of ideas, and the opportunity to experiment with non-hierarchical/non-authoritarian/creative methods of organizing.

Visionary – We believe a better world is possible. We will not allow appeasements or concessions to distract our focus from the larger vision of an awesome anarchist future.

Training and personal growth – We consistently seek opportunities to train and educate ourselves to improve in our organizing, our politics, and ourselves.

Structured for growth – We use flexible structures that plan for growth and create space for new people to engage quickly and easily.

Flexibility – Context is important. We don’t use our principles, rules, or precedents to oppress people.

Centering harm reduction – We purposefully talk about harm reduction and harm reduction principles with the public to show what harm reduction truly is.

Fight Organizational Inertia – Don’t be afraid to try something new! Continue to analyze the organization, its processes, these principles, and creatively work to improve the organization to be what it can be.

Question Everything!

This may stir up misconceptions for some people, but we welcome the opportunity for discussion and to break with conventional stereotypes. The core tenets of each of these strategies and philosophies represent our values and mission as a group.

We work on projects that: 1) Create concrete improvements in people’s lives; 2) Give people a sense of their own power; and, 3) Shift power from government, physicians, institutions, and law enforcement to people and communities. Projects like community naloxone education and distribution, safe use supply distribution, mutual aid and direct action organizing, build up resources and power outside of state or capitalist systems and are a living example of what it looks like when a community takes care of itself without the need for governments or corporations.

We believe in a diversity of tactics. There are some things we’ve decided to not engage in because they don’t align with the strategy of the group, like property destruction, lobbying, or electoral politics. But we do not impose that decision on others or judge others for their own strategic decisions. We happily collaborate with other community organizations with different strategies on specific joint events or projects.

People attending a meeting for the first time experience a well-organized, energetic, and passionate group of people. They can tell that we are working on important projects and have put a lot of thought into the things we do. They know that the energy they put into the group will be well used and appreciated. They appreciate that someone casually approaches them to talk about what brought them to the meeting and what they’re interested in working on. We usually offer new people a small task so they feel needed and excited to come to another meeting. They leave with the feeling that they’re becoming a part of something important.

We look forward to attending the high-energy group meetings because they are opportunities to share ideas, make decisions, and connect. We start meetings with brief check-ins so we are fully present, and heartfelt appreciations so we know that we have each others’ backs. We strike a good balance between structure and flexibility, so we are able to get things done while also leaving time for fun tangents and silly side tracks. We celebrate disagreement as opportunities to learn different perspectives and engage in lively discussions because we know doing so will ultimately lead to better decisions and a stronger group. We feel comfortable brainstorming wild ideas or asking foolish questions that we might be scared to share in other spaces. We know we’re all on the same team.

We will develop a fluid decision making process that is distributed, inclusionary, and collaborative. Teams will manage themselves and make decisions based on what they think aligns with their goals. Individuals can come up with new ideas, find people to work with, get advice from affected groups, and begin new small projects or teams very quickly. When major decisions arise the whole group will come together to agree on the best path forward. Despite the frequent communication between collaborating groups there is so much happening that there are many happy surprises. Everyone loves it when we learn about an event that we didn’t even know was being planned, or when someone publicizes a resource that we didn’t know was being made.

Together we’ve written a strong mission statement, principles, and vision so that we’re all on the same page. When making decisions, we look at which principle(s) we want to align to. When planning new projects, we look to the mission and vision. It’s easy for us to disagree on specifics or share feedback because we know we all want the same things for the group and for the community and that we are going in the same direction.

We are proud that we are a diverse group in many respects: race, gender, age, class, ability, sexual orientation, faith, and education. The different perspectives, backgrounds, and community connections are invaluable and respected. We know that diversity is critical to all aspects of our work, and we continually strive to further include and elevate diverse members.

We welcome people where they are at in their current knowledge and understanding. Some people joined knowing almost nothing about harm reduction and mutual aid, and are becoming strong members of the group. Others joined with very little understanding of systematic oppression, prohibition and the war on drugs and have come to dedicate their lives to collective liberation. As long as people are willing to learn, we will support them.

We bring our whole selves to this group. We strive to set aside our egos and the masks we often put on in public places. People share their doubts and worries knowing that the group will support them fully. When someone expresses that they’re feeling a little overwhelmed, multiple people offer to take something off their plate. When we’re working late, someone brings over tea without anyone asking. We dance together after victories, and cry together after losses. People that love can be their full selves in this group in a way they can’t in most other spaces.

We are developing intentions for where we want to be in 5 years and regularly discuss how a project or idea could have the greatest possible impact in the community over the long term. We regularly evaluate and look critically at what we are doing to ensure that it’s what we intend. We are in this for the long haul.

When we started we had just two of us, and now we’re attracting a lot of new folks who are experiencing harm reduction for the first time. As our numbers and capacity have grown, we’ve started working on multiple community projects at the same time.

If you are interested in working towards this vision please contact me at maydayx@proton.me.