The idea
SF Crews is a community building political project. Its purpose is to help neighbors in the SF Bay Area find each other, collaborate, and build deep community.
We'll do that through a Signal group, a website, and social events, but none of those are where the community building will actually happen. That will happen in crews: the meals, the rides, the conversations, the decisions, the showing up.
The shape of it
What's a crew?
A crew is small. Three to eight people, small enough that everyone can sit around one kitchen table. The name comes from the microsolidarity movement, and a group this size has four things going for it.
-
Scheduling is actually possible.
Getting five people in a room is a text message. Getting twenty is a project.
-
It can be intimate.
People come to know each other in their particulars, not just names and vibes but histories, patterns, what someone's like when they're struggling and what they'll never think to ask for.
-
It supports consistency and commitment.
In a small group your absence is felt, and being needed is what turns good intentions into showing up.
-
It can be targeted.
A crew can pick its own goals, interests, and plans instead of trying to be everything to everyone.
Why we're doing this
Community building is the whole point
When it comes to political projects, community building is usually a means to some other end. Not here. Connection, collaboration, and community are the goals themselves.
The main way that happens is through crews, and a crew can be organized around anything. Political, social, artistic, educational, or whatever you're into.
Want to start a D&D crew? Great, post and see who bites. Want to start a mutual aid project? Lovely. Want to start a running club? Well, that's not for me personally, but I wish you the best.
Mutual aid
Three things it takes
SF Crews is a mutual aid project. Mutual aid projects usually have three components.
- They address real needs.
- They have a shared analysis of why those needs are currently not being met.
- They invite people into collective action.
Find your crew
Join the Signal group for where you live.