What is Collective Care?

What is Collective Care? Building Community Through Solidarity, Mutual Aid, & Radical Care

Collective care is about supporting each other, sharing what we have, & building systems that prioritize everyone’s well-being. Audre Lorde reminds us that care is about survival, especially for marginalized people. Lorde’s powerful words, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, & that is an act of political warfare,” speak to how radical it can be to care in a world that constantly dehumanizes us. Black feminists & disabled activists have long shown how leaning on each other builds resilience in the face of systems that exploit & harm.

How Collective Care Works

Unlike the individual focus of self-care, collective care is about how we take care of each other. It’s sharing food, helping with bills, finding housing, or making sure everyone can access healthcare. Instead of relying on institutions that often fail us, we rely on each other.

Disabled activists like Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, in Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, remind us that disabled communities have had to create their own ways to survive when the institutions meant to help them don’t. Disability justice teaches us that care isn’t just for those who are seen as “productive” but for all of us, regardless of ability.

Why It Matters

Collective care rejects the idea that we’re on our own. It says that no one should have to fight for survival at someone else’s expense. We’re all in this together, and our fates are linked.

This kind of care values interdependence and vulnerability as strengths, not weaknesses. It’s about listening, helping, and lifting up those who are most often ignored. When we care for each other, we create a community where everyone can thrive, not just survive.

How to Start

You don’t need to start an organization to practice collective care. It can be as simple as offering help to a neighbor, sharing meals, or making space where people feel safe. When we all take responsibility for each other, we break down the idea that we’re alone in this.

Collective care is about building communities grounded in justice & love, carrying forward the lessons from Black & disabled feminists who always knew that care is resistance.

When we show up for each other, we create the foundation for a more just & caring world; & that’s the kind of world we all deserve.