Every time we show up for each other, we’re building the world we want. This summer, we’ve seen that in action. From our monthly Queers in the Park to our upcoming fundraiser, our chapter keeps showing up. Mutual aid isn’t a side project. It’s how we survive the world we live in. It’s how we fight isolation, build trust, and organize for the long haul. Whether you’re bringing snacks, making signs, or just showing up, you’re part of it.
Queers in the Park (Take Two!)
Join us for Queers in the Park on Saturday, August 3 at 6:00 PM at Prospect Park (1299 Prospect Rd).
We’ll be sending postcards to crappy politicians, making a banner to drop, and doing some low-stress crafting together. It’s BYOC (bring your own craft), and we’ll also be collecting donations for local community fridges and pantries.
Suggested items:
- Water
- Milk
- Eggs
- Rice
- Canned goods
- Shelf-stable foods
- Sanitary products
- Please no expired food.
Come join us at the best Sunday hang in the metro, and maybe you’ll make a few new friends!
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Socialist Trivia Fundraiser
Two delegates from Central Iowa DSA are headed to the 2025 DSA National Convention in Chicago. This is where members from across the country come together to shape the future of our organization, vote on priorities, and connect with organizers doing work like ours. More information on that can be found further down in this newsletter. We need your help to get them there.
Realistically, it’ll cost over $2,000 for our delegates to attend and our chapter can’t cover that alone. We are holding a Socialist Trivia Fundraiser at the Ingersoll Tap on Saturday, August 2nd at 7:00pm.
What to Expect:
- Socialist trivia
- Bonus mini games like Socialist, Communist, or Capitalist? and Name That Beard
- A silent auction with art, crafts, and community-donated items
- Baked goods, buttons, and other items for sale
All are welcome. Come test your knowledge, support your comrades, and help us raise the funds to get our folks to Chicago!
Not able to attend? You can still help strengthen our chapter by donating.
Join DSA Today and make change in your community!
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What Mutual Aid Really Means
“In the absence of a coherent system of government welfare provision, these informal organizations run by the poor and working class provided more aid than any other institution, private or public.”
Mutual aid isn’t just about helping people. It’s about building power collectively. For over a century, working-class communities in the U.S. have relied on mutual aid to survive and resist. Black mutual aid societies, immigrant-led funeral co-ops, union-run clinics and schools… these were how people organized when the state refused to care.
Today, groups like DSA across the country continue that legacy by running brake light clinics, delivering groceries, stocking community fridges, and more. Mutual aid is another way we build strength in our community. It brings people in, meets urgent needs, and connects them to long-term campaigns.
Do you want to dig deeper into the roots of mutual aid and how it ties into labor and socialist organizing?
Read this piece by Maya Adereth for Jacobin
Upcoming State and National Events
| **August 8–10 | Chicago, IL** |
Every two years, delegates from DSA chapters across the country gather to make some big decisions. This year, around 1,500 delegates (including two of our own!) are heading to Chicago to vote on national priorities, elect leadership, and shape the direction of our movement.
This is where we decide what we’re fighting for together. The resolutions passed and leaders elected will guide DSA’s work for the next two years, from housing justice to labor campaigns to how we support chapters like ours. If you’re curious about what’s on the table, check out the proposals and NPC candidates ahead of time!
Upcoming Community Events
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CIDSA Spotlight
The DSA Spotlight is a section of the newsletter dedicated to shining a spotlight on one national committee, working group, campaign, or resource each month. This month, we’re highlighting the Political Education Working Group. They’re the backbone of our education through DSA.
Political Ed has been doing what they do best: keeping us learning, thinking, and talking together. While they don’t have any big new projects this month, they’ve been holding it down with their usual rhythm of events.
In July, they hosted a reading group discussion of The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, and they’ll be back in August with Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. They meet on the third Sunday of the month. These monthly groups are open to everyone, whether you’ve read the book cover to cover or just skimmed the Wikipedia summary on the way over.
Keep an eye on the calendar and your inbox for updates, or just show up to the next event! Political Education is about building shared knowledge and critical conversation and there’s always room at the table.
CIDSA Working Groups and Committees
Queer Liberation Working Group
What We Are Enjoying
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how we take care of each other on the day to day. Mutual aid is one of those things that seems small at first (dropping off groceries, checking in on neighbors, stocking a community fridge), but it’s actually a building block for something much bigger. It’s how we practice solidarity. It’s how we live our values while we fight for more.
This video breaks it all down in a way that’s clear, thoughtful, and really moving. It makes the case for mutual aid as a more democratized way of sharing and distributing care. It explains how mutual aid is rooted in collective power and everyday people showing up for one another.
It’s kind of like the radical grown-up version of being a Scout. Show up, bring snacks, share your flashlight, look out for people, build something better together.
If you’ve been wondering how our small acts of care connect to bigger political ideas, this video is a great place to start.
Written by Stacey N.
Mutual Aid: How To Survive When the State Fails Us by Prince Shakur (YT)
DSA News
Community Doesn’t Stop at the Chapter Line
DSA is a national organization, and the people working at that level are the reason we have tools, trainings, campaign support, and ways to connect with chapters across the country.
This piece from Michael Grochowski breaks down what that work actually looks like and why it matters for all of us. It’s a good reminder that behind every spreadsheet and shared resource is a person helping this movement grow. Give it a read and show some love for the folks at Notional keeping the engine running.
Read the full article via The Democratic Left
Labor Leader Detained for Delivering Aid to Gaza
Chris Smalls, the Amazon Labor Union founder and a symbol of worker-led organizing, has been detained by Israeli forces. On July 26, he boarded the solidarity vessel Handala, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition delivering food, baby formula, and medicine to Gaza. Israeli forces intercepted the ship in international waters. Smalls and 20 other activists were taken into custody. Reports describe a brutal detention for Smalls: he was choked and kicked, with visible injury to his neck and back. He was singled out as the only Black person on board and treated with disproportionate force.
Smalls’ actions link labor solidarity and international justice. He risked his personal safety, not for attention, but in defense of people starving under blockade. Smalls is quoted as saying:
“I’m a father. I love my kids to death. I don’t want them to grow up in a world like this. As a US citizen, I’m putting my life on the line – but this isn’t about us, this is about the people of Gaza. This is about Palestine. Enough is enough.”
Read the full article via People’s Dispatch
**Being part of DSA isn’t about doing everything.\
It’s about showing up how you can.
**Whether that means joining a reading group, coming to a trivia night, or just forwarding this to a friend… you’re part of this!
And we’re really glad you’re here.