Speakers: Opal, Daeja Baker

You keep hearing this phrase, Mutual Aid. What is it? How does it work? How is it different from programs, charities, and other kinds of supports? And why is it so critical in our current landscape? Join Opal and Daeja, long time organizers, social workers, and mutual aid facilitators, to explore the concept of mutual aid. Learn what it means, why it is vital, and how to engage with it in your own communities.

Join us for our upcoming Community Lecture Night! This will be online only. Please register for the event here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/oCwM7IACQFaARcgwS9Ngbw

• When: January 26th from 6:00-7:30 PM
• Where: Zoom AND streaming on YouTube
• Meeting Accessibility:
  • There will be sign language interpreters and closed captioning available on Zoom. 
  • Chat will be disabled on Zoom during the lecture to better serve people using screen readers. Participants will still be able to message the hosts.
  • When it comes time for the Q&A, people may ask by messaging in the chat so the host can read it out loud or by raising their hand on Zoom so the host can call on them to ask by voice or by ASL.
  • For more information, check out our Technical Info page.

If anyone has any other access needs please contact accessmobpittsburgh@gmail.com as soon as possible, but no later than January 21st.

Speaker Biographies:

Opal is a longtime community leader, with over 35 years of experience in community organizing, social work, and other helping and leadership roles across disability, queer, youth, faith, and immigration spaces. Opal is an autistic, trans, non-binary and multiply disabled parent of autistic, disabled, queer, and trans children.

They lead with empathy, precision, and tenacity. Opal facilitates the largest mutual aid network in the region (Disabled Pittsburgh Mutual Aid, or DPMA), and is deeply committed to working for a world that is equitable, joyful, and just.

Outside of work, Opal enjoys singing, birding, hiking, Hallmark movies, faith-based projects, and planning for Christmas year-round.

Daeja Baker is a tireless advocate, a years-long activist, and a social worker. Born and raised on the north side of Pittsburgh. In 2017, she founded Pittsburgh Feminists for Intersectionality, a group that continues to support our city’s most marginalized neighbors. Daeja utilizes her background in social work and writing to help elect progressives up and down the ballot. Her political efforts uplift our most vulnerable in Allegheny County. She is the new school board director for Shaler Area school district, Region 1.

Funding for this lecture comes from a grant from the Opportunity Fund.