Founded by Indy10 Black Lives Matter and PSL Indianapolis, “Hope Packages: Building Unity Through Solidarity” is a volunteer-run and community-supported project providing necessary aid to people who are struggling in communities across our city. The project officially launched in January 2021 and is sustained by the volunteers of the Indianapolis Liberation Center.
Members of Hope Packages share one key belief: All people deserve to be safe and healthy. This belief entails broader political transformations, however. Our new 10-Point Program outline demands and a vision for a new Indianapolis that can be met easily and immediately realized to achieve this goal and address the root cause of homelessness. You can see the demands on this page and read the full 10-Point Program here!
1. End Gentrification
2. Build Public Housing
3. Make Housing Accessible
4. Free Education for All
5. End All Food Deserts
6. Make Housing a Human Right
7. Implement a Living Wage and Close All Loopholes
8. Expand Public Space
9. Protect Tenants and Renters
10. Fund Real Public Safety
Volunteers and members do not need to agree on each and every one of these points. But if you share our core belief that all people deserve to live dignified lives, we encourage you to read on to find out more about the project, our mission, and how to get involved!
Latest updates
- Remember our neighbors and join November’s assembly!
- Kids’ clothing swap: Bring what you can, take what you need!
- Volunteer for Hope Packages
- Hope Packages: “If the city won’t, we will!”
Support, donate, and get involved!
We rely on volunteers and community support to keep Hope Packages not only operating at our existing capacity but, over time, to increase our capacity. That depends on the support we get from everyone and anyone concerned about our unhoused and homeless neighbors. Interested in supporting our project? Keep reading to find out how to get involved!
Ways to support your homeless neighbors
Donations: We need to ensure we always have the right supplies in the proper amount for our packages. You can help by making a one-time donation or becoming a sustainer!
You can also visit our Amazon wish list to see what your neighbors need right now!
Volunteers: Staffed by Liberation Center volunteers, Hope Packages do a range of work. Read more and sign up to volunteer with us through the Liberation Center here!
Why Hope Packages?
PSL organizer Doris Jones, who personally survived homelessness multiple times and spearheaded the foundation of this project, put it best: “it is very important to help those in need who are less fortunate. These people have stories just like me. It’s important to stop overlooking those in need and start hearing their stories.” If it wasn’t for these services, Doris wouldn’t be the leader she is today.
Our class, many of whom are homeless, housing insecure, and chronically homeless need the essentials of life to survive day by day. It is essential to keep the momentum going by helping the poor as much as possible. This is not charity, however; it’s a project to build solidarity, provide political education, and raise consciousness and struggle by building unity across the diverse sectors of our class.
This is the same ethos the Black Panther Party had with their “Free Breakfast Programs” and their numerous (over 200) programs they called “survival pending revolution.” While corporate history presents these programs as merely providing charity, they were always also aimed at building alliances, creating unity, and raising consciousness.
Hope Packages: Building Unity Through Solidarity, is where the people of working and oppressed communities come together to assemble care packages to distribute wherever they are: whether commuting or running errands. Whenever we see a homeless person or someone in need, that’s our chance to give the person the kit, ask their name, and talk to them; to build connections; because every person has a story and a struggle.
Watch our project’s initial launch and assembly
Indianapolis’ radical media outlet, Critical Thought Critique, covered Hope Package’s launch and first assembly in January 2021, capturing the overall spirit, purpose, and significance of the project.
It is our duty to fight for our freedom!
– Assata Shakur
It is our duty to win!
We must love each other and support one another!
We have nothing to lose but our chains!
UPDATE: While virtual space is important, it cannot provide housing, food, water, or other necessities for homeless people. To spend less time online and more time putting in work in the streets, we’re migrating our social media content over to the Indianapolis Liberation Center’s new Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages!