😳 #BLM #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by Rudy Espinoza (@rudyespi) on Jan 21, 2017 at 4:08pm PST

About

Nice White Ladies is dedicated to bringing white folks up to speed on the racial justice conversation. White people don't often speak about race, and for many of them even saying the word "white" feels racist. White folks are behind the curve and in many cases don't even have the language to understand the conversation around racial justice.

Nice White Ladies aims to cure Nice White Lady Syndrome. Many of our members are new to social justice and activism since the 2016 US election, and have walked into a climate of social engagement that they were not prepared for. We offer a space to ask newbie white questions, work out white guilt, and learn how to put our "Nice Lady" impulses to work so that we are supporting the larger movement, rather than getting in the way.

“Women will know they have made a political commitment to eliminating racism when they help change the direction of feminist movement, when they work to unlearn racist socialization prior to assuming positions of leadership or shaping theory or making contact with women of color so that they will not perpetuate and maintain racial oppression or, unconsciously or consciously, abuse and hurt non-white women. These are the truly radical gestures that create a foundation for the experience of political solidarity between white women and women of color.”

— bell hooks, feminist theory: from margin to center (1984)

There are a thousand ways to help. We advocate for direct action at a local level. The best thing you can do is get to know the people around you and how you can help them. If you are looking for direct asks for money that you can fulfill immediately, we amplify from multiple sources. Please contact us on Facebook for details.

We have a small homestead in Eastport Maine with two bedrooms available for occupancy. (Upstairs, not wheelchair accessible) I'm a licensed wildlife Rehabber, vet tech, and can teach someone interested in starting a small business with low overhead how to make handmade soap with ingredients covered by SNAP.

I have a Master's degree in Communication and love to work with people on their personal and professional goals. I can do strategic planning. Message work, public relations, training, personal productivity and resume, job interview work. Happy to help!

I'm a non-profit budget director and before that was a professional grantwriter for 10 years. I'm knowledgeable about all phases of the grants process, in both university and and community non-profit settings. I can't and won't write a proposal from scratch for a project I'm not directly involved with, but I can assist project leaders with developing strong proposal narratives and budgets, review and make suggestions on drafts, help project leaders navigate the application process as well as post-award grant management and reporting, etc.

I'm a professional copywriter and content marketing expert currently working in a corporate job in the financial technology industry. I can offer a variety of editing services from basic punctuation and grammar to structure, organization, syntax, and content.

For folks dealing with medical and/or mental health issues: I can provide guidance in navigating the system -- for instance, interpreting doctor-talk, identifying resources, figuring out insurance, facilitating good communication between diff healthcare providers - just making sure individuals and families are getting the best care out there. I'm a psychiatric NP specializing in new onset psychosis in young adults. In this role, I've learned how asking the right questions and calling the right people can make or break quality of medical care in a major way.

White folks volunteer special skills, People of Color tell us what they need and we use our connections to assist them.

Our volunteers have a wide range of skills including: childcare, virtual assistance, grant writing, editing, proofreading, web design, tutoring, branding, tech support, and soap making (yes, soap making).

Even if you don't see your desired skill here, please tell us what you need and we'll do our best to find someone to help you.

Please note we are not currently offering financial support through this medium. Our requests for financial support come directly from the community organizers we are accountable to. The Emergency Fund below is for circumstances that cannot be publicized due to safety and security reasons. We will signal boost requests for financial assistance through our network but do not currently have the cash flow to fill every request for financial reparations. This is still a new system, however, and as it grows we will adjust with the guidance of our advisers.

*Priority will be given to black women and femmes who are organizing on the front lines of the movement.

White folks: Please fill out the form below.

VOLUNTEERS

Skills Form

Or make a donation to our Emergency Fund

One-time or monthly donations to help black women and femmes with emergency support requests.

Requests are filled according to the direction of the black community organizers who advise us. There is no panel of white people evaluating legitimacy of requests or deciding where the money goes.

At Nice White Ladies we #BelieveBlackWomen. Because of the sensitive nature of some of the requests we receive, we are unable to reveal identifying information of the people we support.

You'll have to trust that we are not stealing from you to make ourselves rich. If you'd like to get to know us better before contributing financially, please feel free to join our facebook group.

The word "Reparations" is used on this page. The reasoning behind this is quite simple: it minimizes white nonsense and ensures that our volunteers are at least informed enough about systemic racism and inequality to understand the nature of this arrangement. Reparations is not a new term or a new idea, and the intention of this page is not to diminish or undermine the very real work being done at several levels, including government and community movements. Our database is not a substitute for real political and economic change. It is a small attempt at redistributing resources within a flawed and broken system.