This year, with all of the support from our donors on Open Collective, we have been able to expand our services and better support our community as a mutual aid organization. Some of those expansions include our distribution of tents and sleeping bags, supporting the transit needs through bus passes leading up to the permanent free fares program, and even sponsoring holiday meals to celebrate with our community. Throughout the past year, we also have been dedicated to developing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with other organizations in town doing value-aligned work supporting marginalized communities (e.g. Ashwell, Black Sex Worker Project, Thriftish, THRA, Primrose, ATXDUU, ATX Free Fridges, and more). Along with strengthening these connections, we successfully coordinated fundraising events by connecting with local businesses, artists and makers, and nonprofits for support and to get resources for our community.

Some of the biggest challenges of 2023 were the increase of encampment sweeps in Austin and the ice storms and freezes affecting Texas. These local emergencies pushed us to adapt our tactics and think about the future in terms of how we account for the negative impacts storms and sweeps had on our community members, and how we can do more than just respond. In turn, our budget has risen over the last year as we allocate more money to replacing camping gear trashed and stolen by the city, and we've dealt with extreme weather events by pivoting to direct camp support during those times. 

Our membership has grown tremendously in the last year. Many new people have stepped into our “pod” structure, where small groups focus on specific elements of our work such as cooking, transport, Help Desk, tents, coffee, etc. The pods help us make sure that each task is not stretched too thinly among just a few people, and are an important tool for our all-volunteer organization to avoid burnout. New people cycling into the pods allows us to step in and out of roles and makes our project more sustainable. Being mindful of our organization’s capacity then gives us the flexibility to expand into areas like tents and direct camp support as emergencies arise. 

In 2024, we plan to continue our routine of packing supplies and cooking food every Saturday and distributing these resources the following morning at Republic Square Park on Sundays. We want to expand political education for our whole community with zines and community learning opportunities. We also want to work to make meetings and administrative work more accessible to everyone in our community. To support our goals of sustainable expansion, we plan to expand partnerships with like-minded groups and individuals and organize more fundraising events and opportunities.

Thanks to everyone that has supported Street Forum throughout the year, and we hope 2024 is a another year of growth for our community!