As the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States, New York City has quickly become one of the country’s largest hubs of mutual aid, with residents redistributing food, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment to people in need during the crisis. Unlike charities, mutual aid efforts involve groups of people pooling their resources to help each other directly instead of waiting on assistance from governments, corporations, and other institutions.

These projects aren’t just fly-by-night operations. In the city’s boroughs and beyond, many have become high-tech engines of community support, powered by software platforms designed to distribute resources to the most vulnerable populations as quickly as possible—and most importantly, to help neighbors connect with one another during a period of isolation and uncertainty.

Virtually all the tech platforms we use on a daily basis were designed with profit-seeking business in mind, and more often than not, their usage reflects those intentions. But in response to COVID-19, mutual aid groups have begun using those platforms as a springboard for more robust systems designed entirely around helping and connecting people throughout the crisis.

In Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, members of the mutual aid network Bed-Stuy Strong started by putting up flyers with their website and a Google Voice number, which residents could call to request free grocery deliveries. The calls, texts, and emails reach a group of intake volunteers, who contact neighbors to confirm requests and then forward the details via Slack to another group of volunteers who shop for food and make deliveries.