About Us

Mission

Mayday Space is a multi-story organizing center and social hub in Bushwick that works in tandem with our sister space Starr Bar a short walk away. Mayday is both a neighborhood resource and a citywide destination for engaging programming, a home for radical ideas and debate, and a welcoming gathering place for people and movements to work, learn, celebrate and build together.

As an organizing center and events space for grassroots organizations to host their fundraiser parties, leadership retreats and more, Mayday inspires and sustains a justice-oriented community that is both publicly identifiable and approachable. We’ve created an innovative model that connects to the solidarity economy, promotes a shared sense of stewardship, and attracts new individuals to social justice politics in a culturally-dynamic setting.

As a movement project, Mayday also works with long-time community organizers to amplify neighborhood issues such as immigrant rights, food justice, tenants protections, gentrification and displacement as well as broader global issues such as climate justice and Internet freedom. To carry out this work, we’ve co-created empowering leadership structures for collectively managing the space and shaping the direction of our programming and organizing projects.

By offering access to our space on a sliding scale (down to free access), we prioritize people of color, immigrants, women-led groups, LGBTQ, poor and working class communities. The programming events Mayday welcomes and curates ourselves likewise centers the voices, creativity and leadership of frontline communities.

Download the Mayday Space Handbook for a more in-depth understanding of our internal structure, history and long-term goals.

Vision

We know that a radically more just, equitable, and democratic New York City is possible. Mayday is a resource for activists and organizers working to envision and promote alternatives to current injustices, to build collective power, and to push for broader systemic change. We are a space where movements come together to reflect on strategy, tactics, what we’re up against, and the better world we’re fighting for.

Our Staff and Collective

Mayday is a people-powered project run by our volunteer Collective in tandem with various organizing projects, a slew of other friends, collaborators, area residents and our small staff. The Mayday Collective is where the rubber hits the road, making the bulk of organization-wide decisions. The Collective is responsible for Mayday’s overall health and advancing our social justice mission.

Marilyn Fabiola, Programs Director, began organizing with Mayday in 2020 through her involvement with Comida pal Pueblo, a mutual aid project centering food justice, and became a Mayday Collective Member in 2022. Marilyn is a descendant of Guatemalan migrants which has informed her commitment to language justice and organizing in migrant communities. Additionally, she is a volunteer case manager for the New York Abortion Access Fund, an abortion doula, and a collective member of Fund Abortion Not Police. She holds a Bachelor’s of History and Art History with a concentration in social movements.

Sara Martinez Arango (she/ella), Operations Director is a formerly undocumented social justice facilitator and educator. She has worked in education access organizations as an advocate to college-bound Black & brown youth and most recently, in progressive electoral campaigns supporting their operations and fundraising efforts. As Operations Manager, she is passionate about advancing Mayday’s sustainability as they work to bridge local and global movements, raise political consciousness and foster collective learning. Sara’s first home is Medellin, Colombia and she was raised in Corona, Queens.

Lucas Shapiro is dedicated to multi-issue movement-building and works as a social justice educator with IHP study abroad programs in NYC and Barcelona. He has been a community organizer with groups such as Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) and the West Side Neighborhood Alliance. He draws inspiration for Mayday from working with social centers in Spain and is maybe just a little obsessed with political strategy, public policy, popular education… and game nights.

Pati Rodriguez is a Bushwick native, born in Ecuador but raised in Brooklyn all her life. Through Mayday she develops programming that caters to the POC immigrant community and has launched empowerment projects such as Mi Casa No Es Su Casa and the Children’s KYR Theater program. When not at Mayday, Pati offers legal clinics and Know Your Rights trainings to immigrants, supports organizing efforts with Latinx youth, and every so often organizes tropical punk shows and benefits in Brooklyn.

Rahel Biru joined the Mayday family five years ago, as the Host & Caretaker, making it a priority to create a comfortable, tidy, and well-organized space for new and frequent visitors alike. Before Mayday, she organized with the Democratic Socialists of America, as well as with other political formations focused on direct action and protests. She is committed to creating a society of accountability for those at the political and economical top, a society which redistributes their power and money to those who have none. Rahel joined the Mayday collective because holding down a sustainable piece of the political infrastructure in NYC is a crucial part of that larger social mission.