How to Start Supporting Nonprofits in Austin Like It’s No Big Deal

Art by Zeke Barbaro / Getty Images

Getting involved politically can be as easy as showing up to speak at a City Council meeting, but if you’re thirsting to see more tangible, day-to-day progress that you can make, there are many organizations that could use volunteer help. These are just some of the Austin issues that are as well-served by human interaction as top-down policymaking.

If you care about affordable housing...

Building and Strengthening Tenant Action: BASTA is one of the strongest tenant organizing groups in town, and they often employ volunteers to knock on doors and hand out informational flyers at properties trying to organize. Volunteers can also offer eviction mediation assistance through BASTA’s call clinics. If you’re having your own housing issues, they’ll help you organize your property, but if you want basic individual assistance with getting repairs done or getting your security deposit back, try Austin Tenants Council. “If [students] want to contribute to housing justice in Austin, this is one of the few volunteer opportunities to do that,” says Shoshana Krieger, BASTA’s project director. “There is significant need among tenants, and it’ll give them exposure to basic landlord-tenant laws within the community, and to other like-minded people who want to make Austin a more just place to live. They’ll be contributing to spreading that knowledge to other Austinites and supporting the development of a housing justice movement in Austin.” UT’s first-ever student tenants’ union also posts helpful housing information on their Instagram @uttenantsunion.

If you care about voting rights...

League of Women Voters: Becoming a poll worker is one of the best ways to ensure that everyone has access to the ballot box, in an era when the GOP is actively trying to prohibit that – especially in a presidential election year. “By working at the polls, you can ensure that all voters – including voters with disabilities, voters who need language assistance, and voters who want to cast their ballot in person – have a positive experience,” writes the League of Women Voters, one of the most well-respected democracy advocacy nonprofits, founded in the 1920s by suffragists. All you have to do is verify registration, check ID, and print out ballots. Even high school students over the age of 16 can become student clerks by applying on the secretary of state’s website. LWV also needs volunteers to register voters, do community outreach about LWV’s goals, write their newsletter, set up events, and more.

If you care about police oversight...

Equity Action: Members of Equity Action spearheaded the Black Lives Matter movement in Austin after the George Floyd protests of 2020, successfully defunding the police department by one-third (before it was eventually re-allocated back). Since then, they’ve worked in tandem on many civil rights issues, including the Austin Police Oversight Act and the subsequent lawsuit to get it implemented, which is awaiting a decision on how much access civilians within the Office of Police Oversight should have to the police department’s investigative records. If you want to join one of the most effective coalitions advocating for better police oversight in Austin, you can help monitor police contract negotiations: “Help us cover these meetings and let city negotiators SEE that we are there, we care, and we expect the new contract to abide by the Austin Police Oversight Act in full!” Equity Action writes on its website. Or, you can attend city budget hearings, and help advocate for their priorities in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, including increased pay for EMS workers, more rental assistance, better parks, and more harm reduction efforts to combat the overdose crisis.

If you care about ending the War on Drugs...

Texas Harm Reduction Alliance: Speaking of the overdose crisis, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance is the place to go if you think War on Drugs-style policies do more harm than good for drug users struggling with addiction. THRA’s pressure – and constant focus on humanizing and destigmatizing drug users – has led to a host of countywide and citywide changes around local drug policy, since they got the county to declare rising overdoses a public health crisis in 2022. In 2024 so far, Travis County has invested in methadone treatment services, peer support staff, and the rental of syringe collection kiosks, all strategies that THRA has specifically advocated for. If you’d like to add your voice to that advocacy, or volunteer on the ground by helping make safe syringe kits, supporting the drop-in clinic, or organizing events and outreach, fill out THRA’s interest form.