Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Organizing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Montana Women’s Lobby launches 'Community Conversations' to mobilize progressive groups against what it calls extremist legislation
Summary
Sandy Eutsinger of the Montana Women’s Lobby said the group organized a statewide series of community conversations — including a Missoula event Feb. 11 — to coordinate progressive responses to legislative proposals the lobby and partners view as "extremist" and to listen to local concerns.
The Montana Women's Lobby and partner groups said they are taking a statewide outreach approach to mobilize citizens against what they call "extremist" tactics and policy proposals at the Montana Legislature.
Sandy Eutsinger, director of the Montana Women's Lobby, described a series of town-hall style events called Community Conversations that the lobby is organizing with groups including the Montana Human Rights Network, Montana NARAL and others. The Missoula conversation was scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. at University Congregational Church.
Eutsinger said the roadshow aims both to "let people know what we see happening" at the legislature and to listen so organizers can bring local concerns back to Helena. She identified two dynamics motivating the outreach: high-profile "carnival" culture debates (for example those targeting school curricula or social issues) and deeper economic-policy changes affecting services such as Head Start and child-care funding.
"We really wanna get out there and talk to people and let them know what we see happening and also, more importantly, to listen," Eutsinger said. She told the interviewer the group sees some policy moves as scapegoating that distract from addressing "the real economic problems" facing the state.
Eutsinger named partner organizations and several local Missoula supporters, including Women's Voices for the Earth, WORD, and Missoula Advocates For Social Justice. The community conversation format is framed as both education and listening tour; she said organizers hope to build a more unified progressive response to the Legislature.
No formal legislative action followed from the conversation announcement; the event was framed as grassroots organizing and public education.
Details in the interview: Missoula event — University Congregational Church, Feb. 11, 7 p.m.; partners include Montana NARAL, Montana Human Rights Network, Women's Voices for the Earth, WORD, and Missoula Advocates For Social Justice.
