A Longmont woman is working with a Denver-area collective of community organizers to help people spurred by the presidential election be more civically engaged.
Mare Trevathan, an audiobook narrator who lives in Longmont, conceived of a Civics 101 class for adults in the Denver area.
“I put the call out on Facebook and within 90 minutes I had 100 yeses, so I said, ‘now I guess I have to make that,'” Trevathan said.
Trevathan said the group isn’t exactly partisan, but it would be inaccurate to characterize the group as right-wing.
“We are a bunch of concerned citizens. We are polypartisan but we are all deeply concerned with the new administration,” Trevathan said.
The idea is to teach people who are newly energized to engage in political activism the ropes.
“We’re trying to equip ourselves. We’re people who love research so we scour the internet and keep a keen eye on what are reliable sources, and what are primary sources and many people don’t love doing that. Many people are trying to do something with the fear and the anger they are experiencing in reaction to events since January,” Trevathan said.
Trevathan joined up with Said and Done, a new collective of community organizers founded by GeRee Anderson and Rebecca Aronuer, and set up an event in Denver and an event in Longmont.
The Longmont event, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Still Cellars, will cover the three branches of the federal government, the Bill of Rights and effective activism. The idea at the end of the session is to break into small working groups and practice calling senators, discussing politics with family members and de-escalating a confrontation at a protest, according to a news release.
Thursday’s free event is long sold out, however. Trevathan said she put the RSVP form online on Friday and the 49 spots were snapped up by Sunday.
Trevathan said she and her husband, Eryc Eyl, will be setting up more sessions after the response they received on this first event.
“We’re going to be scheduling more of these and sort of piloting it on Thursday. We want to see if it feels right to have small work groups … and perhaps crystallizing some how-to guide,” Trevathan said.
Trevathan is putting on another similar Denver event on Feb. 22 but it is also full.
“We had 60-something people RSVP in Denver and ideally it would be about 40,” Trevathan said, adding that they are counting on some no-shows since it is a free event.
Trevathan said she wants to teach people how to be civically engaged in the most effective way.
“Most of us have not paid careful attention to civics since eighth grade and maybe not even then,” Trevathan said.
Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci
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