Overall Goals of the Forum
• Elevate community voices impacted by current federal and state policy.
• Foster public awareness on how this administration’s actions are affecting vulnerable populations.
• Create a platform for education, empowerment, and mobilization.
• Facilitate coalition-building among progressive leaders, organizations, and individuals.
• Collect feedback and stories from the community to guide future action.
Expectations for Speakers
• Speak from lived experience, subject-matter expertise, or frontline advocacy work.
• Address specific policy harms under the current administration as they relate to:
– Women’s rights and bodily autonomy
– Indigenous sovereignty and systemic neglect
– LGBTQ+ rights under attack
– Cuts or threats to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
– Federal worker layoffs and civil service purges
– Defunding and political interference in public education
– The criminalization of poverty and housing insecurity
– Inhumane immigration policies and ICE overreach
• Highlight how these policies manifest locally.
• Present calls to action—what the audience can do next.
Audience Engagement Guidelines
• Keep space safe, inclusive, and trauma-informed.
• Encourage respectful dialogue rooted in curiosity or concern, not hostility.
• Provide comment cards or a QR code for anonymous submissions.
• Invite attendees to share their own stories or testimonials in designated sections.
• Facilitate breakout moments (if possible) for deeper conversation.
What We Hope to Achieve
• Document personal stories and public testimony that can be used to advocate for change at the local, state, and federal level.
• Spark renewed political engagement and grassroots energy in the face of apathy or despair.
• Build and strengthen alliances with tribal leaders, educators, healthcare workers, LGBTQ advocates, immigrant families, and more.
• Equip community members with tangible tools and next steps (resources, voter info, protest dates, mutual aid, etc.).
• Pressure local officials and policymakers by showing unified concern and shared values across multiple communities
MAP OF SCHOOL OF MINES CAMPUS CLASSROOM BUILDING 204
