3/17/2025

Hello NWA Community,

Thanks for being interested in our 'Empty Chair' Town Hall meeting to be held on March 22, 2025.  We want to explain a bit more about the meeting and to set expectations for this event.

Background

Like many citizens in NWA, we repeatedly requested that our federal officials - Senator Cotton, Senator Boozman, and Rep. Womack - would hold an in-person town hall meeting here in NWA during the current congressional recess.  We did not get a commitment, or in most cases even a response, that they would do this. Finally our group, Indivisible NWA, decided to step-up to put a Town Hall together.   

It's important to understand a few things:

1.  Indivisible NWA is a very new group, started in December 2024, and has been growing exponentially as (we assume) people have gotten more frustrated with what is happening in government.  We have three volunteer co-leaders, and many great volunteers, but quite frankly, the growth of our group has been overwhelming! 

2. We are not professional activists or event planners.  We are ordinary citizens that want to DO something to make democratic change.  We do not yet have extensive knowledge or infrastructure to support explosive growth or large events, so we appreciate your patience as we learn how to DO democracy together.

About the Town Hall

It is important to know that, although we have invited our federal officials to attend, we have not gotten a commitment from any of them.  That is what 'empty chair' means -- it is likely none of them will be at the Town Hall.  We will have a program with some good speakers talking about how the current administration is affecting the issues, and some question & answer time.  This is not a protest, rally, or march.  For everyone's safety, no protest signs will be allowed in the hall or on church grounds.   Good Shepherd is not a large venue, so seating and parking is very limited. 

We do have some wonderful volunteers who will be streaming the program live on Instagram and Facebook:

• Instagram:  indivisiblenwa

• Facebook:  Indivisible NWA Sharing (you may need to join)

If you plan to attend, please be sure you understand the following:

• Everyone is welcome but seating is limited.

• This is an ‘empty chair’ Town Hall. There will likely be no federal officials attending this meeting.  This is not an opportunity to yell at your congressmen -- they won't be there -- and rowdy folks will be asked to leave.

• A Town Hall is not a protest or rally.  No signs allowed inside or on church premises.

• We are in a rented facility.  Please be respectful of the church's building and grounds.  Any protesting must be on the public sidewalk and easement, not on church grounds.

• You may watch a live stream on Instagram at indivisiblenwa   or on our public Facebook  Indivisible NWA Sharing  (you may need to join).

• This is a non-partisan event.  Please be respectful of our presenters. They have volunteered their time to be here.

• If you have questions during the event, look for the event volunteers with name tags.

We appreciate all the interest that this event seems to be generating (again, we know this is because of frustration with our elected officials!).   If you have questions, please contact me at indivisiblenwa1@gmail.com  and I will respond as quickly as possible.

Best,

Kate Burkes

for co-leaders Lisa and Jan