Ridgefielders Make an ImpaCT

Over two hundred residents of Ridgefield and neighboring towns turned up for ImpaCT’s 7 PM start time at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday, "a night of action and conversation in response to recent Supreme Court rulings," according to organizers Glori Norwitt and Jessica Mancini.

Everything from voting rights to gun violence prevention was discussed; invited guests including CWEALF’s Janée Woods Weber, Planned Parenthood’s Amanda Skinner, Yale Law Lecturer Katie Kraschel, CT Against Gun Violence’s Jeremy Stein, former CT Election Director Peggy Reeves, and NYU Law's Katie Friel all spoke on the topic. Given only ten minutes each, each speaker all effectively informed the crowd of voting rights, harrowing statistics, and American legal history, encouraging action.

In addition to the featured speeches, audience members had the opportunity to ask questions during a Q & A session. One inquirer mentioned, "I learn by asking, and I love that these great people came out to help spread these important messages and answer our questions." Glori Norwitt and Jessica Mancini also took to the stage to emphasize their reasoning for creating this event, looking for a way to not make "one day of action," but to both inform the public and encourage people to speak up and remain politically involved simultaneously.

After a successful presentation, men, women, and children of all ages flooded the Ridgefield Playhouse's lobby to browse through various "action tables", of which there were a whopping sixteen stations. At each station was a concrete donating or volunteering opportunity, allowing for enthusiastic visitors to sign up to do everything from writing postcards to unregistered voters, compiling safer sex kits, and hosting house parties for an informative discussion.

Though Ms. Norwitt is unsure whether this event will be a recurring one, she encourages anyone and everyone to volunteer for whatever cause they may be passionate about, and to create an impact.