MoveOn Event Focuses on Community First

April 28, 2004

On Thursday, April 22, MoveOn, the grassroots civic action group, held a community forum at Women & Children First bookstore in Chicago as part of its unique spring book tour to promote MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change (Inner Ocean). More than 75 people attended the event, which was hosted by Women & Children co-owner Ann Christophersen, and MoveOn member and Newtopia magazine publisher Charles Shaw. The evening included talks from MoveOn contributors Mary Rickard and Naomi Warren, followed by a discussion of the local economic impact of independent retailers, with Matt Cunningham of the Civic Economics and Ellen Shepard, executive director of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce.

For the book tour, MoveOn and Inner Ocean have been holding community forum events at a number of independent bookstores. Christophersen reported that, when MoveOn asked if she was interested in holding an event, "they said they could provide the local MoveOn contributors to come to the event and that we could focus on anything after [the contributors spoke]. We talked about [the local economic impact of] independents versus chains…. We drew heavily on the Austin study, ['An Analysis of the Potential Economic Impact of Austin Unchained']," which was conducted by Civics Economics and released over a year ago. At present, she added, Civic Economics is conducting a local economic impact study in Andersonville, the Chicago neighborhood where Women & Children First is located.

The recent opening of a 25,000-square-foot Borders just a mile from Women & Children First helped spur the discussion, Christophersen said, noting that her bookstore is sandwiched among eight superstores. Attempts to stop Borders from coming to her ward were too late, she added.

Still, the topic of how residents can have a say in the development of their own community was not only timely, but perfect for the MoveOn event. "We talked about … the general idea about being proactive and grassroots organizing to approach the subject," she said. "What are the strategies that you can use to keep your neighborhood rich in local businesses?"

In addition, while the MoveOn book provides a rich source of information on grassroots activism, Christophersen, who is president of ABA, stressed that she relied heavily on the association's trade Web site BookWeb.org for information about independent businesses. "I want booksellers to know that [BookWeb.org's] Industry Newsroom 'Main Street Alliances/Advocacy Issues' has really useful information in it," she said. "I made a lot of use of materials [on the Web site] in thinking through and organizing [the April 22 event with MoveOn]."

To promote the event, Women & Children First also culled from "Main Street Alliances/Advocacy Issues" to create a four-page flier, which included a store promo on the front and back, and "inside, we had [information] on the threat to independents -- we took a lot from the Industry Newsroom," she said.

MoveOn also provided publicity for the event. "MoveOn was very helpful and good to work with," Christophersen told BTW. "They sent an e-mail to MoveOn members [regarding the event] -- that's good publicity.... If people are interested in doing a program like this, get in touch with MoveOn, and [they] will support it."

For more about MoveOn, visit www.moveon.org. --David Grogan

Topics: About Bookstores, About ABA, News - Bookselling,