I am a suburban mom, as is Kim Barbaro. We share similar reasons for standing up, showing up, and speaking out; the vital importance of maintaining democracy in our country, beginning at the local, grassroots level.
Barbaro is a powerhouse who acknowledges being an introvert and needing to rise to the occasion and let her voice be heard when her son required additional support from the medical and school systems. What she found when she attended school board meetings in the district were that things were disturbingly amiss, and she knew she needed to up her level of involvement, which eventually led her to joining Red Wine & Blue.
Please share the origin of TroubleNation.
TroubleNation is a program started by Red Wine & Blue, a powerful grassroots network of half a million diverse suburban women working together to defeat extremism. Red Wine & Blue offers resources to learn about the issues impacting our communities, and provides ways to take action and get involved, primarily by training our members on relational (aka “friend to friend”) organizing. Suburban women have unique relationships and networks – we live rich, complex lives. Sharing our stories and having conversations about what matters most to us can be phenomenally impactful.
Red Wine & Blue was founded in 2019 by Katie Paris, an Ohio suburban mom, after feeling a personal responsibility to mobilize other suburban moms to do their part. Initially focused on building a network of women in Ohio, we expanded nationally in 2021, and now have organizers on the ground in each of our target states: Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Read more about Kim and TroubleNation on the Buckscountybeacon.com