Event details:

Millions of people who work hard and play by the rules are still out of jobs, out of luck, and out of time. Homelessness is on the rise in almost every city. The richest 1 percent continues to grow, keeping about 95 percent of any newly generated wealth. Where do people turn for help? To 211, a crisis line for people at the end of their rope.

American Winter, a film by Emmy winning directors Joe and Harry Ganz, features struggling families who called into the 211 social services hotline in search of help during the depths of the recession in the winter of 2012. Framed through the very personal stories of eight families, American Winter reveals the devastating fallout of the mortgage meltdown, unemployment, the health care crisis and a shrinking social safety net. As you see the world from these eight families’ shoes, the battle against the selfish few who make record profits while crushing working families becomes all the more clear.

This isn’t just about what’s going wrong, but also what it would take for things to be going right again for these families and millions of others.

After the movie, we’ll have a discussion about how to make potential solutions a reality right here in East King County. When neighbors and community members come together to learn that our economic strength doesn’t come from the top down, but from the middle out and bottom up, we can make the economy stronger for all.