Community members gathered to learn about how to better access public records and how to find out when public meetings are being held.

The event, The People Have The Power: Making a Difference in your Community, covered these aspects during its lecture and questionnaire session.

The event was hosted by the Ames Tribune and the Iowa State Daily.

Kathleen Richardson, director and associate professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Drake University, was the keynote speaker at the event.

Richardson spoke about the importance of being involved in your local government, and taking the time to educate yourself on local issues.

“I don’t think we have a whole lot of education in this area, we don’t really cover this in civic classes for people,” Richardson said. “Unless somebody has made the effort to go out and get information and attend meetings, they don’t realize what’s available to them.”

Richardson pointed out that to be further involved with your local government, you could always attend your local city council meetings. She said that a citizen may not always have the right to speak at these meetings, but most organizations will let you speak if you just simply ask.

“The more knowledge a citizen has about the things going on, the more informed decisions a person can make about voting,” Richardson said. “Information is a very powerful thing in a democracy.”

As this is in its second year, the event intends to get people more involved and up-to-date with all of the issues in local government.

Chris Mudge, executive director of the Iowa Newspaper Association, sees having an understanding of all the issues as almost being a full time job in it of itself.

“With other jobs, how can citizens still be involved with local government?” Mudge said. “There is overall a sense of apathy towards local government today.”