A “trailer trash” mom launches a statewide ballot initiative

                                                                and shows lawmakers that neither healthcare nor democracy

                                                                should be for sale.

It Takes People

In 2000, Robin Acree, a single mom from rural Missouri, opened an advocacy center for poor families after years of battling local and state laws that reinforce the cycle of poverty.

When the Governor of Missouri cut down Medicaid health insurance for the poor, elderly and disabled, Acree rallied together other moms, friends and neighbors to lead a ballot initiative campaign to restore it. The group had sixteen weeks before the deadline to collect 120,000 registered voter signatures, equally distributed across at least six of the nine congressional districts that span the State. Labor officials and political professionals based in metropolitan St. Louis discouraged the group, telling them it would take millions of dollars to carry out the effort and that “it can’t be done with volunteers.”
 

It Takes People is a story about the audacity and courage of a group of “poor” American moms who, despite ridicule and betrayal, succeed in igniting a movement.

...A Documentary In Progress

Production of It Takes People To Get Things Done began on the eve of the grassroots campaign in late 2005.  Nearly twenty volunteers were involved in the production, with over a hundred hours of digital video captured.  More recently, extra interview material was filmed of the It Takes People Stars. 

Editing and music production began in March 2007 and continues as additional funding is secured to complete the post production. 

A release of the film is expected in 2008. 

       Produced, Written and Directed by D.J. Espinosa

         Produced by D.J. Espinosa, Brenda Procter and Virginia Bzdek

         Music by Antonio Williams, Curly Joe Harper and D.J. Espinosa

© 2007 Querido Laberinto Films