The Kingdom Center Church in Iowa City filled up with 100 people looking to learn about the caucuses. On the walls, signs read "Arabic," "French," "Lingala," "Swahili" and "Spanish" identifying interpreters who could help register voters and answer questions about the caucus.
"We have the different languages and we had the translations because we wanted people from different cultures and nationalities and language sets to be able to feel free and comfortable coming into an environment like this," said Gerri Allen, a founding member of the Kingdom Center Church. Listening to her congregation, she said the same people who are dissatisfied with the political order also tend to skip elections and caucuses because they feel their voices and votes are unimportant. "And so, hearing that feedback, particularly from a community of color. We thought we need to do something about that."