On March 31, Sen. Cory Booker took the Senate floor for what would become a record-breaking filibuster — surpassing segregationist Strom Thurmond’s decades-old mark. Among the stories he told was Kayanna Spooner’s.

Kayanna’s journey started at a CVI meeting, traveled through a Tim Walz town hall in Eau Claire, and now it was being read into the Congressional Record on the floor of the United States Senate. Her story reached national television twice on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell — first from the Walz event, and again when O’Donnell returned to the Booker filibuster — plus a segment on NPR.

A voice that local organizing surfaced became part of a historic national moment. That’s what happens when a grassroots group listens to its members and helps them be heard.