'Captain America' star discusses civics education nonprofit at Headliners Luncheon
Actors Chris Evans, who is best known for starring in the movie "Captain America," wants to help more Americans become informed voters, he told a National Press Club audience Monday, Jan. 29.
Evans and Mark Kassen, an actor, producer and director, appeared at a Headliners Luncheon to discuss their civics education-focused nonprofit, A Starting Point.
The impetus behind creating the organization was to "shine a light on certain issues and create more civic engagement," Evans said. "I think we both felt that more good could come from creating a mechanism, a platform, where it's about engagement, it's about education...[and] demystifying issues to create a government that more accurately reflects who we are."
The website showcases Evans and Kassen interviewing cabinet officials, lawmakers and among many other things, discussing pressing issues.
Club President Emily Wilkins asked Evans to elaborate on how the website differs from the news media.
"Sure. Mark [Kassen] loves this line. It's a great one," Evans said. "We aren't news. We are information."
Wilkins pushed back: "But we as news like to think of ourselves as information."
The website concentrates on the basics rather than providing more in-depth analysis the way a news publication might do, Evans said.
"We aren't coming from a place of drafting long-form information predicated on previous events...[that allows a reader to] walk away with a theory," Evans said. "This is coming from the neophytes. To boil it down...for those trying to find just introductions. Just a basic understanding. That's how it's slightly separate" from news.
They aim to provide context to the news by including lawmakers' voices and defining some complicated subjects by doing "explainers and [working] with other folks to help create," Kassen said.
The website's collaboration with lawmakers is helping it reach more voters, Kassen said.
"The more the elected officials found that they got more feedback from participating in the site, the more their constituents began to pay attention to us," Kassen said. "The best thing we have done is, quite frankly, work with other organizations that are committed to this for many, many years."
A Starting Point brands itself as a nonpartisan website that stands to provide just "information." Evans says he has expressed his disdain for Trump-era policies in the past and doesn't want anyone to think they are pushing an agenda.
"The nature of the site is bipartisan," Evans said. "The nature of the site is information-based and not my opinion. I'm not an expert. I'm not a journalist. I have no right to be in this arena other than as a voter. As an American who wants to just play on the one string I have, which is my voice, as we all should."
With the 2024 election continuing to heat up, Kassen said they can be a resource for individuals by telling them about their polling places, making it easier for them to participate without feeling embarrassed for not understanding a complicated process.