When the Women's Convention comes to Detroit in October, it'll offer activism training, sessions on civic engagement, tips for how to run for office and how to "get real about fighting intersecting forms of oppression."

The conference, set for Oct. 27-29 at Detroit's Cobo Center, aims to take on social injustice, upholding the feminist nonviolent resistance principles of the Women's March, which is organizing the event.

The theme is "Reclaiming Our Time," a spin on the words of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who will speak at the convention. It is expected to bring as many as 5,000 women and their supporters to the city.

It will include training for first-time and experienced activists, teaching civic engagement, including lobbying and grassroots advocacy and how to run for public office; issues-based education and skills training on everything from public speaking to digital organizing, effective writing, safety training, self-care and anti-racism workshops.

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'Reclaiming Our Time' theme of Women's Convention

"Women hold intersecting identities and are impacted by multiple issues at once; all issues are women’s issues. More than ever, we must learn not only about the individual problems of sexism, racism, classism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia — we must understand how they intersect," the Women's March posted on its convention website.

Other than Waters, it's unclear who the headliners and speakers will be or which musicians will perform at the social justice concert planned for Oct. 28.

Laura Kotasek, 45, of Oxford said last week she was considering buying a ticket to the convention, but first wanted to learn more about the lineup of events.

"The march so far has inspired so many grassroots movements," said Kotasek, who attended the Women's March on Washington and is a member of the North Oakland Democratic Club. "Hopefully, this will, too.

"After the election, I was really upset and thought the Women’s March might help motivate me to want to get more involved. I was actually afraid to go to Washington, but so many men, women and children came together and had such a positive impact. We showed the current administration that we’re not for what he (Donald Trump) stands for and we don’t like it."

Michigan gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer, who is running as a Democrat in the 2018 election, said she plans to attend.

Whitmer, a former state representative and state senator, told the Free Press last week that she hoped to be among the speakers or play some other role in the event's programming.

"I’m not sure at this point in time, but yeah, I’d love to be," said Whitmer, who was a headliner at January's Women's March on Lansing and spoke last week to the North Oakland Democratic Club at a meeting in Lake Orion.

"As I get around the state one of the things that’s really most interesting is how many of the organizations are led by women and organized by women. From Black Lives Matter to immigration rallies to science marches to Women’s Marches," she said.

Sheryl Pittswolff, 66, of Freeport, Ill., bought her ticket to the convention in August, as soon as she heard it was coming to Detroit. So did three of her friends.

"I wanted the opportunity to reconnect with people who had been involved with the Women's March before, and too, I guess, be reinvigorated to learn," she said.

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But as time passed and few details emerged about specifically what would be offered to those who attend, Pittswolff grew nervous. She was concerned because the price of tickets seemed high — $295 for adults and $125 for students — and she would have to make an even bigger investment with hotel and travel expenses.

Earlier this week, she e-mailed Women's March and asked for a refund for her group.

"I expressed my concern over there not being any more explanation of what’s going to happen or even if it was actually going to happen," she said. "We knew the date for being eligible to get a refund, and unless we knew more about the event, we wanted our money back. We didn’t want to waste it."

She said Thursday she planned to review the programming outlined on the website.

"Now, I need to look at it and reconsider," Pittswolff said. "It sounds really great, but also like it's an awful lot to do in 2.5 days."

Nicole Breadon, 45, of Clarkston said she's excited about the convention. She's the chairwoman of the North Oakland Indivisible team, and is a MoveOn.org mobilizer.

An anonymous person paid for her convention ticket because she couldn't afford the nearly $300 registration fee.

"I think people are still on the fence about going because of the cost," Breadon said, noting, however, that having Waters as a speaker at the convention "will drum up attendance."

Keith B. Moon, 64, of Shiawassee County said he’s not going to the convention, though he doesn’t blame women who’d like to go.

“The whole Women’s March there, a lot of men were saying, ‘It’s nonsense.’ But it’s not. I’m not a woman, I don’t have babies. I don’t have to deal with that. … They’re not women. They don’t know," he said. "Women are at the bottom of the ladder. … They always get the short end of the stick.”

He said he voted for Trump in the 2016 election and doesn’t align himself with any particular political party. When he saw that tickets for the convention were $295, he said he thought “the price keeps out a lot of people.

“I think it should be free. … Women can’t afford to go there. If one of the platforms is economic empowerment, it really is over the edge. ... I don’t know any females where I live who are going to go to this. Look at the price. ... I can’t afford this. The free march earlier this year, that’s fine. … The price is just way out there.”

The Women's March acknowledged that convention tickets are costly and could be out of reach for many who'd like to come.

It created scholarship funds to help those with financial need. The deadline to apply for those scholarships has passed, though Women's March is still collecting donations to sponsor people for the convention through its CrowdRise page, https://www.crowdrise.com/marchforward.

So far, it has collected more than $145,000 toward its $500,000 goal. A separate scholarship fund was established in honor of Heather Heyer, the activist killed while protesting a white supremacist group in August in Charlottesville, Va.

Brea Baker, a Women's March national organizer who is overseeing scholarships for the convention, told the Free Press in an earlier interview that those who have applied for scholarships will be notified by e-mail.

"In our ideal world, we would like to be able to support everyone who applies," she said, noting that some applicants will be given more consideration, especially those with: financial need, people who are from Detroit or Michigan, and people from marginalized communities.

"This does not mean that if you do not fall into one of those three categories, you will not be chosen, but the scholarship was made for people with financial need in mind." Baker said. "We will be looking heavily at which people really have a lot to gain from being in that space, but couldn't be there without a scholarship."

To buy a ticket or see more details about programming for the Women's Convention, go to www.womensconvention.com.

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.