Great Cities Winter Forum Addresses 'The Healthy City'

Newswise — Public health will be among the topics explored at the Dec. 2 Great Cities Winter Forum at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Organized by UIC's Great Cities Institute, the 11-year-old forum draws hundreds of policy experts to assess the state of cities.

This year's theme, "The Healthy City: People, Place and Policy," reflects the connections among personal, environmental and institutional health. Topics will include response to natural disasters, the relationship of race and education to health, and institutional capacity to maintain healthy cities.

"Winter Forum 2005 builds on a decade-long tradition of forums that have become, in a sense, annual 'town-hall meetings' of recognized experts, academics, community leaders and citizens interested in urban change," said David Perry, director of the Great Cities Institute.

Chicago Public Radio's Steve Edwards, host of "Eight Forty-Eight," will open the forum by moderating a panel discussion, which will be broadcast Dec. 4 on WBEZ 91.5 FM.

Speakers will include:

--Keynote speaker: Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Columbia University, author of "Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It."

--Aida Giachello, associate professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC, and one of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America.

--Gregory Hodge, member, Board of Education of the Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, Calif., and youth development consultant.

--Michelle Obama, vice president, Community and External Affairs, University of Chicago Hospitals.

--Susan Scrimshaw, dean, UIC School of Public Health.

--John Wimer, chief operations officer, National Energy Management Institute, Alexandria, Va.

Each forum offers a series of open discussions. This year, participants will consider what makes cities function as healthy places "where all residents live vibrant lives, where all communities find political, economic, and social meaning, and where the health sector, in particular, and public policy, at an urban scale, realize full value in the service of the city," Perry said.

Admission is $15 for students; $35 for all others.

For the agenda and registration form, visit http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci/winterforum/

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.