Town Hall Meetings Address Health Disparities, Sept. 12, 13, 17, & 25

Illinois State University researchers will conduct a series of town hall meetings in Bloomington-Normal during September to gather information on racial and ethnic health disparities.  The town hall meetings are being sponsored by Illinois State’s Center for Healthy, Safe, and High Performing Schools and the Illinois Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education (ISOPHE).

The town hall meetings, which are open to the public, will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at the Baby Fold, 612 Oglesby, Normal; Thursday, Sept. 13 at the McLean County AIDS Task Force, 313 N. Main, Bloomington; Monday, Sept. 17 at Project OZ, 1105 W. Front, Bloomington; and Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Heartland Head Start, 206 Stillwell, Bloomington.  All meetings will take place at 6 p.m. 

Community members are encouraged to attend the meetings to provide input on issues concerning access to healthcare resources by minority residents in Bloomington-Normal.  Discussions during the meetings will focus on issues such as community health needs for minority residents, economic and cultural issues surrounding health care, and ways to enhance access to health care. 

The information on health issues and trends gathered during the community dialogues will be compiled and presented to the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) for use in better understanding health needs among minority populations and promoting public health policies to meet those needs.

Funding for the town hall meetings is provided by a grant from SOPHE, an international professional association of health education professionals and students that promotes research on the theory and practice of health education.