A national conversation on economic security is planned for early next week. News/Talk 960’s Timothy Martin explains.
News release from City of Roanoke:
Roanoke, VA — Citizens are invited to join a national conversation on how to achieve future economic security at forums co-sponsored by the City of Roanoke, in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy. The discussions will take place on Tuesday, March 1, and there are two opportunities to participate on that date: from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Roanoke Higher Education Center, 108 North Jefferson St., Room 709; or from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Virginia Western Community College, Natural Sciences Center, 3102 Colonial Ave. SW. To register, contact Scott Tate, Extension Specialist at Virginia Cooperative Extension, by email — atate1@vt.edu or by phone — (540) 231-9423.
Participants will consider and discuss three approaches to economic security presented in the issue booklet, Economic Security: How Should We Take Charge of Our Future. Once registered, participants will receive the issue booklet electronically a few days before the discussions on March 1. Those interested are asked to please register early.
Participants can engage questions of how we should save, work together, and grow our way out of the recession. Deliberation on the issues is nonpartisan and encourages diverse viewpoints. The forums will be facilitated by Scott Tate, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and Larkin Dudley, Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy.
According to Larkin Dudley, Southeastern coordinator for the Kettering Foundation, “This spring of 2011, forums are being held all across the United States from Oregon to Florida in most of the 50 states. The insights from these deliberations will be shared with national leaders in Washington, DC in May of 2011.”
The format avoids the polarized political process that too often dominates our national airwaves and other communication channels. Public thinking and insights on the issue of economic security are essential and the information generated from the forums held across the nation will offer policymakers the people’s views on the key economic security issues that are high on the public agenda. These are issues important to individuals, families, and communities and are ones they are willing to act on in partnership with policy and legislative leaders at all levels of government.
According to Bo Beaulieu, Director, Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State, “We all want the voices of Southerners to be part of the chorus of people and regions discussing economic security. These conversations offer a rare opportunity to communicate what people in the South view as their unique opportunities and challenges—perspectives that we want to share with state, regional, and national policymakers.”
