Conversations toward Social Change – Inspiring Stories from the Public Health Sector and Beyond #hjctforum

This has been the year for social media around the globe, from Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, Twitter, FaceBook, and online blogging has reshaped the advocacy and activism landscape.

This Thursday, November 10, 2011, 5:30 p.m.  to 7:30 p.m. a community forum on new media will be hosted by (us!) Health Justice CT at the Mark Twain House, located at 351 Farmington Avenue in Hartford.   The purpose of the community forum is to share best practices on how public discourse through social media can mobilize and connect communities for social change.

As a journalist, writer, and public speaker, Mark Twain is one of America’s most famous humorists and is recognized for his social commentary. For this reason The Mark Twain House is a great backdrop to have a dialogue on social media engagement and a discussion about how organizations and individuals can effectively use new communications technologies to encourage public discourse and action on important social issues, such as inequalities in healthcare.

By utilizing social media as a communications and conversation channel, communities can be galvanized around important social issues. The Health Justice CT public forum will share best practices for using social media for social change, particularly how to drive social change around public health issues.

Panelists include: Elizabeth Carger from Olson Zaltman Associates,  Brandon Frame from The Black Man Can, Aldon Hynes from Community Health Center, Inc., Craig Lefebvre from Social Shift, with Raja Staggers-Hakim from the Connecticut Commission on Health Equity serving as the program’s facilitator.

We are so pleased to host this high caliber of experts for this discussion. Each panelist will bring a different perspective and insights to the conversation, and we hope to have a vibrant dialogue with community members.  Central to our work is the belief that communities themselves hold the power to address and find solutions for important social issues.

The event is free and open to the public, and will feature communications experts and community leaders from local and national organizations. Appetizers will be served. Space is limited, so preregistration is requested; please register here.

Follow the conversation virtually on Twitter via the hashtag #HJCTforum. Visit http://www.twitter.com and enter #HJCTforum in the search box to follow the discussion. Questions and comments can be submitted live to Health Justice CT (@healthjusticect) using a Twitter account.

Event Details

WHAT: Conversations toward Social Change: Inspiring Stories from the Public Health  Sector and Beyond

WHO: Health Justice CT
WHEN: Thursday, November 10th, 2011
5:30pm–7:30pm

WHERE: The Mark Twain House
351 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105

 Image credit: (1) Waylay Designs (2) Missouri Division of Tourism under creative common license