Oak Ridge Today

Community forum on immigration is Thursday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

De Ann Pendry

De Ann Pendry

There will be a community forum on immigration in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

A press release said the forum will provide information on how immigration has been affected by current politics and the issue of living without documentation in Oak Ridge.

The main speaker will be De Ann Pendry, a senior lecturer and adjunct assistant professor in anthropology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The forum is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in the sanctuary at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The forum is free, and the public is invited, the press release said. It’s sponsored by Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge, or WIDOR; Oak Ridge Interfaith Partnership, or ORIP and the League of Women Voters, or LWV. [Read more…]

Community forum on homelessness in Anderson County on Tuesday

Posted at
By 2 Comments

Torch Logo

A Tuesday evening forum in Oak Ridge will focus on homelessness in Anderson County.

The free forum is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 18, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The forum has been organized by the Trinity Out-Reach Center of Hope, or TORCH, and ORUUC. It will bring together experts from social service agencies and the wider community for a panel discussion to explore how a 10-year plan to help reduce and alleviate homelessness could be effective in Anderson County, a press release said. [Read more…]

ET hospitals, health departments sponsor community forum on Ebola

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Ebola Virus

A colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealing some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion.
(Photo credit: Frederick A. Murphy/Public Health Image Library (PHIL))

All the hospital systems and facilities in the Knoxville area have joined with the Knox County Health Department to sponsor an unprecedented community forum to educate the public about Ebola and address any questions and concerns about the disease, a press release said.

The East Tennessee Health Forum on Ebola is open to the public and will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 21, in the auditorium on the lower level of the Knoxville Convention Center. Parking will be available in the Poplar Street parking lot across Cumberland Avenue from the center and free in city garages, including nearby Locust Street Garage.

Medical experts from the Knox County Health Department, Blount Memorial Hospital, Covenant Health, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, TeamHealth, Tennova Health System, and the University of Tennessee Medical Center will discuss the disease, its treatment, and the measures being taken to protect the public. [Read more…]

Community forum: Not in Our Town

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Valerie Hughes

Valerie Hughes

The founder and executive director of an Oak Ridge chapter of the national Not In Our Town organization will be the featured speaker at a community forum in September.

The “Not in Our Town” presentation by Valerie Holland Hughes will start at 11 a.m. Monday, September 8, at Grace Covenant Church. It’s sponsored by the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue.

Grace Covenant Church is at 320 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge.

Hughes began working to establish the Oak Ridge group just over a year ago, a press release said. Her goal has been to ensure that Oak Ridge is a community that models “safety, acceptance, and inclusion as an effective method to address hatred, bullying, and violence.”

The press release said Hughes and NIOT members in Oak Ridge traveled to Billings, Montana, birthplace of the movement 20 years ago, to attend a national gathering of NIOT chapters from June 20-24. [Read more…]