UIS webinar series – “Policing and Community Health: How Behavioral Health Providers and the Community React and Respond"

WHAT:       The University of Illinois Springfield will host a webinar panel discussion to explore the connection between policing and health disparities in our own community.

This virtual Zoom webinar is free and open to the public. It is hosted by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and Community Health Roundtable for Springfield and Sangamon County.

WHEN:       12-1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, 2022

WHERE:    Register online at go.uis.edu/PolicingWebinar

DETAILS: The murder of George Floyd in May 2020, and other high-profile killings of Black men and women by law enforcement, prompted many communities, including Springfield, to examine their policing practices. At the same time, national health authorities have suggested that policing may contribute to chronic stress and health disparities in Black communities. These concerns led the Community Health Roundtable to explore this connection.

The result of The Roundtable’s deliberations is the Policing and Community Health: A Report by the Community Health Roundtable. The Report offers six recommendations to improve the relationships and trust between the Springfield Police Department and the Black community, which in turn will lessen the chronic stress that is known to contribute to the health disparities. 

The panel will feature Sara Anderson, Memorial Behavioral Health’s care coordinator and complex care management manager; Sunshine Clemons, local co-founder of Black Lives Matter SPI Chapter; and Deacon Derrick Stapleton, retired Illinois Department of Transportation cartographer. The panel discussion will be moderated by NPR Illinois Managing Editor Sean Crawford.

This webinar is the third in a series of UIS webinars planned on policing and community health. For more information, contact Molly Lamb at 217-206-8622 or mehle01s@uis.edu.