The COVID-19 pandemic has tested the ability of government and public health officials to effectively communicate complex COVID-19 information to a diverse public audience. At the same time, multiple other common sources of information (and misinformation) have caused confusion and mistrust of official messaging. Expert panelists discuss the roles of public health officials, mainstream and social media, and efforts to counter misinformation throughout the population.

This Community Health Roundtable aired on NPR Illinois on Dec. 13, 2021.

The University of Illinois Springfield Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free public webinar titled “Overcoming Misinformation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mainstream and Social Media, Public Health, and Outreach to the General Public and Disadvantaged Populations” at noon Friday via Zoom.

New data offers a glimpse as to how Sangamon County residents are feeling during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

University of Illinois Springfield published its biennial citizen survey on Tuesday. Similar to its 2019 findings, there was an even split among the 726 survey respondents on whether Sangamon County is headed in the right direction.

WHAT: Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, will explore health equity, not only in definition, but also how equity looks in practice. She will also highlight the state’s health improvement plan to identify key issues and action steps to address health equity in Illinois as well as discuss the impacts of COVID-19 related to health care access, health disparities and building trust in Illinois communities.

The University of Illinois Springfield and the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation (ILBCF) Speaker Series will discuss “Dismantling Systemic Racism through Education and Workforce Development Reform” during a Zoom virtual event from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 7.

The third session in the speaker series will focus on Pillar II of the Caucus’s policy pillars, which aims to reform education and workforce development by improving early childhood through adult learning.

The University of Illinois Springfield Survey Research Office has released the results of the 2021 Sangamon County Citizen Survey. The survey is funded by the United Way of Central Illinois, the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln and the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership.

The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub, UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free virtual public webinar titled “Bats, monkeys and dogs, oh my!” at Noon Friday, Sept. 17 via Zoom.

The University of Illinois Springfield and the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Foundation (ILBCF) Speaker Series will discuss “Tackling Criminal Justice Reform and Police Accountability” during a Zoom virtual event from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26.

The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub, UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free virtual public webinar titled “Back to School During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Delta Variant, the Policy Response and Our School Nurses on the Front Lines” at Noon Friday, Aug. 20 via Zoom.

The UIS Center for Lincoln Studies hosts a conversation on a locally produced Civil War documentary, Our Cause Is Just. It is produced by Zak Luken, a local Lincoln College student in collaboration with Ron Keller, director of the the Abraham Lincoln Center for Character Development and the Lincoln Heritage Museum.