Community Connections: Re-envisioning Welfare in Alamance County – Jan. 14

Join the conversation about living with the help of public assistance and the importance of re-envisioning welfare in the local and national communities at the Paramount Theater on Front Street in downtown Burlington.

Re-envisioning Welfare in Alamance County
Thursday, January 14

7-8:15 p.m., Paramount Theater, Downtown Burlington (128 E. Front Street)

Welfare is a hot-button issue for many in the United States but untangling fiction from truth, and perception from reality, can be difficult.

Elon University’s Community Connections program and the (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News – in cojunction with Elon’s Program for Ethnographic Research & Community Studies (PERCS) – will explore the many ways that public assistance is perceived and utilized in Alamance County as the region continues its transformation from a textile manufacturing hub to a service economy.

Admission is free. The panelists for the discussion are:

  • Tracy Salisbury, executive director, Open Door Clinic
  • Nikki Ratliff, program services director, Burlington Housing Authority
  • Michelle Poole, economic support program manager, Department of Social Services
  • Tom Mould, professor of anthropology and folklore, Elon University
  • April Durr, director of Community Impact, United Way
  • Kim Crawford, executive director, Allied Churches of Alamance County

The moderator will be Assistant Professor Jason Husser.

Community Connections forums take on a lively format. They consist in large part of a well-informed panel having an open conversation with audience members.

The goal of Community Connections forums is to create thoughtful dialog with members of the university community as well as those who in live in Alamance County and the surrounding area. Previous forums have explored issues surrounding on race relations, domestic violence, hunger, downtown revitalization, health care, gun violence and education.

For more information, visit the “Voices of Welfare” blog at http://blogs.elon.edu/voicesofwelfare. Additional details of the program can be found on the Times-News website.