Join the Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council for this intra-generational community conversation featuring a dance performance by Global Girls, Inc., a South Side organization that empowers girls through the performing arts and a performance of “Unsolicited Encounters” by teen slam poets from Applied Arts Science Technology Academy (AASTA).

This conversation will explore the impact of race, gender violence and HIV/AIDS on the lives of young women and how these issues are connected. What are the parallels and differences between young women’s experiences here in Chicago and in Africa? How are young women fighting inequality and discrimination and what can we do to build urgency and awareness about the needs of young women locally and globally?

This conversation will be led by:

• Adaku Utah, a member of Females United for Action (FUFA) and youth organizer for the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
  
• Julie Lee Merseth, a researcher with the Black Youth Project and doctoral student in political science at the University of Chicago
  
• Lynette Jackson, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago
  
• Mardge Cohen, director of Women’s HIV Research at The CORE Center and co-founder of a clinic for women and their families living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda
  

This event is co-sponsored by Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Females United for Action, the Goodman Theatre, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, the Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, Women’s Equity in Access to Healthcare (WE-ACTx), and Young Chicago Authors.

Reservations are recommended and can be made via emailor phone at 312.422.5580. Groups from schools and youth organizations are encouraged to attend.

For more information, please call 312.422.5580.