TONIGHT!

The Greater Hardwick Area Community Forum Committee will host a forum on the topic "Income Inequality Affects Us All" in Hardwick tonight at 7 p.m. at the Hazen Union High School cafeteria. In Vermont, and across the country, statistics show that while the incomes of the very wealthy are rising rapidly, those of everyone else are staying the same or going down.

Paul Cillo of the Public Assets Institute will present data about the current state of economic equity in Vermont, followed by a panel of local community members on the impacts of the growing income disparity in our communities, schools and health care systems. There will be time for questions and discussion, as well as information about local resources and ways to address the challenges this growing disparity is causing. Light refreshments will be provided.

Questions to be considered by the panelists include: How do the impacts of the growing disparity in income show up in real ways in our community? What are the challenges we face as a result of these? And how can we work together to address these challenges in constructive ways?

Kathy Hemmens will serve as moderator. Panelists are Eric Erwin, principal of Lakeview Union School in Greensboro, Brendan Buckley, M.D., Hardwick Area Health Center, and Gwen Marsha, a community member who has taken a personal vow of poverty until our economy can be more equitable.

Sponsors include the Center for an Agricultural Economy, Northern Counties Health Care, the Hardwick Area Food Pantry, St. John's Episcopal Church, and the Caledonia-Southern Essex Accountable Health Community.

For more information, contact CAE Community Programs Manager Bethany Dunbar at bethany@hardwickagriculture.org or (802) 472-5362 ext. 204