Millikin University welcomed community leaders to campus on March 16 for a "Conversation on Childhood Poverty" held in Albert Taylor Theatre inside Shilling Hall. The conversation explored why childhood poverty matters to all of us including its impact on schools, employers, neighborhoods and the long-term future of Macon County.
The panel included Mary Garrison, associate professor of social work at Millikin University; Gail Evans, executive director of Decatur-Macon County Opportunities Corp.; Tanya Andricks, CEO of Crossing Healthcare; Ed Moyer, chief instructional officer for Decatur public schools; and Ryan McCrady, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County.
The panel also included Robert D. Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and best-selling author. Putnam presented Millikin's 2016 T.W. Samuels Lecture on March 16 in Kirkland Fine Arts Center.
Mary Garrison set the stage by reporting that 26.3 percent of Macon County's children are living in poverty compared to 20.1 percent in Illinois.
Ed Moyer drew an applause from the audience when he talked about how higher expectations "for children and for ourselves" would go a long way toward improving educational outcomes.
Robert Putnam praised the panelists for engaging in one of the most "sophisticated conversations" he's heard on the topic in his 18 months of speaking around the country.
"I'm enormously encouraged by what I've heard here," Putnam said. "If enough people in Decatur work very hard and spend enough time to fix this problem over the next couple years, we can do this."
Professor Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the British Academy, and is past president of the American Political Science Association. He has received numerous scholarly honors, including the Skytte Prize, the most prestigious global award in political science, and the National Humanities Medal, the nation's highest honor for contributions to the humanities.
Professor Putnam has written 14 books including "Bowling Alone" and "Making Democracy Work," both among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century. His 2010 book, "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us," co-authored with David E. Campbell, won the American Political Science Association's 2011 Woodrow Wilson award as the best book in political science.
The topic of Professor Putnam's presentation on March 16 was "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis."
Click the following links to view coverage of the panel discussion from WSOY-AM and the Herald & Review.