People interested in issues confronting the Greater Cincinnati community are regulars at the cathedral's Community Issues Forum from September through May. It takes place in the cathedral's lower level (the undercroft) every other Thursday at noon. The forums are free and open to all, and all programs include time for questions and answers. Attendees may bring their own lunch or buy one at the cathedral for $5.50.

Upcoming Programs

January 12: "Beyond the City Budget: What to Expect in the Coming Year." Milton Dohoney, Jr., Cincinnati City manager, speaker.

After balancing this year's budget with a one time $14-million payment from Convergys, the city will begin a new round of attempting to find revenues to pay for existing services. Will the emerging Banks and streetcar projects be a boost to the city's development? What new challenges face the city administration in 2012? City manager Dohoney will touch on these questions and more in his presentation.

January 26: "CoreChange: An Exciting New Initiative." Dr. Victor Garcia, speaker.

Dr. Victor Garcia is a pediatric surgeon and founding director of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Trauma Service. He works at the end of a chain of events that all too often bring young men and women who have been shot or assaulted, and premature babies with life threatening surgical diseases, to his operating table. He has been left feeling a growing sense of frustration and helplessness in the face of the violence and death of so many young people. His subsequent exploration and study of the root causes of inner city violence and related disparities of premature disease and death of infants led him to look at the urban community's assets as sources of solutions otherwise unimaginable.

In this program, Dr. Garcia will discuss the need for CoreChange in our inner-city neighborhoods. He will be announcing his plans for a CoreChange summit, a three-day event in February designed to fuse together institutional and community expertise to produce solutions that cannot be imagined otherwise. The summit will bring together residents and leaders to create bold new solutions that bring prosperity and health to our region through the people and neighborhoods of the urban core.

Dr. Garcia's presentation at this Community Issues Forum is co-sponsored by Elementz, Cincinnati's youth center for hip hop and respect, who has enjoyed continuous support from Christ Church Cathedral since its founding in 2005.

February 9: TBA

February 23: TBA

March 8: TBA

March 22: TBA

April 5: TBA

April 19: TBA

May 3: TBA

May 17: TBA

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