Wayne State University will host a conference on promoting the well-being of children and youth in urban America on April 22-23, at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Wayne State campus in Detroit. This two day event is free of charge and open to the public.

This interactive event will bring together researchers, policy makers, donors and service providers to explore issues affecting children's well-being, especially in metropolitan Detroit, with the goal of setting an agenda for research at Wayne State directed at solving problems of children and their families in urban America. Prevention and risk reduction; violence, abuse and trauma; literacy and school readiness; obesity and health; and intergenerational involvement in children's development, are among the many issues that will be explored.

The Keynote speaker will be Jody Heymann, a professor at the Harvard University School of Public Health and founder of the Project on Global Working Families. The topic of her address will be the relationships between working conditions and family, children's health and children's well-being.

Highlights of the conference include plenary sessions featuring nationally renowned speakers, agenda-setting discussions and reports and a poster session highlighting child-related research at Wayne State.

Wayne State University is dedicating this event to the memory of Alma H. Young, dean and Coleman A. Young Professor of the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA), who recently passed away unexpectedly. Young maintained a lifelong commitment to improving the lives of children through her scholarship. She was a principle planner of this conference and Wayne State

University is honored to see her efforts through to their completion.

Although the conference is free charge, registration is required by April 21 in order to ensure proper planning for seating and meals. To learn more about the conference, or register online, please visit WSU Children's Bridge, or contact Caroline Brzuchowski at (313) 577-5071, or e-mail, ae0809@wayne.edu.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.

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