Zócalo Public Square

What challenges are struggling Los Angeles communities facing, and what are individuals, organizations, and government doing to improve these neighborhoods? These were some of the questions tackled at a Zócalo/The California Wellness Foundation event at MOCA Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, UC Irvine criminologist Charis E. Kubrin, St. John’s Well Child and Family Center/Harbor-UCLA Medical Center pediatrician Chris Mink, and GRYD Foundation president Adrienne Newsom spoke about their work and their hopes for the future at a panel moderated by Zócalo editorial director Sara Catania.

At a Zócalo/MOCA event moderated by Artillery editor Tulsa Kinney, Rhodes College art historian David McCarthy, ceramicist and Gulf War veteran Ehren Tool, and writer, curator, and professor of visual studies at the California College of the Arts Karen Fiss discussed the intersection of art, war, politics, and commerce. The wide-ranging conversation touched on the work of contemporary Swiss installation artist Thomas Hirschhorn as well as Picasso's Guernica and even Jeff Koons as the panelists tackled the questions of whether artists are obligated to address war in a time of war, and whether art creates unique safe spaces to consider hot-button issues.

Residents of California’s fast-growing Inland Empire—Riverside and San Bernardino counties—endure some of the nation’s dirtiest air and longest commutes. They earn lower wages and work longer hours than others in the state, and many find it’s harder to create time for family and neighbors. Despite these stresses, Inland Empire residents participating in the California Wellness Foundation’s Advancing Wellness poll revealed a community that embraces its diversity and perceives itself optimistically—powerful signs that point to a bright future. Greer Sullivan, director of UC Riverside’s Center for Healthy Communities, Rev. Samuel J. Casey, executive director of Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, Luz Gallegos, community programs director at TODEC Legal Center, and research economist John Husing visited Zócalo at the Riverside Art Museum to examine what it will take to build the healthy community of the future in the Inland Empire.

At a Zócalo/MOCA event moderated by Artillery editor Tulsa Kinney, Rhodes College art historian David McCarthy, ceramicist and Gulf War veteran Ehren Tool, and writer, curator, and professor of visual studies at the California College of the Arts Karen Fiss discussed the intersection of art, war, politics, and commerce. The wide-ranging conversation touched on the work of contemporary Swiss installation artist Thomas Hirschhorn as well as Picasso's Guernica and even Jeff Koons as the panelists tackled the questions of whether artists are obligated to address war in a time of war, and whether art creates unique safe spaces to consider hot-button issues.

At a Zócalo /The California Wellness Foundation event at Frank’s Place at Warnors Center in downtown Fresno, moderated by Valley Public Radio director of program content Joe Moore, Foodlink of Tulare County executive director Sarah Ramirez, Fresno State and University of Helsinki social work researcher Kris Clarke, and San Joaquin Valley Latino Environmental Advancement and Policy Project (Valley LEAP) founder and executive director Rey Leon talked about how Central Valley communities are creating their own solutions to stubborn problems neglected by county, state, and federal government. The discussion was framed by findings of the Advancing Wellness Poll, which found that people in the Valley were more likely than other Californians to give their communities poor ratings on neighborhood health.

Residents of California’s fast-growing Inland Empire—Riverside and San Bernardino counties—endure some of the nation’s dirtiest air and longest commutes. They earn lower wages and work longer hours than others in the state, and many find it’s harder to create time for family and neighbors. Despite these stresses, Inland Empire residents participating in the California Wellness Foundation’s Advancing Wellness poll revealed a community that embraces its diversity and perceives itself optimistically—powerful signs that point to a bright future. Greer Sullivan, director of UC Riverside’s Center for Healthy Communities, Rev. Samuel J. Casey, executive director of Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, Luz Gallegos, community programs director at TODEC Legal Center, and research economist John Husing visited Zócalo at the Riverside Art Museum to examine what it will take to build the healthy community of the future in the Inland Empire.

As Asia continues its rapid advance in the global economy, the resources of Hawaii—as well as its strategic geography—uniquely position it as a portal into the future of relations between the U.S., Asia, and the world. Irene Hirano Inouye, president of the U.S.-Japan Council, moderated a Smithsonian/Zócalo “What It Means to Be American” panel supported by the Daniel K. Inouye Institute that explored how Hawaii is fulfilling its role on the global stage and what it could be doing better. She was joined by Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Kurt W. Tong, U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau, and Roy’s Restaurant chef and founder Roy Yamaguchi.

As Asia continues its rapid advance in the global economy, the resources of Hawaii—as well as its strategic geography—uniquely position it as a portal into the future of relations between the U.S., Asia, and the world. Irene Hirano Inouye, president of the U.S.-Japan Council, moderated a Smithsonian/Zócalo “What It Means to Be American” panel supported by the Daniel K. Inouye Institute that explored how Hawaii is fulfilling its role on the global stage and what it could be doing better. She was joined by Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Kurt W. Tong, U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau, and Roy’s Restaurant chef and founder Roy Yamaguchi.

At a Zócalo /The California Wellness Foundation event at Frank’s Place at Warnors Center in downtown Fresno, moderated by Valley Public Radio director of program content Joe Moore, Foodlink of Tulare County executive director Sarah Ramirez, Fresno State and University of Helsinki social work researcher Kris Clarke, and San Joaquin Valley Latino Environmental Advancement and Policy Project (Valley LEAP) founder and executive director Rey Leon talked about how Central Valley communities are creating their own solutions to

stubborn problems neglected by county, state, and federal government. The discussion was framed by findings of the Advancing Wellness Poll, which found that people in the Valley were more likely than other Californians to give their communities poor ratings on neighborhood health.

At a Zócalo/NPR Berlin event moderated by Sylke Tempel, Editor-in-Chief of the Berlin Policy Journal, three panelists offered differing views on the potential of populist parties and movements to renew democracy. Harvard University political theorist Yascha Mounk, Die Welt columnist Alan Posener, and Timo Lochocki, a Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund, engaged in a wide-ranging conversation, focused on the growing importance of new political parties and populist movements in Europe and North America.