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Stakeholders Symposium Series will give all sectors of Aiken a voice

Aiken Standard - 7/30/2017

July 30--Residents, entrepreneurs, small-business owners and nonprofits are all invited to a weekly Symposium Series starting next month in downtown Aiken.

The 2017 Stakeholders Symposium Series is being held by the Aiken Department of Public Safety'sCommunity Services Division and the City of Aiken Affairs and Tourism Division at 6 p.m. each Tuesday in August in the conference room of the Aiken Municipal Building, 214 Park Ave.

Cynthia Mitchell, ADPS community services coordinator, said this five-part series is a follow-up to last year's Neighborhood Symposium.

"We expanded on the concept of the Neighborhood Symposium to include nonprofits, entrepreneurs and small businesses," Mitchell said. "The purpose for that is we want to actively demonstrate how the Aiken Safe Communities approach and community/economic development work hand in hand."

The Aiken Safe Communities Initiative is a unified, proactive community approach to engage, educate and encourage recurring offenders to change their behavior and make healthy life choices. Its aim is to reduce high levels of crime and recidivism in the community and provide support for the City of Aiken's Northside revitalization efforts.

"This symposium is going to be the best one yet," Mitchell said. "We do feel our neighborhoods are the core foundation of everything we do, but we hope to help demonstrate that every sector of the community needs the other sectors. This makes for a well-oiled machine. We all need to operate together so, as a whole, it's healthier."

The series will begin Tuesday, Aug. 1, with a deliberative dialogue session with the community focusing on safety and justice, she said.

The first session's topic is: Safety and Justice: How Should Communities Reduce Violence?

"This first night is the foundation of our platform, and we encourage everyone to come and join in the dialogue," Mitchell said. "We want every sector there for a balanced voice."

This first session will be facilitated by Barbara Brown, executive director for the Citizens Center for Public Life and an affiliate with the National Issues Forum Institute.

Brown served as director of Clemson University'sLaboratory for Deliberative Democracy from 2004 through 2014, and now is the executive director for the Citizens Center for Public Life, a nonprofit organization registered in South Carolina.

The subsequent sessions will provide information, resources and networking opportunities for the various community sectors.

Symposium presenters include: Service Corps of Retired Executives, South Carolina Small Business Development Corp. in partnership with USC Aiken, Brezelmann Bavarian Pretzels, Dexter Price/Aiken Personnel Services and Christopher Emanuel/Sky Is The Limit Foundation.

Symposium topics:

--Aug. 1: Community Dialogue: Safety and Justice

--Aug. 8: Nonprofit Organizations: Resources and Networking

--Aug. 15: Healthy Neighborhoods Toolkit: "Boots on the ground"

--Aug. 22: Small Business and Entrepreneurs: Resources and Networking

--Aug. 29: Meet & Greet City Departments and Guest Speaker

All symposiums will be held at 6 p.m. in the conference room of the Aiken Municipal Building, 214 Park Ave.

Tripp Girardeau is the crime and courts reporter with the Aiken Standard. Follow him on Twitter at @trippgirardeau.

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(c)2017 the Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.)

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