4/2: The 2024 Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health with M. Lee Pelton
This post was updated on April 9, 2024.
The 2024 Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health
with M. Lee Pelton
Health Equity and The Importance of Zip Codes
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
5:00 – 6:30 PM
Hybrid (Zoom & BU Kilachand Center)
In-Person Location:
Kilachand Center, Eichenbaum Colloquium Room 101
610 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215
Watch the Recording
In Greater Boston, the average life expectancy for some sections of the Back Bay neighborhood is age 92. Travel two miles to Nubian Square in Roxbury and residents have the shortest average lifespan in Greater Boston, at just 69 years.
In this free lecture presented in a hybrid format, M. Lee Pelton, president and CEO of The Boston Foundation – one of the nation’s first and most influential community foundations – will discuss why where you live has a greater influence on your health and well-being than your genetics, and how a legacy of racial discrimination and land covenants in the United States has contributed to our present-day health equity crisis. This history matters, and Pelton’s lecture will demonstrate why we must understand the past in order to create lasting solutions to address the healthcare needs of our most vulnerable communities.
After the lecture, Prof. Darien Alexander Williams of BUSSW will join Pelton in conversation, and attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions.
A reception with food and open bar will follow.
1.5 free CE credits will be available to social workers licensed in the U.S. Please see below for details.
Program:
5:00 pm: Opening remarks by Dean Barbara Jones
5:05 pm: Lee Pelton presents
5:35 pm: Conversation with BUSSW Prof. Darien Williams
6:05 pm: Q&A with audience
6:25 pm: Closing remarks
6:30-7:30 pm: Reception
Accessibility:
Boston University strives to be accessible, inclusive, and diverse in its facilities, programming, and academic offerings. Your experience in this event is important to us. If you have a disability (including but not limited to learning or attention, mental health, concussion, vision, mobility, hearing, physical, or other health-related issues), require communication access services for the deaf or hard of hearing, or believe that you require a reasonable accommodation for another reason, please contact the event organizer at bussw@bu.edu to discuss your needs.
About M. Lee Pelton:
Civic engagement, authenticity, and a deep commitment to social justice are the cornerstones of Lee Pelton’s career and leadership. He joined The Boston Foundation in June 2021, after serving as president of Emerson College from 2011-2021 and Willamette University from 1998-2011.
Pelton has positioned The Boston Foundation, one of the nation’s first and most influential community foundations, as an agent for social change by centering equity in its programs, grantmaking, and civic leadership. Under his leadership, the Foundation’s defining ambition is to achieve equity, which first involves acknowledging and then seeking to eliminate the structural and underlying causes of outcome disparities for historically marginalized communities. As President of Emerson College, he used his voice and influence to speak out against racial injustice, discrimination, and other inequities that plague our country. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2022, Pelton wrote a letter titled “America is on Fire,” which detailed his experience as a Black man in America and exposed the injustices he faced despite his reputation and position as a college president. Its audience was estimated to be 6 – 7 million people in America and beyond. He has been called the “moral authority” of Boston and was ranked as the third most influential person in Boston, following Governor Maura Healy and Congresswoman Ayana Pressley.
For Pelton, acknowledging and addressing the root causes of inequities in our society are essential components of this work and aptly described in a quote by one of his favorite authors, James Baldwin, who said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Grounded in an understanding of historic causes of inequities, under Pelton’s leadership, the foundation proudly launched a new strategic plan, Our New Pathway, to improve lives and strengthen communities across the Greater Boston Region. Pelton has also convened the first of its-kind Greater Boston Partnership to Close the Racial Wealth Gap, which includes forty influential leaders from multiple sectors who are united in their efforts to increase wealth in communities of color through homeownership.
Pelton earned a bachelor of arts in English Literature from Wichita State University and a PhD in English and American Literature from Harvard University.
About Hubie Jones:
Hubie Jones (SSW’57), dean emeritus and the School of Social Work dean from 1977 to 1993 helped shape Boston’s civic landscape for over forty-five years and has been integral in numerous community organizations within Boston’s African American population and throughout all Boston neighborhoods.
As associate and executive director at Roxbury Multi-Service Center in 1967, his Task Force on Children Out of School (now Massachusetts Advocacy Center) published the report The Way We Go to School: The Exclusion of Children in Boston, which led to the first-in-the-nation enactment of two landmark laws that focused on special education and bi-lingual education.
In 2010, Jones received the Purpose Prize, a national prize awarded to select individuals over 60 carrying out encore careers and using their skills and experience to make a difference in their communities and the nation.
About the Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health:
The Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health, established in 2012 by an anonymous donor to honor the vision of Hubie Jones, is an annual symposium that addresses vexing health issues, featuring national and international leaders at the intersection of health and social justice.
Alumni and friends are encouraged to continue Hubie’s legacy through donations to the Hubie Jones Fund for Urban Social Work Practice. Your support will fund scholarships that help deserving students pursue an MSW degree, as well as research and programs in service of the BU School of Social Work’s urban mission. To donate, please click here.
Continuing Education Credit Info:
Content Level: Intermediate
The target audience of this lecture and discussion is LICSW, LCSW, LSW, LSWA, and other health care professionals. Health Equity and The Importance of Zip Codes is pending approval by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by the BU School of Social Work as an individual course. Individual courses, not providers, are approved at the course level. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 4/2/2024 – 4/2/2025. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 free continuing education credits.
The continuing education credits will be available to social workers licensed in the United States after the completion of a brief post-event quiz. The event will provide intermediate-level content and must be attended live to receive CE credits. If you would like to receive credits, please provide your license number during registration. The post-event quiz will be sent out at the end of the event and will be a Qualtrics quiz. Applicants will need a score of 70% or higher to receive the CE certificate, which will be sent via email.
Learning Objectives:
- Demonstrate how where you live has a significant impact on your health, well-being, and longevity and why health equity is an urgent social justice issue
- Explain how social determinants of health are connected to a legacy of racial discrimination and land use covenants in the U.S.
- Examine opportunities and innovative solutions aimed at creating a more equitable system of healthcare and serving the healthcare needs of our most vulnerable communities.