Please make plans to attend the lecture of
Mayor Julián Castro presented by the
Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lectures “The Political Implications of Shifting Demographics In the 21st Century”
4:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 17 Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall Fine Arts Building University of Arkansas at Little Rock Mayor Julián Castro is the youngest mayor of a top 50 American city, San Antonio, Texas. He gained national attention when he delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Named to the World Economic Forum’s list of Young Global Leaders, Mayor Castro also landed on Time magazine’s “40 Under 40” list of rising political stars. This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Call 501.569.3296 Co-sponsors UALR Chancellor’s Office UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
ANNA STRONG
RECOVERY:
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RECOVERY OPERATION
HEALTH POLICY EXPERT
I
t’s a busy and momentous time to be a health policy analyst. The early provisions of Obamacare were beginning to go into effect when Anna Strong was hired on as health policy director at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in December 2011. A little more than six months later, the Supreme Court upheld the law, which will expand coverage options to hundreds of thousands of Arkansans (“I may or may not have done cartwheels in the Advocates office,” Strong said), but threw the question of Medicaid expansion to the states. Strong was confident that expanding coverage was a good deal for children and families in the state, but it would take approval from three-fourths of the legislature to make it a reality. “Our state has a great history of compromise and a great history of working together to do what’s best for our citizens,” she said. “We did a lot of work
trying to think about the best way to frame this opportunity we have.” In the end, coverage for more than 200,000 low-income Arkansans was achieved via the so-called “private option,” and there was no stronger advocate at the Capitol than Strong. She knew the numbers and the rules and regs inside out. (“That’s one of the reasons I love what we do — everything is researched-based.”) She also had a passion for finding common ground. “For the most part, we all want similar big-picture outcomes,” she said. “We all want families to be self-sufficient, for kids to learn and succeed, for families to be safe. The difference in opinion occurs in how we get there. And that’s OK. I think it’s important to sit down and talk about those differences so we can understand each other and find a way to achieve those outcomes we want to achieve.” DR. CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
Photo by Andrea Booher/FEMA News Photo
Organized by the
September 6 – December 1 Examine the historic effort to locate human remains, personal objects and material evidence from the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001.
LAMAN LIBRARY 2801 ORANGE STREET • NORTH LITTLE ROCK 5 0 1 - 7 5 8 -1 7 2 0 • W W W. L A M A N L I B R A R Y. O R G www.arktimes.com
SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
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