The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute on Race and Ethnicity will host the 2016 Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference on Wednesday, April 13.

This year’s conference, which will feature a panel discussion and community forum, will focus on immigration. The conference will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, with a continental breakfast beginning at 8:15 a.m.

“Arkansas’s Latino population has grown rapidly in recent years. Now seems a good time to focus on the impact of immigration into Pulaski County both from the perspective of the issues that Latinos face and from the perspective of other sections of the community,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

Immigration experts will discuss attitudes about immigration. Panel members include:

•      Dr. Andre Guerrero, president of the Little Rock chapter of League of United Latin American Citizens
•      Mireya Reith, co-founder and executive director of Arkansas United Community Coalition
•      Dr. Leslie Purdy-Hoyt, director of Hall High School Programs for Immigrant Students
•      Maricella Garcia, director of Catholic Immigration Services in Little Rock

“The racial attitudes survey will provide a lively platform for discussion to further explore the issues it raises at the conference,” Kirk said. “We have an outstanding panel of commentators who are able to contextualize and explain the issues raised from a variety of perspectives.”

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Tamisha Cheatham at 501.569.8932 or tmcheatham@ualr.edu.

In the upper right photo, panel members Keesa Smith, Paul Kelly, Julie Hall, and David Briscoe discuss community perceptions at the 2015 Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference at UALR.