The Center for Civic Life at Ashland University, the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County, and the Ashland County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse are sponsoring a community conversation April 21 to follow up February’s public forum on the serious issue of “What Can We Do about the Opiate Epidemic.”

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held April 21 from 9 a.m. to noon in the Ridenour Room of Dauch College of Business and Economics at Ashland University. The agenda for the break-out sessions is: 1) A short summary of how professionals help people; 2) What else people want them to do; and 3) How citizens can help professionals.

“We are all citizens of Ashland County. The drug epidemic affects us all. We need you,” said Louise Fleming-Dufala, director of Center for Civic Life. “Using the World Café model, we will rotate through stations each half hour. You will meet face-to-face with law enforcers, first-responders and treatment/prevention professionals.”

Fleming-Dufala said each station will have a note-taker and notes will be summarized and emailed to participants as well as public officials. “We will conclude in the Ridenour Room with suggestions for next steps,” she said.

Ashland University, ranked in the top tier of colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report’s National Universities category for 2017, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) deeply values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.