Moderator: STEVE LAYMON, University of Chicago
Presenters: DAVID MENNINGER, CATHERINE SHOWALTER, UCLA Extension;
ELOISA GONZALEZ, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Public Health

    Continuing education goes beyond what public agencies offer and serves to link community interests with informed decision-making by public policy leaders. This session will focus on three diverse program efforts by UCLA Extension and the County of Los Angeles – 1) the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, 2) training for Planning Commissioners, and 3) community outreach about the public health impacts of the “built environment”. Opportunities, logistics, and potential outcomes associated with continuing education’s role in the development of civic knowledge for public life and action will be examined. UCLA Extension’s Osher program for older adults will be discussed in the context of how opportunities for personal enrichment can lead into a greater awareness of community affairs and result in a renewed commitment to civic engagement. A series of seminars for Planning Commissioners developed by the Extension Public Policy Program with support from the California Department of Transportation will be used to illustrate the value to citizen public servants of specialized training that prepares them to make better informed decisions about transportation, land use and the environment. Finally, the efforts of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department to foster awareness of the health impacts of the human-made spaces in which most social and civic life transpires—the built environment—will be discussed as an applied example of outreach and education resulting in beneficial land use policy changes in our communities.