On behalf of the leadership of the Illinois Public Health Association, I invite you to attend the 68th Annual Meeting of the Association on April 28-30, 2009 at the Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois.  This year’s theme will emphasize the value of public health advocacy in strengthening the public health infrastructure.  The program content will focus on the intersection of citizen advocacy with organizational advocacy as a method to redefine broad support for the public health infrastructure.  The annual meeting committee will select topnotch speakers to address models of “cause development” that have succeeded at local, state and national levels.  Over the past several years, important public health programs have been significantly under funded -- underscoring the need for developing a new public health infrastructure in Illinois.  This year’s conference will be a collaborative effort with our partners in public health, the Illinois Association of Public Health Administrators and the Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium.  Our outcome goal is to work with our partners in public health to develop a coordinated advocacy effort to inform the Illinois legislature about the success of adequately funded public health programs in an effort to restore and increase funding in this critical area.  The Annual Meeting agenda and other materials will be posted to the website in the near future.  We encourage you to visit our website regularly for new information, including online registration to be available in 2009.

Richard H. Sewell, MPH

President