Rice University, Shape Up Houston to host mayoral forum on urban health and wellness Sept. 17

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

MEDIA ADVISORY

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Margaret Justus
281-250-8253
margaretjustus@att.net

Rice University, Shape Up Houston to host mayoral forum on urban health and wellness Sept. 17

HOUSTON – (Aug. 25, 2015) – Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and nonprofit organization Shape Up Houston will host a mayoral forum on urban health and wellness Sept. 17 from 7 to 9 a.m. at Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative, 6500 Main St.

Houston mayoral candidates will be questioned about health and wellness topics relating to the city. The event is free and open to the public; however, space is limited, so media who wish to attend must RSVP to MargaretJustus@att.net by Sept. 1. The event will be live-streamed at http://edtech.blogs.rice.edu/live-event-webcasts/.

Who: Houston mayoral candidates confirmed include Chris Bell, Steve Costello, Adrian Garcia, Ben Hall, Bill King, Marty McVey and Sylvester Turner.

What: Mayoral candidate forum on health and wellness. Candidates will be questioned about how to solve the obesity epidemic and other challenges related to the health of Houstonians, how they would address this issue as mayor, commitment to community health and ideas for addressing “food deserts,” thoughts on the city’s air quality and how to create a more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly city.

When: 7 to 9 a.m. Sept. 17. The forum begins at 7:45 a.m.

Where: First-floor auditorium, Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative, 6500 Main St. Paid parking is available in the garage directly underneath the BRC building. Enter off Main Street and Dryden Road.

“We are honored to co-host this important candidate forum on urban health and wellness,” said Bill Fulton, director of Rice’s Kinder Institute. “This program works well with the Kinder Institute’s mission, which is to collaborate with political leaders to implement promising solutions to problems facing our community. Plus, the format and relevant questions raised can serve as a template for other cities around the country who all face similar challenges and want to inject this dialogue going forward into local, state and national elections.”

According to a recent annual report by the Harris County Healthcare Alliance, in 2013 64.4 percent of Harris County adults were overweight or obese and 32.4 percent of high school students were overweight or obese. That number has climbed by 4 percent since 2008.

“This is our future,” said Lan Bentsen, president of Shape Up Houston. “We need leadership in both private and public arenas to address this growing problem that negatively impacts our economy and overall quality of life. We look forward to hearing how our next mayor will build on what the current and past administrations have accomplished in this arena and how they may collaborate more closely with the county.”

For more information, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

For a map of Rice University’s campus, go to http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.

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Related materials:

Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research: www.kinder.rice.edu

Shape Up Houston: http://www.shapeuphouston.org/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research is a “think and do” tank that advances understanding of the challenges facing Houston and other urban centers through research, policy analysis and public outreach. By collaborating with civic and political leaders, the Kinder Institute aims to help Houston and other cities.

Shape Up Houston is a local 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to helping Houstonians get healthy and lose a million pounds. It was founded in 2012 by Lan Bentsen with a mission to increase awareness and encourage action around the unsustainable level of obesity and its impact on the health and well being of our community. Shape Up Houston offers free online health trackers to the community and low cost worksite wellness programs to employers. For more information about Shape Up Houston and how to join the Million Pound Challenge go to www.shapeuphouston.org or Facebook.