Broward College Announces Schedule for 2017-2018 Village Square Series

Dinner at the Square and Take Out Tuesday events to provide a forum for civic engagement on topics ranging from affordable housing to homelessness and euthanasia.

Fort Lauderdale, FL (September 21, 2017) – Broward College is pleased to announce the line-up for its Village Square open forum debate series, currently scheduled to begin in October 2017 and run through May 2018. The College will host three "Dinner at the Square" and three "Take Out Tuesday" events which will include guest speakers on topics ranging from affordable housing to euthanasia.

The non-partisan discussions feature community leaders and experts who communicate their views on prominent issues facing South Florida. The goal of the Village Square debate series is to provide a safe, comfortable forum to better educate the public on diverse issues of local, state and national importance.

"In an environment where divisive and aggressive messages permeate our social media streams, Broward College is committed to providing a platform for civil, respectful, and informative discussions on hot issues facing our community," said Broward College President J. David Armstrong, Jr. "We look forward to the spirited discussions this year's schedule will produce."

Dinner at the Square

Each Dinner at the Square focuses on a primary issue facing the community. Guests are provided dinner as they listen to the panel of community representatives and topic experts present varying viewpoints. Tickets range from $35-$45 and include dinner for pre-registered guests. Each dinner is hosted at Funky Buddha Brewery located at 1201 NE 38^th Street in Oakland Park.

The first event will focus on affordable housing (October 18, 2017), then education (February 28, 2018), and will close out the series with the open Florida primaries (May 2, 2018). Each event begins at 6 p.m. with a members-only pre-cocktail reception followed by the panel discussion from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m.

Take Out Tuesday

Take-Out Tuesday is free and open to the public and consists of a panel discussion on topics of local and national importance. Guests are encouraged to bring their own take-out dinner as they participate in the forum. All Take-Out Tuesday events are held in room 1208 at the Broward College Willis Holcomb Center located at 111 East Las Olas Blvd. in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Topics for the Take-Out Tuesday series will focus on homelessness (November 14, 2017), the job skills gap and (March 20, 2018), and the legalization of active euthanasia (April 17, 2018). Each event begins promptly at 6 p.m. Space is limited, and advanced registration is encouraged.

Become a Village Square Member

Broward College will host a membership reception at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 3 at Carlos & Pepe's located at 1302 SE 17^th St. in Fort Lauderdale. Membership dues are $68, a symbolic number meant to reflect "the 68 percent of a population that is within one standard deviation of the mean… 68% solutions are more durable solutions that transcend ideology, discourage political gutter ball, outlast the next election cycle and create a strong foundation on which to build lasting results." Membership benefits include an invitation for you and a guest to all pre-dinner speaker receptions hosted by The Village Square Advisory Board. Memberships do not include the ticket price for Dinner at the Square.

To attend, please register. For more information on membership, please visit http://www.broward.edu/villagesquare.

For the fourth year, Broward College has partnered with The Village Square, a non-partisan public educational forum, to provide Broward County with a safe environment for civic engagement, allowing the community to come together to learn about a variety of topics on matters of local, state and national importance. The Village Square was founded in 2006 by Allan Katz, former-Tallahassee city commissioner, and his friend Bill Law, president of Tallahassee Community College. All events are planned by the advisory board members, a group of community leaders, including city and county commissioners, educators, business owners, and religion and non-profit leaders from across Broward County, representing all political affiliations.