Two-Day Chicago Summit Meeting February 7-8 To Focus On Party Health, Risk Reduction

The 5th annual Party Health Summit, a gathering of health advocates, researchers, party promoters and others with an interest in health promotion, is set for February 7-8 in Chicago. The summit is organized for the purpose of exchanging information, promoting dialogue, and furthering grass roots organizing work around health promotion in the club/party scene. All summit programs are free and open to the public.

The summit is an educational program of the Electric Dreams Foundation, a non-profit health promotion organization.

This year’s summit is presented in collaboration with the Hearts Foundation of Chicago, producer of the Fireball weekend and other community events. The summit takes place over Fireball weekend at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel, the host hotel for the weekend. For information about travel, accommodations and Fireball weekend events, visit the www.theFireball.com web site.

The summit is a two-day program of workshops and panel discussions, including a keynote address by Ethan Nadelmann, founder and Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the leading organization in the United States promoting alternatives to the war on drugs.

This year’s summit program includes a late night “Oasis Lounge” on the 4th floor of the Renaissance Hotel, a community space for relaxing, connecting up with friends and learning more about harm reduction and safer partying.

The summit program is designed specifically for party producers and promoters, health workers and health agency administrators, medical volunteers and trainers, public agency personnel, and others with an interest in harm reduction and health promotion in the club/party scene. The theme of this year’s summit is “producing safer parties.” Topics to be addressed include:

• The latest in health promotion strategies
• The link between club drugs and sexually-transmitted diseases
• Medical and non-medical interventions at clubs and parties
• Legal and health policy issues, including the potential impact of the proposed RAVE legislation on the party community
• Standards for health and safety at parties

A highlight of the summit will be the announcement of a joint policy initiative to adopt community standards for health and safety at parties. Representatives from a number of nonprofit groups from across the U.S. will be present to launch the initiative and lend their support to the policy.

A special media luncheon with Ethan Nadelmann will be held at noon on Friday, Feb. 7. For more information, contact Alan Brown at [email protected].

How to Participate

Just show up! There is no registration fee, although we ask everyone to pre-register by email (only) as far in advance as possible. To pre-register, email your name, address and contact information to [email protected].

The Electric Dreams Foundation works in the gay dance party sub-culture to promote health and an expanded sense of community. For more information, see www.partysafe.org