Dr. Victor Garcia discusses CoreChange at a recent Applied Information Resources luncheon at Christ Church Cathedral. Dr. Victor Garcia, founding director of Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s Trauma Services, is heading an initiative to bring all segments of the community together to produce solutions to overcome challenges in the community largely through economic inclusion.

The heart of the initiative, known as CoreChange, is a community-wide summit, Feb. 17-19, at the Millennium Downtown. The CoreChange Summit will be a three day event designed to fuse together institutional and community expertise to produce solutions that cannot be imagined otherwise, Garcia said.

The CoreChange Summit is from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 and 18, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. This is a free event, but registration is required. To register and for more information, go to www.corechangecincy.com.

Brother Abdullah, program director at Elementz, spoke about the importance of the upcoming community wide CoreChange Summit in Cincinnati at an Applied Information Resources luncheon. Garcia, a pediatric surgeon, has emerged as a passionate advocate for transforming these neighborhoods after working with many young people who come to Children’s Hospital Trauma Center with gunshot and other assault wounds. After experiencing a growing sense of frustration and helplessness when confronted by the tragic results of inner city violence, Garcia has devoted himself to both stopping the violence and alleviating the inner city conditions that often lead to it.

CoreChange will address the worsening health disparities that Garcia saw with his young patients at Children's by looking beyond the high unemployment, concentrated poverty, violent crime and low performing schools in our urban core to the whole system.

Core Change represents a new initiative to bring together neighborhood residents and young people with business, civic, religious, and government leaders, Garcia said.

Over an intense three days -- in Feb. 17-19 -- participants will chart innovative plans for transforming these residential areas. Time will be set aside for questions and comments from the audience.

The CoreChange Summit will mobilize residents and leaders in the Cincinnati region who normally do not work together to co-create solutions that will address the most difficult challenges facing our urban core. Ultimate outcomes include an increase in employment, decline in health disparities, academic improvement and increased safety in the core neighborhoods of the city, Garcia said.

Internationally renowned consultants, David Cooperrider and Peter Senge, will facilitate the three-day event, along with Peter Block, John McKnight and Craig Vogel (Associate Dean UC, Center for Design Research and Innovation, DAAP. Among CoreChange supporters are- Cincinnati Children's Hospi tal Medical Center, United Way and Xavier University. Officials from the City of Cincinnati, Urban League of Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati NAACP, Cincinnati Public Schools, STRIVE, and Elementz (a youth center with an emphasis on hip-hop that works with neighborhood youth), local chambers of commerce, and other organizations also support the initiative, Garcia said.

A speaker series including William Julius Wilson, Harvard professor and author of “The Declining Significance of Race” and “The Truly Disadvantaged” is at 6 p.m., Feb.7 at the Freedom Center.

Mary Kay Leonard, presi dent and CEO, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, spoke in January about the growth of poverty in Cincinnati’s urban communities in the CoreChange Speaker Series. She also directs ICIC’s efforts to engage new corporate and foundation partners, expand recognition and education programs for inner city businesses and leverage the underutilized assets of America’s urban communities.