A two-day symposium on addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS and poverty on children in sub-Saharan Africa will be held April 2-3 at Encina Hall's Bechtel Conference Center. The symposium will feature leaders from African nongovernmental organizations, as well as Stanford students and faculty, engaged in a series of panel and roundtable discussions.

The symposium, "No Small Issue: African Communities Respond to the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Orphans and Vulnerable Children," is presented by the Haas Center for Public Service, the Center for African Studies, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Firelight Foundation—a private organization in Santa Cruz that advocates on behalf of children who are orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Topics will include the power of community action in Africa and community perspectives on the fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty, strengthening families and building the capacity of community-based organizations. Opportunities for members of the Stanford community, practitioners and activists to get involved will also be discussed.

The symposium's discussions will be informed by recently released findings from the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS, which are online at http://www.jlica.org/resources/publications.php.

The symposium will lead into the Stanford Service Summit on Saturday, April 4. The aim of the summit is to build a shared vision for strengthening the role of service in the mission and identity of the university, as well as to define common goals and commitments for fostering service.

Sponsored by the Associated Students of Stanford University, the summit will feature two forum sessions in the afternoon at the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building. The first session will focus on health, environment, public interest law and social entrepreneurship. The second session will address global poverty, local community service, technological solutions to social challenges and national service.

Participating in the forums will be faculty, alumni, students and community members experienced in high-impact work within the various focus areas. Speaking at the keynote event that evening in Annenberg Auditorium will be alumnus and former State Controller of California Steve Westly and Larry Brilliant, chief philanthropy evangelist at Google.org.

Discussions are intended to produce a vision for public service at Stanford in the year 2020. The summit is free and open to the public, but space for the panel discussions is limited. To register, go to http://servicesummit.stanford.edu.

Register for the "No Small Issue" symposium on their website. Events scheduled for April 2 are open to the public. The lunch and roundtable discussions on April 3 are for faculty, undergraduates and graduate students.