The Dalai Lama will return to Indiana to address participants of the United States Conference of Mayors at the end of June.
The USCM, according to its website, is “the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more” — creating a group of 1,407 cities.
The 84th annual meeting will take place in Indianapolis, with the Dalai Lama scheduled as the keynote speaker.
According to a USCM press release, the Dalai Lama will be focusing on how to build kind, compassionate communities locally to create a greater global product.
He will also attend a Q&A with the mayors, according to the release.
In addition, U.S. mayors will be conducting conversations about the current state of American cities and how they can be improved.
According to the USCM release, the mayors will also release a new economic forecast report for all 363 metropolitan areas in the U.S., and the Conference of Mayors will be giving out cash awards to cities that best embrace issues of climate protection, community development and college and career-readiness training.
The Dalai Lama has a history in Bloomington, having dedicated several buildings at the local Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center in 1987 and having visited several times since.
The TMBCC was also founded in the late 1970s by Thubten J. Norbu, a brother of the Dalai Lama and a professor at IU at the time, according to the Visit Bloomington website.
Anicka Slachta
