Mayor Rory Hoskins is back in town after a few days in Cape Town, South Africa, and said he is ready to implement what he learned there at the Strong Cities’ Fifth Global Summit.
The annual event convenes international leaders of local government to share strategies on addressing hate and extremism in their communities. It’s also a way for them to network and meet mutual acquaintances.
From Dec. 3 to 5, Hoskins attended the summit with about 70 mayors from around the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Southern and East Africa.
Hoskins told the Review about some of his takeaways from the event.
“There was a lot of talk about the use of renewable energies that I found interesting,” Hoskins said, “and some talks about online resources to counter extremism.”
Many of the mayors who attended the summit lead municipalities much larger than Forest Park, Hoskins said. As opposed to having a media department or public information office, like larger cities might, train staff to avoid hackers, Forest Park’s Village Hall is taking on this effort itself.
Cyber threats to small units of government were also the topic amongst a gathering of mayors that Hoskins attended in Barrington Hills, Illinois last month. There, area mayors discussed plans to create a local government cyber alliance to share best practices in preventing internet attacks.
But Forest Park officials aren’t the only ones involved in policing online extremism. Residents also play a role in checking this behavior – a benefit to living in one of the smaller communities represented at the annual summit.
“I’ve shared with members of the conference what we’re doing in terms of the way people in Forest Park sometimes self-police internet chatter by correcting incorrect notions,” Hoskins said.
One example is how locals warned those looking for a property on Facebook Marketplace to avoid rental scams.
Hoskins said a lot of the discussion at the Global Mayor’s Summit also included maintaining social cohesion by providing adequate services for migrant populations.
Hoskins gave the example of a delegation from Spain which, after watching how France dealt with a string of riots last year that largely impacted communities of Muslim, Arabic and African immigrants, shared how they addressed the needs of migrants who are coming to Spain’s borders.
“They quickly provide services in terms of housing and other social supports, build new schools and try to get the immigrant populations involved,” Hoskins said.
While Forest Park didn’t offer village-sponsored shelters to the wave of asylum seekers who arrived in October 2023, the village still offers resources for migrants through the Howard Mohr Community Center’s food pantry and services like computer training at the Forest Park Public Library.
At an October village council meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the village’s membership in the Strong Cities Network. Although Hoskins attended three Strong Cities events this year in the United States, this was his first global summit with the organization.
Hoskins recalled meeting someone at the summit who knew an official from the Albanian delegation that visited Forest Park last summer for discussions about establishing a sister city relationship between the village and the Albanian city of Vlora.
“Forest Park has a really vibrant Albanian community,” Hoskins said.
Such a relationship could foster an exchange of advice on culture and policy between the two municipalities, he added.
“Some of the things I [took] from the conference [were] how other towns are using their status as sister city communities to foster educational opportunities for young people,” Hoskins said. He added that privately raised funds allow students or young adults to travel to another country to learn about its culture.
Hoskins also learned about Cape Town’s culture as a first-time visitor to South Africa.
Hoskins’ wife Monique came with him on the trip, and they took some time to travel together, he said. They went to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point in South Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet.