Even as audiences are rapidly turning away from mainstream media, U.S. ethnic media has enjoyed startling growth in recent years. From local Korean radio stations to community Spanish-language newspapers, America’s many ethnic media outlets are increasingly serving not only as trusted sources of information, but also as community leaders for grassroots political activism. New California Media describes ethnic media as “the umbilical chords connecting immigrant, newcomer and traditional minority audiences to one another and to the
larger civic life.”
The Self Reliance Foundation works in partnership with Hispanic Communications Network (HCN) and other ethnic media outlets to develop and distribute educational and informational programming that blends dynamic television, radio, print and internet elements for audiences nationwide:
Radio SRF radio programs have
attracted international acclaim and broad-based
funding support. Many of our campaigns utilize
a one-minute “capsule” approach to
drive home a point memorably and quickly. Our
women’s reproductive health campaign, for
example, has relied primarily upon capsules to
highlight the importance of regular gynecological
checks for women, the availability of emergency
contraception, the comparative advantages of different
types of birth control, and much more.
For
more complex issues requiring in-depth consideration,
SRF produces call-in talk-shows where program
guests and audience members explore an issue together.
We used this
successful
approach for our CDC-sponsored campaign on physical fitness.
SRF’s newest radio initiative, All for Peace Radio,
brings together a diverse team to broadcast news into
regions of Israel and Palentine, using the latest technologies
in listener protection and allowing audiences to freely
participate in call-in talk-shows and Internet chat lines.
To listen to sample SRF radio capsules, click here.
Newspaper SRF and HCN jointly produce a Spanish-language weekly newspaper column, La Columna Vertebral, which is distributed to over 100 Spanish-language and bilingual newspapers across the country, with a combined circulation of 3.5 million copies. These papers serve major Hispanic markets including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco and San Jose,
Houston, Dallas, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. La Columna Vertebral topics cover a range of subjects and complement SRF radio programming. Columns in the past have focused on such issues as cloning, breast-feeding, diabetes, AIDS, and clean air.
Click here to read samples of La Columna Vertebral.
Television Now that Spanish-language television is growing by leaps and bounds, SRF is taking advantage of this new commercial venue to promote our educational agenda. For our “2 Cooltura” Hispanic Gang Prevention Project, for example, we have teamed up with Hispanic Communications Network and popular Latino music stars to produce television PSAs
encouraging young people to take pride in traditional activities rather than
participating in gangs.
Films The Self Reliance Foundation’s earliest social marketing campaigns focused on developing educational films and complementary school activities to help Hispanic and Native Americans in Northern New Mexico maintain their cultural identity while adopting small-scale appropriate technology into their rural lifestyles. Today, we are working to integrate clips from some of
these timeless educational works into our festivals outreach.
