CPB and the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network are among some three dozen organizations participating in “A Nation of Neighbors Helping Neighbors: A Summit on Volunteerism as a Response to the Economic Crisis,” sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and Fairfield (Conn.) University’s Center for Faith and Public Life. The Feb. 27 event will focus on the role of volunteers in community recovery from the financial crisis.

WETA eliminated 29 full- and part-time positions this week. There were 15 employees laid off and 14 vacant positions will remain unfilled. Salaries for senior managers have been cut by 13 percent to 15 percent. Those moves and other cost cutting will save the public broadcaster $2.5 million in annual expenses. WETA is based in Arlington, Va., and broadcasts to the Washington, D.C., metro area.

With stimulus orders to spend $4.7 billion without delay, the National Telecom and Information Administration starts holding on-the-record meetings March 2 in Washington about broadband projects, the agency announced this week. The proper name: Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, or Broadband TOP. In addition, the Ag Department’s Rural Utilities Service will dispense $2.5 billion under the bill. Here’s the raw legislation for appropriations to NTIA and RUS, courtesy of the National Association of Telecom Officers and Advisors.

Charitable gifts of more than $1 million from individuals fell by a third in the second half of 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the just-released Million Dollar List compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The number of $1 million-and-up gifts from foundations, however, increased 10 percent from the same period a year earlier, to 551, while the number of corporate gifts at that level remained the same at 146. The drop in individual giving is the second-largest during the last half of a year to occur in the past decade. The largest drop, 35 percent, was in 2001.

The Association of Public Television Stations is “issuing a plea” to governors and state legislatures to “invest in local public television stations,” according to a statement it issued today. It cited Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York and Virginia as states either slashing or eliminating pubTV funding. “State governments are essential investors in local public television stations, providing vital resources to enable stations to fulfill their educational missions,” APTS President Larry Sidman said in the statement. The National Governors Association is meeting with President Barack Obama this week in Washington.

The Book Guys, a syndicated show about book collecting carried on some 30 pubradio stations, is going off the air this week. Co-hosts Allan Stypeck and Mike Cuthbert couldn’t find a national underwriter. The show began in the 1980s in Washington state and was syndicated in the late 1990s. The two interviewed researchers, novelists, publishers, autograph experts, book conservators, printers and book craftsmen. Nine archived shows are available on their website.

The transcript for today’s online chat, “How to Solicit Gifts from Individuals,” is now available at the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s website. The subject is especially timely in the current economic environment. Questions include, “At what level of giving (what size of gift) would you consider it’s appropriate to start making face-to-face appeals to individuals?” and “What are some good tips for soliciting second gifts from major donors whose pledges have been completed?”

Sesame Workshop has signed an agreement with Universal Parks & Resorts for three Sesame Street-themed attractions at Universal Studios Dubailand. Included will be a Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic theater, a Sesame Street carousel and live stage show, and Elmo’s Emporium to sell Sesame Street merchandise. Universal Studios Dubailand is currently under construction.

As the public broadcasting system well knows, raising money during a severe recession is a daunting challenge. The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report, Raising Money in Hard Times, details 10 strategies that nonprofits are using to continue to bring in funds.

A new website may be of use to TV stations to verify their digital coverage areas. The “white spaces” locator site, ShowMyWhiteSpace.com, retrieves FCC database information daily for its updates. Last fall the FCC authorized the use of the white spaces between TV channels for mobile broadband, radios and other devices. Broadcasters protested those devices may interfere with DTV reception.

Miles O’Brien, a 16-year CNN veteran and Peabody award winner, will anchor and report for the WNET program A Tale of Three Cities, a segment of the Blueprint America project that focuses on American infrastructure. The show features what Portland, Denver, and New York are doing to meet the challenges of their crumbling infrastructures.

“Nonprofit media continues to hold itself out as a beacon in today’s media world, which is dominated by ever-coarsening public dialogue,” writes Jonathan Berr in AOL’s Daily Finance site. “These high ideals, however, may not be compatible with the current fiscal reality.”

Public access TV is in danger, writes Jonathan Nichols-Pethick, assistant professor of communication and theatre at DePauw University. Pending legislation in various states threatens to make the local channels extinct. “As media educators, activists, practitioners, and just plain concerned citizens, we need to focus our critical attention on the proper target,” he contends, urging readers to take actions including putting pressure on city councils, working with nonprofit organizations that oversee the channels, and encouraging students to produce programs for the stations. His essay is titled, Terminating Public Access Television.

Caroll Spinney, 75, has played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street for the past 40 years. As Sesame Street turns 40, Spinney recalls: “When, I joined Jim [Henson], I asked, ‘what is Big Bird like?’ He said, ‘That’s up to you. I’m giving you free reign on developing the character.'”

TV stations have until March 17 to tell the FCC when they will be transitioning to DTV before June 12. The commission released the order (PDF) Friday. It also recommends that stations not transition before April 16.