
Local that Works spotlights innovative and replicable content, engagement and revenue initiatives at public radio and TV stations and nonprofit and digital news organizations in the U.S. LTW includes an annual contest and a database (below). LTW produces webinars that offer insights into projects and organizations that are reshaping local civic journalism.
Explore the database of 553 Local that Works projects. Check out Local that Works contest Winners, Finalists and Semifinalists by clicking on those colored tags.
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126 results found.
Shaping Narratives
WGVU Public MediaOur Shaping Narratives leaders of color have produced stories with and for their communities that are being used to encourage change-based conversations.
WQED in the Time of Covid. “Rising to the Occasion” Community Impact Report
WQEDPandemic-tested, Pittsburgh-approved.
WQED’s annual report is unconventional, but so is the time that we live. Rather than report on a calendar year, we have opted to reflect on the pandemic year.
Coffee Conversations with Rose Scott
Public Broadcasting Atlanta WABE 90.1 FMRose Scott and the “Closer Look” team travel to coffee shops in metro Atlanta for community conversations about the issues and topics affecting everyone’s quality of life.
Relax! Tru Facts on the Vax
Afro American NewspapersWe partnered with a local institution to produce a FB Live broadcast. We combined music and comedy via street interviews with medical expertise to dispel COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
KC Performs
Kansas City PBSKansas City PBS developed the KC Performs initiative to support local arts organizations (theatre, song, instrumental) as Covid-19 forced audiences out of performance halls and theatres.
WXXI Public Media Live Forum Series
WXXI Public MediaIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WXXI produced six forums with a panel of experts and community leaders, who shared information about the virus, vaccines, reopening plans, the economy, and more.
Homegoings
Vermont Public Radio & Vermont PBS‘Homegoings’ is a special series from Vermont Public Radio that features conversations with musicians of color who live in Vermont — about Black grief, resilience and music.
Maine Public News Connect
Maine PublicMaine Public News Connect is a new initiative where we translate important news and information each week into French, Spanish, Somali, and Portuguese video pods for immigrant communities in Maine.
State Street Mural Project
PBS WisconsinFollowing local protests against police brutality in Madison, WI, the city commissioned 70 murals. PBS Wisconsin documented these with a 360° camera to showcase the artists’ calls for justice.
Shaping Narratives
chappels@gvsu.edu
https://www.wgvu.org/shaping-narratives/
The problem that our Shaping Narratives initiative is trying to address is that racial minorities do not have enough access to platforms where the issues that affect them are decided. The outcome we want to see is more action-oriented community engagement and a cohort of leaders, trained by WGVU, effectively elevating narratives of racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Over time this model will increase their capacity to shape and influence social narratives sustainably. The long-term goal is to build media, community organizing and civic engagement capacity into West Michigan’s racial minority networks so they can influence the structures causing racialized outcomes.
WGVU’s Shaping Narratives participants have produced five pilot programs, built from the ground up on the values of inclusion, community and equity. Our host/producers are leaders of color in West Michigan who designed their programs with their communities and for their communities. Shaping Narratives is more than broadcast content. We have wedded the production process to community engagement. Each of our participants has simultaneously developed a half hour pilot program, a local affinity group and a social media following oriented toward addressing issues they are passionate about.
(1)-Ngiiwe (TV) was produced by Lin Bardwell, a Native woman from Grand Rapids, who is searching for a way to reclaim the relationships and traditions of her ancestors as her life in the city presents contemporary dilemmas.
(2)-Color Out Here (TV), produced by Alice Jasper, a biracial woman raised in Brooklyn, reframes how you see the outdoors, the environment, and Michigan places you think you know, as she leads expeditions of urban Black and Biracial residents of West Michigan to the outdoors.
(3)-Meeting God (TV), produced by Rishi Makkar, a devout Sikh businessman in West Michigan, takes viewers on a journey to learn about humanity’s common values by exchanging immersive spiritual experiences.
(4)-The Black Honest Truth (Podcast), produced by Christine Mwangi, born in Kenya and educated in the US and England, explores the lived experience of blackness in America as both common and distinct between African Americans and African Immigrants and refugees.
(5)-Cultural Ingredients (TV), produced by George Walker, a chef and sommelier explores the geopolitical events that make it possible for us to taste food from around the world—one dish at a time, one ingredient at a time, one person at a time.
We have seen our goal to build capacity in communities of color come to fruition. We trained five leaders of color over 30 weeks. This training, in partnership with the GVSU Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, covered decolonizing narratives, media and production skills and community organizing as a distribution strategy. This training enabled participants to design and produce TV and radio programs that addressed the needs they identified as impacting children and families of color in West Michigan. These programs were previewed at a large preview event in November 2019. The pilot programs then aired on WGVU. The community-support teams, created as part of the process, will be scheduling screenings throughout Grand Rapids and beyond. This community engagement is the key component we will build upon to spark change-based conversations as a method of increasing the impact in the communities we serve.
This initiative has thus far been funded through a grant and in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.