The National Minority Consortia are 5 of the 13 grantees participating in the Ford Foundation’s $50 million support for public service media in the United States. The funds will help innovative public media organizations to meet the public’s growing appetite for in-depth information and diverse perspectives on national, international and cultural affairs. The National Minority Consortia includes NAPT, Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), and the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).
This effort, Global Perspectives in a Digital Age, will help established and newer public media ventures use new approaches and technologies to expand international news, public affairs and cultural programming and reach diverse audiences that can help them attain financial security. Ford is also supporting activity that encourages independent media organizations to share resources, ideas, outreach and distribution strategies.
“Public media has earned the public trust and is a proven trendsetter,” said Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation. “It is helping us all understand new global realities that affect our society and the ways in which our country affects others. Public media does this well and needs our support to continue this role. We expect that our grants will help key organizations create innovative programs, formats and distribution systems.”
These grants mark the Foundation’s continuing interest in the development and use of public television in informing audiences about national and world affairs. The initiative builds on the Ford Foundation’s long history of support for public media, beginning with core funding in the 1950s to develop educational broadcast channels and programs that eventually led to the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967.
Other grantees include NPR, PBS, ITVS and other public media partners.