Unemployment

This fall, Vegas PBS will complete the move into our new Educational Technology Campus at 3050 East Flamingo in Las Vegas.  The move will mark the culmination of a ten-year planning, fundraising, and construction campaign.  The goal of the campaign was not to build a building.  The goal of the campaign was to create a digital media service center for our community. 

To transition from a board emphasis on capital campaign solicitation to local  programming support, the Board of Directors of Southern Nevada Public Television held three weekend strategic planning retreats and invited several outside speakers to present alternative business models for a financially sound and community responsive public service media corporation.  The Board adopted a “Community Engagement” model for its future program funding efforts. 

Community engagement means that Vegas PBS staff will use research to identify significant community concerns, invite community partners to help plan relevant programming, and use the power of our video production and multi-media distribution channels to create engaging, impactful and worthwhile video content. 

Our first effort under the new model will respond to the distressing national financial events that have resulted in mortgage foreclosures, job losses, and personal bankruptcies.  Our partners include United Way, Help of Southern Nevada, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Southern Nevada, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, United Labor Agency of Nevada, and the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, and the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada.  These partners identified many service delivery challenges, funding issues, and areas where public service media could assist them fulfill their mission.   

In the next four months Vegas PBS and Nevada Public Radio will produce and run a large number of public service announcements to support the programs of these agencies and add materials on our web sites referencing community resources to assist financially stressed local families with mortgage and rent issues, utility bills, food and health care, unemployment assistance, and job training and job searches.   

Vegas PBS will record workshops produced by Consumer Credit and Legal Aid and make them available via TV, cable, websites, and DVDs.  We will produce a documentary on home mortgage issues, assist with the recruitment of volunteers, increase access to and awareness of employment opportunities, and promote filing of an Earned Income Tax Credits form by eligible families.   

As our community faces economic challenges, public television will offer more than free entertainment.  We will use member donations to create local programming that keeps families together in tough times and empowers local nonprofit and public agencies to expand their educational outreach via public service media.