We have learned that V-me services are in jeopardy due to tough economic times. Funding for V-me and many other state programs is being debated in Olympia.
In order for V-me's crucial local services on air, online and in the community to survive—services such as statewide free broadcast, parent and caregiver workshops, local community resources, and unparalleled public affairs—V-me needs your help. Contact your legislators to tell them how important Washington's V-me service is to the fastest-growing community in our state. V-me not only engages Latinos with quality public television, it helps prepare our children, Latino and non-Latino alike, with a global edge. Help preserve V-me services:
• Contact your legislator and tell him/her why V-me is an important service to you and to the state. You can find your legislators by going to http://leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/o OR call the in-state toll-free hotline number, 1.800.562.6000.
• Contact the office of our senate champion, Senator Margarita Prentice. Thank her for her efforts to keep V-me in the budget and urge her to support raising our funds to $180,000, the minimum annual budget we need to continue the offerings of local services, including early learning outreach, local production and transmission from the Puget Sound to Tri-Cities. E-mail her at Prentice.Margarita@leg.wa.gov.
Why support V-me?
V-me is a cost-effective way to serve the fastest-growing segment of our Washington population. It provides resources for parents and caregivers through quality bilingual workshops that provide information and tools to help prepare children for school. Thousands of children and childcare providers have benefitted from these bilingual early learning workshops.
V-me connects Spanish speakers with vital local public affairs through programs including Ask the Governor, Tough Times: Rising Above the Financial Crisis, and a host of shorts on education, culture, arts and financial literacy found nowhere else on television.
The educational and entertaining award-winning content for children and families—the type of programs that help children grow and thrive—is not available anywhere else in Spanish-language broadcasting.
V-me is catching on! In a recent study of Latinos in Yakima and the Tri-Cities, 17.7% of respondents reported having watched V-me in the past 7 days. V-me reaches tens of thousands of homes from the Puget Sound to the Tri-Cities. In our own Conexión Marketing online survey of media consumption, V-Me was right up there.
Let's show this important medium our support!
Thanks to all the folks who have contacted their legislators in Washington State to advise them of the value of V-me public television in Spanish. V-me is a world-class network that is in no danger, however, KCTS 9 as the presenting station of V-me in the Northwest looks to state funds to extend its value through local programs and outreach services. Given the current fiscal crisis, the proposed state budget cuts severely the funding we need to offer localized service to Washington’s fastest-growing constituency – Latinos. Our Hispanic community has made tremendous strides in engaging in regional civic affairs. Public media are a cost-effective means to extend the state’s commitment to early learning and public affairs for this burgeoning Northwest population. It’s not too late to encourage your legislator to support KCTS 9’s local initiatives for Spanish-speaking audiences.
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