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9/2 WBGU-PBS Receives National Award From
The Corporation For Public Broadcasting

Bowling Green, OH – WBGU-PBS is one of 26 public television stations from across the country to receive national recognition for their community engagement efforts.

The two community engagement projects WBGU-PBS is being recognized for include: "Building A Living Legacy of Hope" (a cancer awareness outreach project) and "There's No Place Like Home" (a mortgage foreclosure outreach project).

“The My Source Community Engagement project is one of the most rewarding endeavors we’ve been involved with,” said Mark Erstling, Senior Vice President at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), who flew in from Washington, D.C. to present WBGU-PBS’ My Source Community Impact Award for Engagement during a reception for the station’s community partners in these projects, on Wednesday, September 2. “This award demonstrates the important services WBGU-PBS provides to the community and is a reflection of the staff’s skill and sensitivity to tuning in to the needs of individuals at two of the most difficult times of their lives (facing cancer or mortgage foreclosure).”

Carol Cartwright, Ph. D., President of Bowling Green State University, Patrick Fitzgerald, WBGU-PBS General Manager and Director of Television Services and Jan Osborn, Ph. D., chair of WBGU-PBS’ Public Advisory Council for Television, accepted the national award.

Dr. Cartwright thanked CPB for “this important recognition of partnerships,” and thanked community partners and WBGU-PBS staff members for “having the ideas and stepping forward to launch these two important initiatives.

“For over 45 years, WBGU-PBS has been a very important part of our public service mission, connecting Bowling Green State University with our communities,” Cartwright added, citing other station partnerships.
“Recently, WBGU-PBS has been working with BGSU’s College of Business Administration on important economic development issues in the region. The station’s ongoing partnerships with historical societies and organizations preserve the history and culture of this region so it can be passed on to future generations. Through their partnership with BGSU’s College of Education, new-media based content for parents and teachers is being created, extending learning throughout the region and the State.”

“WBGU-PBS is honored to be recognized for the work we are accomplishing with our local partner organizations to meet very significant and urgent needs in our communities,” said Fitzgerald. “These two projects show the power of what locally owned and operated public television can do. BGSU and locally-based community agencies are extending the impact of services well beyond what otherwise could be accomplished.”

Area agencies and organizations donated $6,000 for the "Building a Living Legacy of Hope" initiative, in addition to a $5,000 grant from WGBH - Boston. WBGU-PBS and its partners launched an extensive campaign that included building awareness of "standard-of-care" services and support available locally, and providing cancer survivors who might be isolated with information and sources of support.

Outreach activities included a community health fair, fielding questions during two “NW Ohio Journal” programs on "Living With Cancer" and "The Changing Face of Cancer Research and Clinical Trials," and setting up phone banks of oncologists, cancer survivors and clinical trial administrators to field calls during a series of cancer programs WBGU aired in June. The culminating event, held at the station, enabled cancer survivors and their loved ones to record and share their experiences and inspirational advice with others at <wbgu.org/legacyofhope>.

Area agencies and organizations donated $8,000 to the “There’s No Place Like Home” project. WBGU and a group of new community partners joined to present information on community resources available for those who might be at risk for foreclosure in a “NW Ohio Journal Special Report: Mortgage Foreclosure Intervention.” The two-hour program aired live on April 14, 2008. Local experts answered calls throughout the broadcast offering advice on how to prepare for and prevent foreclosure and presented phone numbers of agencies and resources, by county.

While producing the program, WBGU formed new alliances with banks in Allen, Ottawa and Erie counties and WSOS Community Action. This continuing partnership resulted in a successful grant application to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati for a $200,000 foreclosure mitigation grant. In all, the program encompasses 12 lenders and WSOS, and serves Huron, Erie, Wyandot, Seneca, Sandusky, Ottawa, Wood, Hancock, Putnam, Allen and Lucas counties.
The consortium is now looking to engage additional lending institutions and local governments in a regional foreclosure recovery program as part of the $4 billion Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Preservation Program passed by Congress this summer.

The My Source Community Impact Awards for Engagement were created by CPB to give well-deserved recognition to stations for their commitment and responsiveness to their communities, providing innovative services – on-air, online, and in-person – that have measurable results and benefits for the community.

“Now more than ever, communities are relying on local public broadcasting stations for information they can trust, for connection to community that matters and for a safe place where children can learn,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of CPB. "The work of this award-winning public television station demonstrates the breadth of public media's educational contributions nationwide and the depth of impact on individual learners and their families. CPB congratulates this station for its important commitment to community through engagement and our country through education."

WBGU-PBS, along with the other Ohio public television stations won a My Source Community Impact Award for Education in March, 2009, for the collaboration to bring Gov Strickland's regional Conversations on Education to residents around the state. The stations provided on-air programs, community forums, web content and promotional support for that initiative.