In this Edition of NHMC at Work
Did you know that Latinos make up only 2.8% of writers staffed on television shows? Are you an aspiring television writer that wants to bring your authentic voice and stories to television?
The NHMC Television Writers Program is a direct response to the lack of diverse writers in television and is inviting all Latino television writers looking to hone their skills to apply for the paid, five week workshop that focuses on the writing of an original TV pilot conducted in an environment that simulates a TV Writers Room.
Submission Period: April 4 – August 7
Program Dates: October 3 – November 4
For more information and to apply please visit NHMC’s website at www.nhmc.org/writersprogram.
FCC Releases Lifeline Modernization Order
After voting to approve Lifeline modernization on March 31, the FCC this week released its order detailing the program’s key reforms-including helping offset the cost of broadband.
NHMC has also worked to preserve these reforms in the face of political opposition. In April, NHMC worked with Abigail Medina, Vice President of the San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education, who testified on her personal experience as a Lifeline subscriber before Congress. During her testimony, Medina specifically expressed opposition to H.R. 4884, which would place a hard cap on the Lifeline program and would remove support for voice-only mobile services in two years, and detailed the important role the program played in her family while facing unemployment. NHMC echoed this opposition in a letter written by member organizations of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The proposals contained in H.R. 4884 would be disastrous for low-income consumers by forcing the FCC to turn eligible participants away or cut out voice service, which is critical during emergencies.
Lifeline currently provides a modest $9.25 subsidy to low-income families to afford basic communications services. NHMC has long supported the program as a means of economic empowerment for millions of low-income Americans and submitted comments to the FCC, urging the commission to modernize the program to broadband. NHMC applauded the FCC for voting to approve program modernization last month.
NHMC Fights for Independent Programmers
On April 19, NHMC filed reply comments with the FCC and urged the Commission to consider formal rules to help diverse, independent programmers combat the barriers they encounter in acquiring television carriage.
The FCC’s Notice of Inquiry invited interested parties to address these issues as well as the overall video marketplace. Within its reply comments, NHMC asked the FCC to consider formal rules in this space while echoing many of the challenges identified by diverse independent programmers in the NOI’s initial comment period. NHMC also noted that increased consolidation among pay-TV providers has created a lopsided market in which programmers have too few buyers for their content.
NHMC previously joined the opening comments of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which detailed the woeful state of media diversity.
NHMC and the Impact of the Digital Divide
NHMC Policy Associate Andy Lomeli spoke on the impact of the Digital Divide on the Latino community
as part of a panel at the U.S. Capitol on April 27. The panel, hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), included Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15) and speakers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Google, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation discussing ways to get more Latinos connected to the Internet.
CHCI is a D.C.-based non-profit organization that helps provide young Latino leaders with internships and fellowships on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies in addition to expanding educational opportunities across the country. The panel was moderated by former NHMC Policy Fellow and current CHCI Graduate Fellow Randy Abreu. Lomeli is also an alum of the CHCI Public Policy Fellowship.
NHMC’s President & CEO, Alex Nogales, spoke on two panels at this year’s Hispanicize conference in Miami. Along with discussing the challenges facing the Latino brand during Hispanicize’s town hall, Nogales spoke about Chris Rock’s epic fail regarding diversity at the Oscars: “The issue of diversity in entertainment can no longer be a black-white dialogue, it has to include Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and women.”
From left to right: HOT Board President Eliseo Alex Tenorio, NHMC Board Secretary Peter Gomez, NBC4’s Michelle Valles and NHMC’s Alex Nogales.
On April 17, NHMC’s President & CEO, Alex Nogales, was recognized by the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce (HOT) during their 26th anniversary celebration. Nogales received the Positive Image Business Award for pushing the top four television networks to diversify their supplier efforts by awarding more contracts to Latino-owned businesses, and for diversifying the workforce of the networks both in front and in back of camera.
Founded in 1990, HOT provides access to and information about critically needed services to residents in Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera, Los Nietos and other neighboring communities.
The non-profit’s mission is to improve the quality of life for residents in the community through programs that promote education, health, economic development, financial literacy and the cultural arts.
NHMC’s VP of Policy, Michael Scurato, has been selected to serve on the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Policy Advisory Council (PPAC). The inaugural Council will provide vision, creativity, innovation, and energy to guide the ALA and U.S. libraries toward effective policy advocacy and outcomes.
