Ask not what you can do for media; ask what media can do for you!

Who has never found themselves parked on the couch, channel surfing, looking for something, anything to watch on television? Now picture a public education campaign (or public service announcement) for your agency’s HIV testing event flashes across the screen. Happily you can now settle into a program knowing that other channel surfers in your neighborhood have been educated about HIV and might take the opportunity to come to your agency’s event. This scene is not a fantasy, it is the main objective of Cable Positive’s Tony Cox Community Fund grant; what is different about TCCF is that is not a grant just to support an ASO’s programs, it is to encourage ASOs to use the media as a resource and to fund an ASO’s campaign, with the long term goal to help form a relationship between that ASO and their local cable network.

According to the Global Media AIDS Initiative, 72% of Americans identify television, radio, and newspapers as their primary source of information about HIV/AIDS; surpassing doctors, family, and friends as primary sources of information. Media organizations have an enormous sphere of influence on all demographics, defining what people wear, what they say, and even, what types of food they eat. Media frames products and ideas and allows them to enter our lives through mainstream points of entrance, i.e., our radios, televisions, computers, cell phones, iPods, etc.

Media’s role in HIV/AIDS prevention is vital; media allows for easy access to the homes of millions of people around the world. It allows for extremely pertinent information to be flow through trust worthy channels and be viable and accessible over an extended period of time. Media can, and has been used, to combat HIV/AIDS denial, stigma, discrimination, and apathy across all socioeconomic levels and can bring messages of tolerance and awareness through a medium that is available and accessible to most of the population. By working hand in hand with the media, ASOs can assure themselves that their HIV prevention message will reach as many of their target population as possible, while also serving to educate the general population at the same time; which is a win/win situation. Whether it is an HIV education podcast, radio commercial, or PSA, ASOs must continue to recognize the value of cable network partnerships and not be afraid to jump into these relationships feet first.

Greetings!!!

My name is Jennifer D. Medina and I am the new Director of Programs at Cable Positive. I have been working in the HIV/AIDS field for the past ten years; from my internship in Development to my work as a COBRA Case Manager and then Assistant Director of Health Education and Prevention, my years in the field have truly been phenomenal learning experiences. As I come on board to the Tony Cox Community Fund, I hope to use my HIV/AIDS prevention skills and meld them with the new cable industry language that I am slowly but surely learning! Although I am newly integrating into the Cable Positive family, I have been able to introduce myself to quite a number of grantees and I must say that I am extremely excited to continue the great relationships established.

Now some of you AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) out there are reading this blog and may be saying to yourself, what is Cable Positive and what is the Tony Cox Community Fund? Let me bring you up to speed! Cable Positive was founded in February 1992 by three concerned cable executives, with the mission of organizing cable's resources in the fight against AIDS. Our mission is to mobilize the talents, resources, access and influence of the cable and telecommunications industry to raise HIV/AIDS awareness; support HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care; and strive to end stigma by creating a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV or AIDS. Cable Positive’s Tony Cox Community Fund is a national grant program that exists to encourage community-based AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) and cable outlets to partner in joint community outreach efforts, or to produce and distribute new, locally focused HIV/AIDS-related programs and Public Service Announcements (PSAs). Over the years, the Tony Cox Community Fund has become one of the nation’s largest and most targeted HIV/AIDS grassroots funding mechanisms.

In layman’s terms, Cable Positive and its’ programs strive to be the liaison between the cable industry and national HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Understanding that funding sources do not always allocate enough money for media outreach, the Tony Cox Community Fund works to bridge that gap. Through a grant of up to $7,000, the TCCF endeavors to produce public education messages, or public service announcements, for agencies that have a fantastic program that they would like to promote or a very important event (focused around HIV/AIDS prevention) that they would like to advertise to the television watching public, which is basically, all of us!! I look forward to seeing your submissions for Cycle 1, which are due on March 14, 2007. If you have any additional questions or need further clarification on what we do as an agency, please do not hesitate to contact me at either jennifer@cablepositive.org or at 212.459.1504.

Best Regards,