From the President

I’m proud to share the news that WXXI was recently awarded a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to lead five public television stations in a pilot project to expand WXXI and the Golisano Foundation’s local Move to Include initiative. With experience in programming and producing disability-related content, we will guide WFYI (Indianapolis), OPB (Oregon), WGCU (Southwest Florida), WCNY (Syracuse), and Iowa Public Television in content production, curation, and engagement to promote inclusion in communities across the country.

Designed to meet the needs of diverse audiences and raise the voices of people with a variety of intellectual and physical disabilities, each station will work to organize community partnerships, acquire and create content, and provide outreach, engagement, and promotion for the initiative. The national project is slated to kick off July 2020 in commemoration of the 30^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Our efforts in disability related stories began 15 years ago, when we partnered with the Al Sigl Community of Agencies to produce Dialogue on Disability, a one-week initiative weaving programming and news coverage focused on disabilities. In the first year Dialogue on Disability reached 30,000 people. As the initiative grew to a yearlong project and earned support from the Golisano Foundation, WXXI added more production and digital platforms to the programming, added film-screening events at the Little Theatre, and a dedicated Inclusion Desk within WXXI’s News department.

We’re looking forward to building a more inclusive community by spotlighting people’s different abilities and encouraging dialogue about disability issues across the country. Throughout the year I’ll be sharing more details about this project, so stay tuned.