A First for PBS
and United Way Of America

June 25th, 2002

The Chief Executives of PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and fifteen public television stations joined executives from United Way of America, United Way of the Bay Area, The San Francisco Foundation, and the Benton Foundation gather at Delancey Street Restaurant for a dinner meeting to discuss and support Celebrating Solutions! scheduled to air nationwide on PBS during September of 2003.

Celebrating Solutions! is a live multi-site television event with celebrity presenters, upbeat entertainment, interactive web programming, and compelling video vignettes emphasizing exciting solutions to neighborhood problems across the nation.

The dinner was held during the annual meeting of PBS in San Francisco this past June. Attendees heard from lead partners about Celebrating Solutions!, a program incubated by the local United Way of the Bay Area and The San Francisco Foundation. The Delancey Street Restaurant was appropriately chosen as a prime example of "solutions in action", run by ex-cons for ex-cons in their re-entry into society; it is a powerful example of a successful program that taps business work ethics and traditional values to make winners out of society's "losers."

Charles Benton, chairman of the Benton Foundation, along with Anne Wilson, CEO of United Way of San Francisco graciously hosted the evening, along with Burnie Clark, president of Seattle's KCTS Television.

Benton provided introductions and described how the United Way, Celebrating Solutions!, and PBS were actively working to connect local communities, local United Ways, the local public television station and community foundations. The partners are interested in expanding dialogue in their communities and in learning more about how these efforts can impact their communities and thereby build social capital.

Ellison Horne, Founder, Celebrating Solutions!; Pat Mitchell, President and CEO, PBS; Charles Benton, Chairman, Benton Foundation

Celebrating Solutions! Founder, Ellison Horne, described his vision by saying:
"the time is now, to harness and expand the capibilities of media and telecommunications to serve as community building tools. By combining television, radio, print media and the Internet the goal is to create a new genre of media using technology in an entertaining format to help communities understand they have solutions to society's problems and through a variety of ways, they can share and replicate their successes."

The theme for the 2003 broadcast is "Building Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods."

Burnie Clark was the evening's emcee with an eye to engaging more support from PBS affiliates prior to the September 2003 airdate. KCTS will serve as the project's Presenting Station for the PBS system. Clark invited participants to focus their energy and offer insights as how to move the project forward in the next 18 months.

Left to right: Christy Carpenter, Board Member, Corporation for Public Broadcasting;  Michael Brennan, Executive Vice President, United Way of America; Anne Wilson, CEO, United Way of the Bay Area; Burnie Clark, President & CEO, KCTS-9 Seattle; Ellison Horne, Founder, Celebrating Solutions!; and Charles Benton, Chairman, Benton Foundation.

Pat Mitchell, President of PBS, shared her views, conveying the essential message to the group, "the real value of public television begins when the television is turned off". As an example Mitchell referenced On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying. She described strengthening and engaging communities through station activities as a responsibility of general managers, but to help facilitate that, PBS can provide excellent content and disseminate working models.

United Way of America's Michael Brennan was struck by the enthusiasm and activity of all the participants. He described Horne's project as a "positive virus" that would soon reach epidemic proportions. Brennan quoted Robert Putnam as saying that "new social organizations are formed to find solutions to problems in America." Brennan said that if organizations have to solve it together, they should also communicate and celebrate together. Brennan concluded his remarks by encouraging stations to contact local United Way chapters and offered to act as a bridge between stations and his counterparts. His colleague, Anne Wilson, CEO of United Way of the Bay Area, UWBA, echoed his remarks and asked that stations also talk to community foundations as UWBA has with The San Francisco Foundation to incubate Celebrating Solutions!.

Ernest Wilson, CPB Board Member, explained he understood the concept behind social capital and partnerships, but the missing piece that needs to be better articulated is how to make it tangible: how does it build awareness, increase engagement, provide good content, increase audiences and promise financial support? He believed Celebrating Solutions! could be a model for the missing piece. Virginia Fox, Executive Director, KET-Kentucky, said she believes stations have the relationships, but need help connecting all the dots. She requested a template to help with developing local support around the national initiative and a call-to-action. Fox and others suggested PBS extend its campaign, Be More, to the local level (its audience).

Cherly Head, Dir. Outreach, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Bob Coonrod, President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting;Ellison Horne, Founder, Celebrating Solutions!

Celebrating Solutions! is about people collaborating and making connections. Cheryl Head, Director for Outreach and Diversity, and Jerry Wareham, President & CEO from Cleveland's public tv stations, commented that public radio and newspaper should not be overlooked. Horne indicated that Caesar Andrews, President of the Associated Press Managing Editors, and David Yarnold, Executive Editor of the San Jose Mercury News and APMA Board Member, were very favorable to playing a role in the project.

Burnie Clark in closing the dinner meeting suggested attendees volunteer for a committee that would ensure the Celebrating Solutions! vision is translated into reality. As a result there are now three working committees for fundraising, outreach, and production.

All agreed the meeting was an important step in making Celebrating Solutions! a national success.