FRIENDS OF THIRTEEN, WNET
New York, NY
Friends of THIRTEEN board members, staff, and student scholarship recipients with Patrick Butler, APTS President and CEO.
The Friends of Thirteen, a volunteer organization, has been supporting the mission and goals of Thirteen/WNET New York for 50 years. The Friends have been engaged in grassroots advocacy for public media since the early 1980’s.
Thirteen/WNET, WLIW21 and NJTV have the largest congressional delegation of any public television station. There are four Members of the U.S. Senate and 30 Members of Congress.
For the past 30 years, a group of three to five Friends’ board members, along with station staff from WNET/Thirteen and WLIW travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) Public Media Summit and in congressional meetings during Capitol Hill Day. For the last several years, NJTV was part of the team.
It’s important for representatives to hear from public media staff about the work we do and why we need the money to do it; but, it’s just as important for them to hear from lay leaders and students. This is where the Friends of Thirteen get involved with their board members and the university students they finally support to attend the Summit get involved.
The Friends of Thirteen initiated an essay contest for university students. Four students are chosen to accompany the WNET Team. Students have the opportunity to meet high level public policy and media leaders at the Summit. Then, at Capitol Hill Day, the students join the station team to meet our representatives and ask them to vote in favor of government funding for public media.
In order to cover all of the meetings, the group is organized into five teams to cover the 30 visits. Yes, 30 House visits in one day, with the four Senate visits made the day before by Senior Management. A lay leader and/or university student is represented on each team.
We have found that having students in the meetings, along with the volunteers and station staff, makes a big difference in the way the meeting is handled. The young students make a very compelling case why funding is important to keep public broadcasting strong and available for everyone.
The Friends don’t stop with only the annual lobbying visits to Washington, D.C. Throughout the year, they support (are involved in) the Protect My Public Media campaign, by signing on to take a stand for continued funding for public broadcasting.
We are particularly proud of our recent grassroots efforts:
The 2018 Dear Colleague Letter was signed by 21 of WNET’s 30 Representatives; this was the first time in three years that one of our Members signed on and two of our staunch Republican Representatives signed on too. Our teams in DC made a strong case to turn these Representatives around in their thinking.
The Friends also arranged a station visit for Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY 3rd District). He visited WNET on September 22, 2017 for an informational meeting, tour, and MetroFocus interview.
Following the success of their essay contest the Friends hosted an Informational Meeting for university students to teach them about the relationship between public media and politics.
In addition, WNET Executive Director, Friends of THIRTEEN Dorothy Pacella was part of the group that accepted the 2018 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award at the APTS Public Media Summit.
Thirteen/WNET, WLIW21 and NJTV have the largest congressional delegation of any public television station. There are four Members of the U.S. Senate and 30 Members of Congress.
For the past 30 years, a group of three to five Friends’ board members, along with station staff from WNET/Thirteen and WLIW travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) Public Media Summit and in congressional meetings during Capitol Hill Day. For the last several years, NJTV was part of the team.
It’s important for representatives to hear from public media staff about the work we do and why we need the money to do it; but, it’s just as important for them to hear from lay leaders and students. This is where the Friends of Thirteen get involved with their board members and the university students they finally support to attend the Summit get involved.
The Friends of Thirteen initiated an essay contest for university students. Four students are chosen to accompany the WNET Team. Students have the opportunity to meet high level public policy and media leaders at the Summit. Then, at Capitol Hill Day, the students join the station team to meet our representatives and ask them to vote in favor of government funding for public media.
In order to cover all of the meetings, the group is organized into five teams to cover the 30 visits. Yes, 30 House visits in one day, with the four Senate visits made the day before by Senior Management. A lay leader and/or university student is represented on each team.
We have found that having students in the meetings, along with the volunteers and station staff, makes a big difference in the way the meeting is handled. The young students make a very compelling case why funding is important to keep public broadcasting strong and available for everyone.
The Friends don’t stop with only the annual lobbying visits to Washington, D.C. Throughout the year, they support (are involved in) the Protect My Public Media campaign, by signing on to take a stand for continued funding for public broadcasting.
We are particularly proud of our recent grassroots efforts:
The 2018 Dear Colleague Letter was signed by 21 of WNET’s 30 Representatives; this was the first time in three years that one of our Members signed on and two of our staunch Republican Representatives signed on too. Our teams in DC made a strong case to turn these Representatives around in their thinking.
The Friends also arranged a station visit for Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY 3rd District). He visited WNET on September 22, 2017 for an informational meeting, tour, and MetroFocus interview.
Following the success of their essay contest the Friends hosted an Informational Meeting for university students to teach them about the relationship between public media and politics.
In addition, WNET Executive Director, Friends of THIRTEEN Dorothy Pacella was part of the group that accepted the 2018 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award at the APTS Public Media Summit.
