My Community 2010

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) NEW YORK, NY - March 25, 2010 - PCI-Media Impact launches the sixth year of My Community, a unique social change communications program designed to help communities help themselves remove the barriers to health services and environmental preservation. My Community is taking place in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru. With the support and partnership of 36 community-based NGOs, My Community is empowering over 12 million people with important information on basic human rights and securing their well-being with access to vital health care and a clean living area.   The lead organizations participating in My Community are Centro de Educación y Comunicación para Comunidades y Pueblos Indígenas (CECPOI), Alternativas Humanas, Comunicares, Corporación Tierrafertil, ProNatura, Radio Integración, Red SIDA – Cusco, Salud sin Limites – Perú, and Red de Desarrollo Sostinible (RDS). From its 25 years using media to inspire communities, Media Impact knows that successful interventions depend on linkages to effective delivery systems already in place. The groups participating in My Community have demonstrated over time their integration into current systems and their desire to improve those systems and the well-being of their communities.     For their participation in My Community, groups receive a 10-day course on entertainment education and social marketing, a manual on entertainment education and social marketing, one year of financial and technical assistance to ensure the successful implementation of the program, and the ongoing support of a strong, global network of organizations that are using Media Impact’s communications approach.   Media Impact is working with the groups to produce a series of radio soap operas, magazine shows and community outreach events to engage the public on the issues of health and the environment. Continue checking Media Impact’s website (www.mediaimpact.org) for more information about My Community, the participating groups, and their social change communications campaigns. Radio broadcasts will begin in June 2010.   Green Shots are Sprouting One of the newest groups working with Media Impact is Corporación Tierrafertil in Colombia. Through My Community, the group is collaborating with some of the leading bio-fuel scientists, engineers and community activists to educate the public about the toxins produced through coffee production and its effects on health. The project is also showing the community to take these toxins and convert them into a new green economy producing bio-fuels. If this small community in Colombia can transition to a clean, green economy, it holds many promises for other coffee producing nations.   PCI-Media Impact is an independent, non-profit organization founded in 1985 that is dedicated to the rights and empowerment of women, youth and Indigenous peoples; the promotion of education and health, including reproductive health and informed choice; sensitivity to national and local cultures; and the principles put forth in broadly accepted United Nations covenants and resolutions. Media Impact’s programs assist local media group produce, air and sustain programs with advocacy and human rights messages, and facilitate the dissemination of programs as widely as possible, especially to the underserved.   Contact: Michael Tatu Castlen, Executive Director Telephone: (212) 687-3366 Email: info@mediaimpact.org Website: www.mediaimpact.org   PCI5634