NEW YORK, NY - October 9, 2002
Cable Positive, the cable industry's AIDS action organization, awarded grants totaling $45,600 to eleven (11) AIDS service organizations (ASOs) partnering with their local cable systems through the newly redesigned Tony Cox Community Fund. The fund is dedicated to providing grants for ASOs who partner with their local cable systems in the aim of HIV/AIDS awareness, education, and prevention. Formerly known as the Tony Cox Fund for Local HIV/AIDS Programming, the fund now provides grants beyond cable programming to include local outreach efforts.
The grantees' projects range from production of HIV/AIDS public service announcements (PSAs) and other programming; promotional spots for AIDS awareness events; and the creation of AIDS education materials for distribution to ASOs, schools, and community centers. More than half of the grantees target young people, a group in which the rate of HIV infection is rising at an alarming rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates every hour of every day two young Americans are infected with HIV.
Cable Positive's Tony Cox Community Fund 2002 Cycle 2 grantees are:
Alliance for Living and Comcast (New London, CT)
Funding will be used to produce a 30-second PSA complementing the organization's recent anti-stigma radio and print media campaign funded by the Connecticut State Department of Health. Comcast will air the spots throughout southeastern Connecticut in early 2003.
Big Bend Cares and Comcast (Tallahassee, FL)
Big Bend Cares will produce a 30-minute program to support their youth focused multi-media awareness and prevention campaign. Comcast will air the program on December 3, 2002 in support of World AIDS Day.
Community Information Center and Portland Cable Access (Portland, OR)
Documentary filmmaker Chris Carlos will film TeamQuest's ascent to the top of Mt. Aconcagua, Argentina, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, in January 2003. TeamQuest is a Portland climbing group for people living with HIV and other life challenging illnesses. The documentary will be aired by Portland Cable Access in late spring 2003.
David's House of Compassion and Buckeye Cable (Toledo, OH)
A six PSA campaign targeting youth and women will be produced to drive viewers to the campaign's website www.cyrusthevirus.com. The site, launching in 2003, will enable visitors to obtain more information about HIV/AIDS, and available programs and services. The PSA campaign will air from February to July 2003 on Buckeye Cable.
Good Samaritan Project and Time Warner (Kansas City, MO)
Time Warner Kansas City will place two 30-second PSAs produced by the Good Samaritan Project into three 3-week schedules in 2003. The PSAs will promote the TEENS Teaching AIDS Prevention (TAP) hotline, a service that utilizes teens to educate their peers about HIV/AIDS.
JRI Health and AT&T Broadband (Norwell, MA)
To further the reach of JRI Health's 90-minute program on youth HIV prevention and awareness, AT&T Broadband will produce a CD-ROM of the program funded through the Tony Cox Fund last year. The CD-ROM will be distributed and made available to ASOs, schools, community groups, and other organizations throughout the Boston metro area.
Long Island Association for AIDS Care (LIAAC) and
Cablevision (Huntington Station, NY)
Cablevision's News12 will produce a 30-second promotional spot to increase participation in LIAAC's AIDS Walk Long Island, in May 2003. The spot will be aired on Cablevision Long Island.
New York City Comic Book Museum (NYCCBM) and
Manhattan Neighborhood Network (New York, NY)
NYCCBM will use funding to produce a video documenting the museum's World AIDS Day installation Comic Books and AIDS: What's The Story? at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center for Comprehensive Care. Manhattan Neighborhood Network will air the 30-minute video in February 2003 and again in June 2003.
Palmetto AIDS Foundation and Time Warner (Columbia, SC)
Funding will be applied to their promotional efforts surrounding their AIDSWalk Columbia 2003 event.
Project Reach Youth (PRY) and
Brooklyn Cable Access Television (BCAT) (Brooklyn, NY)
PRY's youth peer educators will develop a 30-second HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention PSA targeting 15-24 year olds in Brooklyn. BCAT will air the spot throughout 2003.
Wall-Las Memorias Project and Adelphia (Los Angeles, CA)
Wall-Las Memorias Project, a wall of remembrance of those who have passed away from AIDS, will produce two PSAs, one English and one Spanish, in an effort to recruit Latinos to attend and participate in their World AIDS Day event, the 9th Annual Noche de las Memorias, where the names of those who have passed will be presented. Adelphia will air the spots this November to support the event.
"Cable Positive's Tony Cox Community Fund creates partnerships between local cable systems and AIDS service organizations across America in the aim of HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention. The value of these partnerships is immeasurable to the fight against AIDS," says Steve Villano, Cable Positive president and CEO. "The expansion of the program to include local community efforts as well as programming allows for Cable Positive and the cable industry to better meet the needs of local AIDS organizations."
Grantees were chosen from a pool of applicants submitted to the Cable Positive Tony Cox Steering Committee, a group of cable industry professionals. Seth Morrison, Senior Vice President, CTAM, chairs Cable Positive's Tony Cox Steering Committee. Committee members include: Nan Ahern, Consultant; Paul Braun, Vice President, Network Programming, Time Warner Cable; Susan Carden, Vice President, Network Programming, Comcast Cable Communications; Maryce Cunningham, Director of Access Programming, Cablevision; Steve Houck, Vice President, Affiliate Relations, National Cable Communications; Lucinda Martinez, Director, Partnership Marketing, Comedy Central; John Monaghan, Southern California Programming Director, Adelphia Communications; Judy Poole, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Insight Communications; Michelle Ray, Director, Special Events-Industry Affairs, NCTA; Estilita Ward, Director of Special Projects, The Montel Williams Show; and Susan Weinstein, Vice President, Programming Acquisitions, Sirius Radio.
The fund is named in memory of former chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, Inc. and a founding honorary chair of Cable Positive, Winston "Tony" Cox. Grants are awarded for the creation of local AIDS-related programming, PSAs, and outreach efforts in two grant cycles per year. Since its inception in 1996, the Tony Cox Fund has committed more than $800,000 to over 175 AIDS service organizations in the United States.
Cable Positive is a national non-profit organization that was founded in February 1992 by three concerned cable executives with the mission of organizing cable's resources in the fight against AIDS. Cable Positive is dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access and influence of the communications industry to raise AIDS awareness; to fund AIDS education, research and care; and to promote a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. Cable Positive has grown to include supporters from every major cable network, MSO, system, hardware manufacturer, trade association, media publication, and affiliated industry vendors and suppliers. Since 1992, Cable Positive has raised more than $9 million in the fight against AIDS. For more information about Cable Positive call 212.459.1502.
