NYC High School Students Get Put to the Challenge

NetAid and Cable Positive launch competition for students to produce public service announcements highlighting solutions to the AIDS crisis

NEW YORK, NY — November 27, 2006

NetAid, the nonprofit that empowers young people to fight global poverty and Cable Positive, the cable and telecommunication industry’s AIDS action organization, announced today that they have joined forces to launch a public service announcement (PSA) competition on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006, for all New York City public high schools students.  The competition will challenge young New Yorkers to engage in critical dialogue about how their generation is being affected by HIV/AIDS on a local level and make connections to the global pandemic.

With the support from the New York Community Trust and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the challenge is being launched at a time when young people are demonstrating they can play a critical role in responding to the epidemic.  Of the 40 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS, 95 percent live in the developing world; and according to the New York City Department of Health, New York City remains the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S.  UN reports on HIV/AIDS have found that where HIV transmission was reduced, the greatest reductions often occurred among young people.

“Whether it is happening in their own backyards or halfway across the globe, young people are beginning to make the connection between the devastating impact AIDS has up close and personal to the impact it has on entire countries worldwide,” explained Dr. Kimberly Hamilton, president of NetAid.  “We are prompting students to find common solutions that address the shared issues that exist locally and around the globe and allow the virus to wreak havoc,” Dr. Hamilton stated.

On World AIDS Day, NetAid will open registration, providing students with educational materials about global HIV/AIDS and training around communication and messaging techniques (visit www.netaid.org for details).  Teams of one to ten students will then have six weeks to explore the issue of HIV/AIDS in both a local and global context, discover solutions for addressing the problems, and express them creatively and powerfully in a short video, and upload it to a designated YouTube site that will be provided to students when they register for the competition.

 After reviewing videos online, a panel of expert judges from the public health, media, culture, and education fields will select a winning team.  The team will spend a day with Cable Positive, and learn techniques of shooting, directing and film production to transform their video into a professional PSA.  The final PSA will be aired on both NetAid and Cable Positive’s websites, with pending plans for a television airing on June 27th, National HIV Testing Day.

“Television broadcast is arguably the most compelling means of communication.  By leveraging this with digital media, we can unleash the potential of young people to be catalysts of change by educating one another,” commented Thomas Henning, vice president of programs and services at Cable Positive.  Since 1992, Cable Positive has used PSA’s as a tool to communicate education and prevention messages around HIV/AIDS.  The most recent series of award-winning PSA’s featured celebrities such as Naomi Watts, Calvin Klein, Tony Kushner, Bernard Hopkins, Rosie Perez, Eric McCormack, and Wilmer Valderama.    

NetAid will build upon the work of its network of students, who are already engaged in awareness-raising activities around global issues in their schools and communities, to mobilize their peers.  Last World AIDS Day, NetAid high school student leaders reached over 150,000 of their peers nationally with AIDS-awareness messages.  “We want to turn the brilliant ideas of these students into an effective PSA to help meet the pressing need to educate young people in New York City for informed and responsible action in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” Len McNally, title of New Your Community Trust, concluded. 

About NetAid

NetAid works nationally to educate, inspire, and empower young people to take action against global poverty throughout their lives. Using technological innovation, peer-to-peer education, and leadership training, NetAid provides the knowledge, perspectives, and skills to create new generations of informed global leaders. NetAid is an independent non-profit organization based in New York City.

ABOUT CABLE POSITIVE

Cable Positive is a national non-profit organization founded February 1992 by three concerned cable executives with the mission of organizing cable’s resources in the fight against AIDS.  Cable Positive will mobilize the talents, resources, access and influence of the cable and telecommunications industry to raise HIV/AIDS awareness; support HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care; and strive to end stigma by creating a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV or AIDS.  Cable Positive has grown to include supporters from every major cable network, multiple system operator, cable system, hardware manufacturer, trade association, media publication, and affiliated industry vendors and suppliers.  Since 1992, Cable Positive has raised more than $16 million in the fight against AIDS.  For more information about Cable Positive, call 212.459.1502 or www.cablepositive.org