The Peoples Channel, Chapel Hill's public access television station, and Radio Pa'lante have created a partnership to promote community media.
Pa'lante, a Spanish-language youth media program founded in 2003, produces a show that airs every Friday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on radio station WCOM in Carrboro.
Chad Johnston, executive director of The Peoples Channel, said the partnership is part of his plan to create a "big, little media army."
"There's so little community media," he said. "We should all be working together."
The Peoples Channel will take over administration of Pa'lante and has given the nonprofit an area in the office for planning and production.
Laura Wenzel, Pa'lante's director, said with a limited budget and staff, the organization needed a larger agency to manage administration.
"We didn't want to have to fundraise to do all that for such a small agency," she said.
Pa'lante, which went on the air in June 2006, is volunteer-run and is funded through grants, donations and events.
The group will use this funding to pay the television channel, which receives its funding from cable television subscribers in Chapel Hill.
Wenzel said Pa'lante aims to improve Latino graduation rates.
"Immigrant children who maintain their native language do better in school," she said.
Jaime Mancilla, a postdoctoral fellow in the University's biology department and a Pa'lante volunteer, said it is important to provide role models for local young Latinos.
"What I like to stress is education," he said. "Stay in school."
Wenzel added that the program reaches out to immigrant parents who don't understand English.
"It's very difficult for parents to understand what their kids are going through," she said.
Johnston said one of his goals is to expand beyond television. The center soon will offer classes in podcasting and audio storytelling.
"It's a good way for The Peoples Channel to achieve diversity in the kind of media that it's able to support."
Johnston said one of his goals is to install cameras at WCOM, allowing Pa'lante to be televised.
Pa'lante also has joined forces with El Pueblo Inc., a N.C. Latino advocacy group, to promote its No Fumo campaign, designed to keep teens from smoking. Youth program coordinator Jahan Brown said plans include a Pa'lante show on teen tobacco use.
Lucila Vargas, a professor in the School of Journalism and a Pa'lante board member, said her main concern is sustainability.
"What is hard is to keep it going."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
