Maryland Public Television Invites Community Leaders to a Community Forum

You are invited to attend an interesting forum for Maryland Public Television that will be held next month in the Center of the Arts in Ellicott City.  MPT uses these forums to gain an understanding of the issues impacting communities through Maryland.  Pass the information around to others who might like to participate.  I attended one of these forums a couple of years ago and it was great.

Public broadcasting has the unique opportunity to reach communities across Maryland. Everyday, Maryland families choose to make local stations a part of their lives, as a source of information, entertainment, education and more. But in order to take full advantage of this opportunity, stations like MPT must step up to hear and respond to the needs of diverse communities throughout the state.

Howard County Center for the Arts, Classroom 14

8510 High Ridge Road

Ellicott City, MD 21043

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

12-2 pm

Limited to first 12-15 participants.
Light refreshments
will be served.
RSVP: Kristin Cook at 410-581-4035 or

KCook@mpt.org

In the Community Listening Project (CLP), MPT is engaged in a series of discussions with small groups of community leaders and regular citizens. Representatives of schools, health community, Kids & families, the environment, civic organizations, local business, the arts and cultural organizations are encouraged to share there perspectives on community issues. The goal of these conversations (12-15 attendees) is to listen and learn about the issues most important to these diverse groups of viewers. Armed with an understanding of Maryland's communities, MPT can then help to build them up, by structuring community engagement and programming around the issues most relevant to them. Twelve stations nationally are involved with this project, sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of the Harwood Institute's Community Engagement Initiative.

MPT sees the conversations fostered under CLP as an exciting opportunity for strengthening the relationship between local stations and their viewers. Public broadcasting is unique in that it can reach neighborhoods, towns and cities from the Eastern Shore to the Appalachian Mountains, while maintaining close relationships with the groups they serve. It is these relationships, which will help MPT to create better programming and more relevant public service, and ultimately lead to a more active public broadcasting system and a better, more vibrant community.