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California Welfare: A Community Conversation


San Francisco, CA, 1998

KQED-FM, in partnership with the Homeless Prenatal Program of San Francisco, laid out the following goals for its project:

  • to facilitate and inform a public discussion of the impact of welfare reform in the nation's most populous state;
  • to provide a forum for a California-wide community discussion of emerging issues; and
  • to alert policy makers of the concerns of Californians as policy becomes reality.

The broadcast component featured a series of reports on the results of welfare reform and related legislation on access to health care, education, housing, and related necessities for California children. Those reports were broadcast by the California Report; a statewide news service produced by KQED-FM and carried by 26 public radio stations throughout California.

The first six reports were followed by an hour-long special report made available to all California public radio stations. This documentary was followed by a one-hour live interconnect involving community panelists in several California communities in conversation with policy makers at the state and regional levels. The interconnect was accompanied by an online conversation.

Other Profiles

Awards:

KQED Round Four

Sheraz Sadiq, Assistant Producer for Working Uninsured
— 2005 California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship to develop and research material for the project

KQED Round Three

Hope on the Street
Best Local Television for News, Educational or Public Service Programming
— National Mental Health Association 2003 Media Awards

Emmy Nomination for Best Documentary
Media Award for Community Service
— Alameda County Mental Health Board

Commendation
— San Francisco Mental Health Board

Best Documentary and Outstanding Media Award for Television Documentary
— National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

$300,000 — Eli Lilly Company

March Symposium on Mental Health
$25,000 — California Endowment
$15,000 — Zellerbach Family Foundation
$10,000 — California Wellness Foundation
$3,500 — Eli Lilly
$2,500 — United Behavioral Health
$2,000 — Johnson and Johnson
$2,000 — Telecare Corp
$1,500 — NAMI/Contra Costa

KQED Round One

California Welfare: A Community Conversation
Clarion Award for Radio Documentary, One-time, Public Radio
— Association for Women in Communications