{"id":236008,"date":"2013-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/hello-neighbor\/"},"modified":"2013-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-02T08:00:00","slug":"hello-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/hello-neighbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello, Neighbor!"},"content":{"rendered":"

New KPBS blog shines light on diversity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown News Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

KPBS, San Diego\u2019s Public Broadcast network located on the campus of San Diego State University, has always been an integral part of San Diego and its communities.<\/p>\n

\"Hello,<\/a>
(l-r) Clare Pister, Monica Medina, NPR CEO Gary Knell, Trisha Richter and Ashley Rodriguez inside the KPBS newsroom. (Courtesy KPBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s mission statement is this: \u201cKPBS news serves the people of the San Diego region with trustworthy, in-depth information that allows the community to hold its leaders accountable. We show how global and local current affairs change our lives and how San Diego changes the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPBS accomplishes its mission through a variety of media and outlets, radio, television and digital media \/ online.<\/p>\n

One group, led by 18-year KPBS veteran Monica Medina, is now using their prominent position in the media market to reach out and honor members of the local San Diego area.<\/p>\n

Medina\u2019s title is Director of Diversity, Engagement and Grants. That\u2019s a big title and it encompasses a great deal.\u00a0 The Grants aspect carried over from previous roles she held within the organization because she is very good at what she does.<\/p>\n

As Director of Diversity and Engagement, Medina initiates and oversees outreach campaigns within the greater San Diego area, focusing in such community areas as military, mental health, aging, Native-American, LGBT, Asian and Pacific Islanders, African-American, Latino and Hispanic, Jewish, disability and women.<\/p>\n

\"Hello,<\/a>
Leng Caloh, interactive strategies manager for KPBS, has been instrumental in the support provided Medina and her group. (Courtesy KPBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the last couple of years, KPBS has honored people within these communities as \u201clocal heroes,\u201d and now Medina is taking that concept a step further.<\/p>\n

In November, she launched a new blog, called, \u201cHey Neighbor\u201d on the KPBS website.<\/p>\n

There are eight categories for local heroes: Native American Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Disability Awareness Month, LGBT Pride Month, Black History Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, Women\u2019s History Month, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Two from each category are chosen, generally one male and one female.<\/p>\n

An avid blogger in her own right (monicastangledweb.com \u2013 \u201cmy keen observations and ironic musings\u201d), Medina has taken to writing on the blog twice per month about outstanding people within the community who aren\u2019t necessarily honored with a hero nomination or award.<\/p>\n

Hey Neighbor, inspired by the universal appeal of Mister Rogers and his decades-long request for viewers to be his neighbor, is now a bi-monthly blog that sheds a shining light on those who dedicate their lives making the world better for other people.<\/p>\n

The website calls it, \u201ca blog about San Diego and the people and places that make this an extraordinary region to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

It does much more than that, it lifts up the people are usually doing the heavy lifting themselves. Since first launching in November, Medina has profiled a half dozen people for the blog, including fellow KPBSer Stephanie Bergsma, Tom K. Wong whose scary childhood as an undocumented alien she details with great care, Urban League President Ray King, and others who are adding to the list of local heroes.<\/p>\n

In December, Medina expanded the blog to include pertinent, family recipes \u2013 the only requirement is that they have a back-story \u2013 from guest bloggers in the region.<\/p>\n

\"Hello,<\/a>
Director of Diversity, Engagement and Grants Monica Medina (Courtesy KPBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBasically I am hoping as word gets out as people become more aware of the blog, they\u2019ll contact me if they know of a story, of if they have a story that\u2019s pretty extraordinary \u2013 an ordinary person that has done something extraordinary while\u00a0 giving back to the community,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

Medina\u2019s Hey Neighbor team consists of her staff, Ashley Rodriguez, Trisha Richter, Clare Pister and Interactive Stratgies Manager, Leng Caloh.<\/p>\n

KPBS General Manager Tom Karlo, a 40-year veteran of KPBS, is a big supporter of the Medina\u2019s work and mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe celebrate diversity throughout the year and we tell the stories of those communities and I want the website to reflect it more,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd I want people of those different communities to come to our website and tell their stories and we would promote those things on the air.<\/p>\n

Karlo said he encourages his staff to support events and celebrations that take place throughout the various communities that exist within San Diego, and he goes as often as his schedule permits, himself.<\/p>\n

This month, the 16 local heroes from 2012 will be celebrated by KPBS and its sponsoring partner, Union Bank, on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the San Diego Natural History Museum.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for future articles on other initiatives of this group.<\/p>\n

For more information about Hey Neighbor, visit\u00a0 kpbs.org\/news\/blogs\/hey-neighbor\/<\/a>.\u00a0 To nominate a local hero, visit kpbs.org\/news\/blogs\/hey-neighbor\/local-heroes\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New KPBS blog shines light on diversity Morgan M. Hurley | Downtown News Editor KPBS, San Diego\u2019s Public Broadcast network located on the campus of San Diego State University, has always been an integral part of San Diego and its communities. It\u2019s mission statement is this: \u201cKPBS news serves the people of the San Diego […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Hello, Neighbor!","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}