Native Public Media and the New America Foundation today announced a new partnership to strengthen and expand Native American media capacity, and to raise the visibility of those efforts inside the Beltway.
Native Public Media — an Arizona-based organization founded, staffed by and serving the Native American community — will work with New America’s Open Technology Initiative on a wide range of media issues, including better broadband access on tribal lands and continued support for Native public radio. It will remain an independent 501c3 organization.
“This partnership is a collaboration of building upon strength,” Loris Ann Taylor, President and CEO of Native Public Media, said. “Working together, we can shine a brighter light on both the media and digital divides plaguing Indian Country, and push those discussions at the national level.”
“We’re very excited to work more closely with Native Public Media,” Open Technology Initiative Director Sascha Meinrath said. “Our two organizations partnered in 2009 to report on new media, technology and Internet use in Native American communities, and we complemented one another beautifully. OTI brings deep Washington and technical expertise, while Loris and her colleagues are the undisputed experts when it comes to what’s happening on the ground — working with tribal law and policy, and coordinating directly with the 565 Native nations and their existing media outlets.”
“Native Public Media has been a remarkably effective organization and a valuable voice for reform,” New America President Steve Coll said. “My goal is for us to help amplify that voice — while protecting Native Public Media’s independence of thought about public policy and public issues.”
Native Public Media will remain based in Arizona, with its own board of directors and Taylor continuing to serve as President and CEO. New America Foundation will serve as the organization’s fiscal agent and program partner.
“When we first discussed the idea of partnering,” NPM Board Chair, Sue Matters said, “the focus was strictly on operational and financial matters. But it quickly became apparent that New America — with its intellectual diversity and collaborative culture — was a great fit for NPM on a number of different levels. We are all looking forward to making the most of an unprecedented opportunity to combine the capacity and expertise of both organizations in addressing Native issues on an elevated and national scale.”
About Native Public Media
Native Public Media is a resource and advocacy organization that works to strengthen and expand Native American media capacity. The organization, supported by the Media Democracy Fund and other funders, is committed to providing direct services to Native broadcasters and advancing policies and strategies that enable Native people to utilize technologies – whether traditional or new – that offer the best opportunities to develop healthy, engaged and independent Native communities.
Native Public Media works with 34 Native-owned public radio stations in 13 states, a media network that will expand to include 38 additional public stations over the next three years. For more information, visit http://nativepublicmedia.org.
About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.
New America’s Open Technology Initiative formulates policy and regulatory reforms to support open architectures and open source innovations and facilitates the development and implementation of open technologies and communications networks. For more information, visit http://oti.newamerica.net/
Traci L. Morris 