Sean Fahey's short film, The Tractor Builder, went from winning the 2006 Studs Terkel student scholarship to the Chicago International Film Festival last October and is slated to run on PBS this July.

The short documentary profiles Peoria-native Tom Karl who designed, built and uses a tractor he operates with his right hand and head as a way to continue working despite his muscular dystrophy. Karl is Sean's uncle. Sean has also started his own nonprofit organization to do media-literacy programming with youth on the Southwest Side and in Peoria, and helps lead Endless Eye (www.endlesseye.org), which is producing feature film A Library for Panyijiar among other projects.

The cash and the validation of the Terkel Award "empowered us to do socially conscious media,“ Sean says.

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“Community, Media and You”

2008 Studs Terkel Winners
Tom McNamee of the Chicago Sun-Times, Dawn Turner-Trice of the Chicago Tribune, and Dulce Mora of Radio Arte 90.5 FM conversate with Thom. Show airs 8 p.m. Saturdays March 1, 15 and 29.
Watch the Videocast Now

Chicago Matters
Green Chicago is the topic this year of Chicago Matters, the annual public information series made possible by The Chicago Community Trust with programming by WTTW 11, Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Public Library, and The Chicago Reporter. Alison Cuddy of WBEZ, Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW and Elizabeth Richter from The Chicago Community Trust are Thom's guests on the show, which airs 8 p.m. Saturdays, March 8 and 22 on CAN TV21.
Watch the Videocast Now

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NetTuesday, Chicago

Tuesday, March 11 , 6pm-7:30pm, The Point 600 W. Chicago Ave Suite 830 Chicago, IL 60610
Staff and volunteers of non-profits, web innovators, and any individuals pushing for change are encouraged to attend. Our first meeting has been organized by a diverse group of people with backgrounds ranging from non-profits to community tech capacity building to technology start-ups.

Our first meeting is an open invitation to explore the potential of this collaborative effort. We will open the meeting with introductions and a half hour of open discussion questions. Various guests will have the opportunity to give brief presentations to the group on web tools that may better enable communities and organizations to mobilize for change. (If you are interested in presenting at our first meeting please email Jean Russel at jeanmrussell@gmail.com). This event is co-sponsored by Community Media Workshop.

It’s easy to get lost in the ever-fluctuating media landscape here in Chicago. That is – if you don’t already have the tool to keep you on the right track: the 2008 version of Getting on the Air Online & Into Print.

* With the book as your roadmap, you’ll have reporter’s contact information at your fingertips. It’s a portable, hands-on tool to help visualize your media outreach.
* With the CD as your compass, plan & execute your media campaigns at the click of a mouse. Search for reporters by region, topic, format and more. Export custom targeted lists for sending out your press releases.

Get the book & CD today (the best bang for your buck) by clicking here: http://www.newstips.org/cart/.

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Media Workshop in the Motor City

Fifty-five nonprofit communicators turned out for Tell Your Stories-Detroit workshops at Youthville near downtown Thursday, Feb. 28. Thanks to Josh Seidenfeld of SPIN Project and Demetrio Maguigad of CMW, they gained media and spokesperson skills and online strategy insights, and thanks to a panel of great journalists: (Sheri Begin, Reporter, Crain's Detroit Business, Curtis Guyette, Editor, Metro Times, Claire Pfeiffer Ramsey, Model D/Issue Media Group, Osama Siblani, Arab American News, Cassandra Spratling, Detroit Free Press, Jerome Vaughn, News Program Director, Detroit Public Radio, Beth Valone, Online Editor, Detroit News, and John Miller, board chair of Arise Detroit and executive director of The Heat and Warmth Fund, moderator), we covered the best ways for nonprofits to work with news organizations. Thanks also to co-sponsors including Michigan Nonprofit Association, ARISE-Detroit, Michigan Suburbs Alliance, and LISC-Detroit.

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Want to know what we have planned for the future, and how our finances look? Community Media Workshop has posted our five-year plan and most recent audit as available downloads from our site.

Download Community Media Workshop 2007 Financial Report
Download Community Media workshop 5 year strategic plan

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People to Pitch

Len Prazak, News Planning Editor, WLS-7 ABC
If you have a story to sell to WLS TV news, your best bet is probably to tell Len Prazak. A veteran of uncounted nonprofits' (and others') news pitches, he looks for newsworthy news releases, he says, so let that be your guide before you send him your pitch! As planning editor, Len is a good person to send information from 1 to 3 days before an event; he shares leads he likes with the station's news producers. Reach him by email at wls.planning@abc.com or by fax at 312-899-8019.

Find more "People to Pitch" in our 2008 Getting on Air, Online and Into Print media guide. Get it here

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Newstips
by Curtis Black, newstips editor

Challenging the Carbon Trading Consensus
Since the Kyoto Treaty, carbon trading has been the most prominent solution under discussion for addressing global warming. Today it's promoted by the Chicago Climate Exchange, supported by the City of Chicago and State of Illinois; it's the centerpiece of a recent climate change pact by Midwest governors; and it's a major feature in legislative initiatives and the platforms of presidential candidates. Read More

The number of books in the home correlates strongly with children's reading achievement levels, but the disparity in book ownership levels across income groups is striking.

The national organization First Book cites a recent study showing that in middle-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children is 13 to 1; in low-income neighborhoods, there is one age-appropriate book for every 300 children. Read more

Subscribe to the new Newstips v2.0 Blog
Visit the Newstips blog and tell us what you think.

Do you have a newstip? Contact Curtis Black.
curtis@newstips.org | phone: 312-344-6400 | fax: 312-344-6404

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Other Events Around Town

A Conversation with Timuel Black
6 to 7:30 p.m., today, Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., 2nd Floor
Rick Kogan will interview Dr. Timuel D. Black Jr. about Harold, Chicago history, local politics and anything else these two long-time friends would like to discuss. Includes audience Q & A.

Gender, Human Rights and the Media
5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program, Thursday, March 6 at Columbia College Chicago Film Row Cinema,1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Cheryl Corley of NPR, poet and journalist Antjie Krog, filmmaker Silvia Malagrino and Joe Richman, producer of NPR's Radio Diaries (moderator, Laura Washington of DePaul) present and share media clips on the role media plays in influencing our understanding of human rights. Free. More information at www.colum.edu/institutewomengender.

Share A Meal: Eat out, Help out
Tuesday, March 11
Dine at any participating restaurant on this day only and they will donate 20 to 30 percent of proceeds to over 80 Chicago-area nonprofits--including Community Media Workshop (and many other deserving agencies). Get the list of restaurants in Chicago (participants are also in Cleveland, Madison, Peoria, and elsewhere around the Midwest) See list at www.share-a-meal.org.

On The Global Waterfront booksigning and talk
5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, at UNITE! HERE Hall, 333 S. Ashland Ave.
When a Danish shipping company began to shift their transportation to a nonunion firm in 1999, Local 1422 in Charleston, South Carolina, mobilized to protect their hard-won rights. What followed culminated in a protest in which 660 riot police arrayed against fifty dockworkers, a group that grew to 150 before the night was over. Four black and one white longshoreman—subsequently known as the Charleston 5—were held for 20 months under house arrest on trumped-up felony charges of inciting a riot. Co-sponsors include Community Media Workshop, Coalition of Labor Union Women-Chicago, Chicago Federation of Labor, and National Writers Union-Chicago chapter. Free. For more information on this and an event in Oak Park the night before and at DePaul the night after, visit http://www.ontheglobalwaterfront.org.

Midwest Academy's Organizing for Social Change Training
9 a.m. registration, 10 a.m. training, March 24 to 28 at Cenacle Retreat House, 513 W. Fullerton, Chicago
Five-day training designed to build organizing skills, develop issue campaigns and increase organizing power. Prices vary. Learn more and register at http://www.midwestacademy.com/training_chicago_mar08.html.

IRE’s Better Watchdog and Unleashing the Watchdog Workshop
April 5 to 6 at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Workshop will guide reporters in the effective use of the internet, open-records laws, computer-assisted reporting and anonymous sources. Costs $40 (price includes IRE membership). Student rate available. More information at http://www.ire.org/training/.

New On The Web

Call for Submissions
CineYouth Festival

Formerly known as the Future Filmmakers Festival, CineYouth is looking for fresh talent from filmmakers 20-years-old and younger. CineYouth will award over $1,000 to winners and screen all accepted films. The festival will take place June 20 and 21 at Columbia College and include workshops and presentations. Any genre is allowed and work must be postmarked by April 1. Details and forms at http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org/.

PAH-FEST
March 22-30, hosted and co-sponsored by Columbia College and IFP Chicago
Christopher Coppola (Francis' nephew; he's also Nicolas Cage's brother!) brings his national PAH-FEST, which offers coaches, equipment, "and even meals" to budding and current filmmakers of all ages--ranging from cell phone video up to fancier gear--to town at the end of the month. The fest’s goal is "to use the democratizing power of the digital media revolution and the internet to connect people from all walks of life." Prizes for best films include cash. Learn more and sign up at http://www.pahnation.com.

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To submit your "Other Events Around Town" please contact Jessica Rosenberg at jessica@newstips.org. Make sure you place the title "eNotes: Other Events Around Town" in the subject line. We will prioritize submissions two weeks in advanced of the event date.

All submissions for "Other Events Around Town" should be formatted as followed:
First Line - Event Title
Second Line - Time, Day, Date and Location
Description - Be sure to include fee info or note if it is a "free" event. Phone number and/or Link for more information/registration. Can be no more then 75 words.

Community Media Workshop reserves the right to edit or omit submissions in order to accomodate the format of our electronic newsletter.