Powering Dreams
Instead of focusing merely on business, attendees of the 2009 Cable Show chose to donate some of their time and effort toward leaving Washington, D.C., in better shape than before they arrived.
By Kevin Woo
WHEN IT COMES TO CHANGE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., THERE ARE MANY TYPES. There’s the change that comes with a new presidential administration, the change that is made by the U.S. Mint and change that happens from hands that care.
In today’s roller coaster business world, it can be nearly impossible to recognize those in need. We’re consumed by our own thoughts as we trek from the airport to our hotels, often overlooking local schools that might be in disrepair, a homeless shelter that is closed due to lack of funding or a neighborhood that lacks the vibrancy of children playing, because it is too dangerous for them to be outside.
The 12,200 attendees at The Cable Show opted for a different approach when they arrived in April. Instead of focusing merely on business, 225 of the meeting’s attendees chose to donate some of their time and effort toward leaving the city in better shape than before they arrived.
In 2008, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)—which plays host to the annual meeting—founded CableCares, a community service initiative designed to give back and assist New Orleans, an eight-time host of the NCTA event.
“New Orleans had seen such devastation, and the city was clearly still recovering [from Hurricane Katrina], we felt that we couldn’t just go to New Orleans, have our show and leave without giving back,” said Joy Sims, director of media relations for the NCTA. “With CableCares being so successful at the 2008 Cable Show, we decided to continue this idea at the 2009 Cable Show in Washington. While Washington doesn’t have quite the obvious need New Orleans did, there are still people here in need.”
At the outset of planning The Cable Show, the NCTA developed a list of programs and metrics it wanted to achieve with its CableCares initiative in Washington. Once the ideas were fleshed out, the NCTA asked member companies and local organizations to participate and donate money, goods, time, services and human resources.
CableCares raised more than US$150,000 in cash, equipment, books and in-kind donations that benefited Washington area schools and libraries, the Central Union Mission, Metro TeenAIDS and the Capital Area Food Bank.
Support for Public Schools
For decades, Washington’s public education system has faced some daunting challenges, including decaying schools and lack of investment in books and technology. To help address these challenges, CableCares undertook three essential programs: corporate sponsors, volunteers and local nonprofit agencies to benefit local schools.
About 85 volunteers from Comcast Cable, TV One, Retirement Living TV and City Year Washington (a local nonprofit that brings together young adults for a year of full-time community service) spent a day building a new media center at the Truesdell Education Campus, a pre-K-through-seventh-grade public school. New televisions, DVD and CD players and teleconferencing equipment were installed at the school. Educational books, videos and new furniture were also donated to the new media center.
In addition to building the media center, volunteers also built and installed baseball field benches and a new sign for the school front and painted walls and murals throughout the three-story building.
“The middle schoolers were recently moved to the Truesdell School, which was designed for educating children [under the age of 7],” said Charisse R. Lillie, vice president of community investment and executive vice president for the Comcast Foundation. “At the closing ceremony, one of the sixth graders thanked us profusely for building the media center and giving them a library and study space of their own. We made a small but tangible and meaningful difference in the educational lives of the middle schoolers at Truesdell.”
Finding the funding necessary to fill library bookshelves is among Washington’s most consistent challenges. CableCares and Books-A-Million organized a K-12 book and educational video drive. Conference attendees were provided a “suggested donations” book list in advance of the conference with the goal of collecting thousands of books for local schools.
Books-A-Million set up a store in the lobby of the Washington Convention Center and sold books at a 25 percent discount to attendees who chose to buy and donate books while at the conference. The results were outstanding, as more than 1,300 books and educational videos were collected and donated to local schools and libraries during the conference.
“Both years we’ve done CableCares, we wanted education and schools to be the center of our projects,” Sims said. “Cable has a history of working on behalf of educating students. Cable in the Classroom and our programming members—such as the Discovery Channel, A&E and Nickelodeon—all have educational programs as part of their ongoing social programs.”
In addition to study materials, ESPN donated sports equipment that was distributed to 15 local schools.
Feeding the Needy
Sims says that some companies suggested their own initiatives to add to NCTA’s list of projects. Sportsman Channel’s Hunt.Fish.Feed. project, an eight-city outreach program, teaches those who have been hit by economic hardship how to tap alternate food sources such as venison, which is sourced by local hunters and donated to feed the homeless as well as others who find themselves in need of sustenance.
The Sportsman Channel donated more than 80 pounds of food to the Capitol Area Food Bank (CAFB) and through cash contributions an additional 7,500 meals. Volunteers also served lunch to approximately 200 at the Central Union Mission.
The Gospel Music Channel and Feed the Children brought in a trailer filled with enough food to last 800 families of four for a week, school supplies for Charles Hart Middle School and musical instruments for three local elementaries.
“Gospel Angels is our community outreach program created to bring inspiration and hope through gospel music to those in need,” said Jim Weiss, vice president of public relations for the Gospel Music Channel. “Feed the Children and Comcast Cable of Washington were our partners and together we presented school supplies, musical instruments and food to the students and families of Hart Middle School.”
Prior to the contributions of the Gospel Music Channel, Feed the Children and Comcast, the schools were without full sets of musical instruments for their music programs, and the donations are expected to dramatically improve the quality of the schools’ performing arts education programs.
Robert Randolph and the Family Band—a funk, jam and soul band—also performed live at Hart Middle School.
“Robert and his band performed a set for the students in the school’s auditorium,” Weiss said. “He called up several student drummers to play with his band—it was amazing. After his show, we handed out the food and supplies in the schoolyard. We emptied a tractor-trailer of supplies that day.”
Battle of the Bands officially closed the Cable Show 2009. Corporate bands from Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, Arris and Cox Communications joined an ensemble group called the TV Rejects, made up of employees from C-Span, Cable Fax, Broadband Gear Report and Retirement Living. Each sang a four-song set that rocked the convention center.
Cox Communications’ Xpanded Bandwidth won the contest for the second year in a row, and hometown favorite TV Rejects came in second. More than 700 people attended the event, and more than 1,200 text message votes were cast during the concert.
The proceeds from the Battle of the Bands were donated to City Year, a nonprofit youth services organization where young people serve as tutors, mentors and role models in area schools and neighborhoods.
Room to Care
Five local hotels—the Renaissance Washington DC, the Grand Hyatt Washington, The Capital Hilton, the Hotel Monaco Washington DC and the Comfort Inn Downtown DC/Convention Center—served as the primary venues for Cable Show attendees. The Washington hotel community and the Cable Channel—an in-room video news magazine service that focuses on convention coverage and cable issues—donated $1 for every room that carried the Cable Channel.
Sims says that the most important impact of CableCares was that local D.C. citizens got to see a whole industry do something positive for the community, and not just come to town to eat, drink and shop around the convention center.
“It was a chance to see an industry at work, helping local people and not just flying in and out of town,” Sims said. “It breeds goodwill and a more positive image of an industry.”
While not all meeting planners have the infrastructure to implement large-scale community outreach projects such as CableCares, Sims says that local representatives of specific industries are likely to have done some charity work in the area and will have recommendations for high-impact programs.
Local Comcast management provided valuable input to the CableCares organizing team and provided insight into the types of programs that had been implemented locally. Outbound marketing efforts such as e-mails targeting attendees were sure to mention the CableCares efforts. Press releases mentioned CableCares and the many projects that were involved with the goal to enlist volunteers.
“Working with the community to make a difference has always been a priority,” Lillie said. “We wanted to give back again, this time in an area where we do business, alongside our peers. We care about our communities. It’s where our customers and employees live and work. Our hope is that we power dreams in the communities we serve by providing access to innovative technology, volunteering our time, giving financial support and partnering with great organizations.” One+
KEVIN WOO is a San Francisco-based freelance writer.
Fun Facts
• The original name for Washington, D.C., was Federal City.
• You may notice when walking or driving through the city that there is no “J” street. Urban legend has it that Pierre L’Enfant, designer of Washington, D.C., held a grudge against John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, because Jay allegedly disapproved of L’Enfant’s city design. His retribution? To strike Mr. James’ double initial from the city’s otherwise alphabetized grid.
• The White House doesn’t actually have a “red phone” connecting the president with the Kremlin—it’s actually located at the Pentagon in Virginia.
Transportation Tip
• Two airports serve Washington, D.C.—Reagan National (located in Arlington, Va., approximately three miles from the center of Washington) and Dulles International Airport (located in Chantilly, Va., about 26 miles from downtown Washington).
What’s New in Washington, D.C.
• The Dupont Hotel opened in March and offers several meeting space options including a ballroom that can accommodate up to 350.
• The 317-room W Washington D.C. will open next month and feature five meeting spaces.
• The Hilton Washington is undergoing a complete restoration involving guest rooms and public spaces in the hotel to be completed in 2010.