Spanish Language Video Collaboration

CITY PARTNERS WITH PURDUE UNIVERSITY TO PRODUCE SPANISH LANGUAGE VIDEOS

Mayor Greg Ballard announced today that the Mayor's Office will partner with Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts/Community Assistance Program to create Spanish language videos designed to educate Latinos about navigating government, health, and educational systems.

"This partnership is an excellent way to improve our outreach to the Latino community, because it allows both the city and Purdue University to provide more information to our respective audiences with fewer production costs," said Mayor Ballard.

The videos will air on WCTY Indianapolis and Purdue University's broadcast system and will be produced in conjunction with Somos Indianapolis, Mayor Ballard's Spanish Language TV program, which airs locally on Brighthouse 17, Comcast 28, and AT&T 99. Production efforts on the videos will be shared by the City of Indianapolis and Purdue University, with the first video set to air in late Spring 2009.

"We are very excited to be working with the Mayor's Office on these videos, because it will help us to better address the cultural linguistic needs of Hispanics in our communities," said Cecilia Tenorio, Director of the Community Assistance Program (CAP) at Purdue.

Purdue will broadcast the videos as part of their Spanish TV newsmagazine Fast Track te Informa, which is produced weekly by Pat Rochon, clinical assistant professor of Digital Media, and Tenorio who teaches Translation and Interpretation in Spanish. The newsmagazine is a joint effort of faculty, students and community volunteers.

"This partnership aligns with both the mission of the Mayor's Office of International & Cultural Affairs (ICA) and with Purdue's Community Assistance Program, and it offers a new opportunity to provide a much-needed service to the Latino Community in Central Indiana," said Carolin Requiz Smith, ICA Director.

ICA's mission is to create awareness of the International and Latino communities existing in Indianapolis; and cultivate collaborative relationships that promote Indianapolis and build on these communities.

CAP's mission is to connect Purdue University to the Greater Lafayette Community in ways that benefit the community and its citizens, and provide learning opportunities for Purdue students across all levels of the curriculum.