Programs and Services
Here are some of the many locally produced programs from KDNA and NCEC. Many of these combined the information dissemination advantages of radio, with print and in-person outreach campaigns.
Make no mistake, this is history, what KDNA used to produce and broadcast, there is nothing like this happening today.
Attack on America: Implications for the Immigrant Community (2002-06-14)
NCEC organized and hosted a public forum to discuss the effects of the events of September 11, 2001 on Latinos and immigrants in the Yakima Valley. Experts in the fields of immigration law, human rights and refugee justice spoke, and the public commented and asked questions. Participants included Mateo Adams, Director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; Maritza River, of the American Civil Liberties Union; Roberto Caldera representing the Mexican Consulate; Alfonso Pineda, Regional Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; and Antonio Ginetta, Director of the Washington State Commission for Hispanic Affairs. The forum was broadcast live on KDNA.
Funded by the Washington Commission for the Humanities
Essential Academic Learning Standards (2000)
In 2000 KDNA helped the Sunnyside School District and the Migrant Students Records System to inform parents about the new Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) testing program, and advise them how they might assist their children in improving study habits and further their children's likelihood of success in school. (Eventually successful completion of the high school WASL will become a graduation requirement.)
KDNA produced a series of ten 30 minute programs, public service announcements for use on commercial radio stations, cassette tapes with information on education reform for distribution to parents, and facilitated two educational seminars.
"I look forward to working with you again in a continued collaborative effort to provide the communities we serve with the optimum opportunities for learning. Thank you for your commitment to family involvement in education", Dahlia S Candanoza, Parent Services Coordinator, Migrant Education Regional Office, ESD 105.
Substance abuse prevention (2000)
Winner Washington State Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Award, 2000
During 2000 KDNA produced an intensive Spanish language radio outreach campaign on the issues, dangers, and prevention of substance abuse. The project included 8 informational capsules, 5 mini-dramas, and 5 on-hour programs of interviews and live call-in participation with experts. Primary funding for the project came from the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse of the Department of Social and Health Services.
Access to Health Care in the Yakima Valley (2000)
Winner National Federation of Community Broadcasters' Community Impact Award, 2000
A continuation of the 1998 Sound Partners project, in 2000 KDNA and the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic were joined by Providence Health System of Central Washington, and began producing a weekly one-hour program on issues pertinent to Latinos, with emphasis on health-care accessibility.
Partnership for Learning (2000)
Winner of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters' Community Impact Award, 1999
KDNA was joined by Seattle's Partnership for Learning in
a project to produce a variety of Spanish language communication
tools to encourage parents to participate in their childrens' education.
The project created informational capsules, mini-dramas, prerecorded
and call-in programs, as well as outreach campaigns in which KDNA
staff appeared and presented at migrant conferences, health fairs,
and parent-teacher meetings.
Buena Survey Project (1999-04-19)
Winner of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters' Community Impact Award, 1999
"National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) presented its first-ever Community Impact Award to KDNA in Granger, WA., in a ceremony during its 24th annual conference in San Francisco. The award honors a station that makes a positive, noticeable impact on its community, primarily through the use of its air. KDNA, a full-time Spanish-language community radio station, won the Community Impact Award for two projects that responded to local needs. The station joined eight school districts in an effort that encouraged parents to get involved in their children's education, contributing its production capabilities and airtime to the partnership; it also produced a public service campaign for the Buena Survey Project, spotlighting small town's needs for a functioning sewer and water system"
From Current, The Public Telecommunications Newspaper
Access to Health Care in the Yakima Valley (1998)
In 1998, a grant from Sound Partners for Community Health, a program of the Benton Foundation, enabled KDNA to collaborate with the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic and the Department of Social and Health Services, to inform the community about the impact of welfare reform on health care. The project included production of 12 informational capsules (30 to 60 seconds in duration) and mini-dramas (on-air dramatizations) educating people about prenatal care, preventive health screening, nutrition, the state's Basic Health Plan, and how these services could be accessed.
Gritos del Alma (1993-10-03)
Cries
of the Soul was a first time collaborative research project
of KDNA, Jack Straw Productions, and the Washington State Arts Commission
(WSAC). Honoring master musicians in Washington's Mexican and Chicano
communities, the project culminated in a concert, 10/03/1993 (at
the KDNA building), featuring Trinidad Marquez, Guadalupe Guzman
and Los Guzmanes, Roberto Rangel y Revancha, Los Campesinos de Michoacán,
Mariachi Guanajuato, Los Astros del Norte, and Los Campos.
La Esperanza del Valle (1993)
Winner National Educational Film and Video Festival Silver Apple Award, 1994
Combining the media's of radio, foto, and video-novela, La Esperanza del Valle (The Hope of the Valley) educated Latino youth and their parents about the risks of substance abuse. This was a collaborative production of KDNA, NCEC, the Novela Health Foundation, the University of Washington, and the National Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Raizes Musicales (1990)
In 1990, KDNA and the Yakima County Museum cosponsored Raizes Musicales, which included performances by Lydia Mendoza and Flaco Jimenez.
Tres Hombres Sin Fronteras (1990)
Winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Community Service Award, 1990
(CPB's first award to a non-English production.)
Tres Hombres Sin Fronteras (Three Men Without Borders) was produced with the assistance of the Novela Health Foundation and the California Community Foundation, this drama educated migrant farm workers about the danger of AIDS. Tres Hombres is cited elsewhere on the web: Lecture by Ross F Conner, Ph.D, associate professor of social ecology and medicine at UC Irvine; Misery Without Borders, and an article in the East Bay Express, February 16, 2001, by Kara Platoni.
¿Hola, Que Onda?
Hola, Que Onda is a culturally sensitive comprehensive sex health education and social skill building program for youth ages 10 through 21. For the age 10 through 14 group, the program focuses on teaching young people how to handle the complexities of peer pressure, constructive socializing with the opposite sex, and developing independent thinking. Activities include exercises in written and oral self expression, sharing of views and opinions, decision making, and involvement in school and community. Both adult and peer mentors are utilized.
Periodically, every-other month, radio station KDNA produces a live billingual program of music and information, with call-in participation for adolescents and young adults aged 15 through 21.
NCEC staff work closely with school district staff. The present effort is concentrating in the Mabton School District.
This
project received funding for up to three years from the New Partners/New
Initiatives Fund of the Ms. Foundation for Women. The photograph
was taken during a site visit in June 2001 by representatives of
the Ms. Foundation for Women. The grant award was announced later
that summer.
Project term: 07/01/2001 - 06/30/2004 (3 years)
Strengthening Community During Difficult Times
Granger, WA, 2002
The people of Yakima Valley, a community of Spanish-speaking farmworkers,
warehouse workers and immigrants, face a number of economic and
social hurdles. These have been aggravated by a weakened agricultural
economy brought on by a drought and new, stricter changes to immigration
policies introduced by the Department of Justice after the tragic
events of September 11th.
Radio KDNA and the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (YVFWC) will
lead an effort to ease the ramifications of these 
events
on their community by launching a mental health education campaign
that integrates live call-in programs with a broad base of outreach
activities. The project is funded in part by Sound Partners for
Community Health, a program of the Benton Foundation.
NCEC regularly takes health education into the community with information booths at community fairs and events. In the photo they are setting up for a health fair at Heritage College in Toppenish, 09/14/2000. The banner promotes a a major collaboration between the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, the Providence Health System, Radio KDNA, NCEC and Sound Partners for Community Health.
Across the digital divide - A Community Technology Partnership
The University of Washington Office of Educational Partnerships and Learning Technologies, in partnership with NCEC, has secured funding to establish and operate a community technology center in Granger.
The technology center will be designed to help farm workers and other low-income individuals to improve their English literacy, to become fluent in the uses of information technology, and to provide access to a wide-array of education resources. The center will have video conferencing capabilities to communicate with and access resources at the University of Washington and beyond. The proposal was one of 53 selected from a pool of 1,400 applicants.
Project term 10/01/2002 - 09/30/2003
Food for the hungry
NCEC
frequently coordinates programs to collect and distribute food to
those in need.
On June 27, 2001, just as cherry season was getting underway, a severe wind and hail storm battered central Washington state. Because of crop damage, many farmworkers were laid off or unable to find work. The Governor declared an agricultural disaster in 13 Washington counties, including Yakima and Benton. When some funding was made available to subsidize food for the out-of-work farmworkers, the organization best able to assist in distribution was NCEC and Radio KDNA. The 3rd food distribution was held on July 19th at the Radio KDNA offices.
