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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

For more than 50 years PBS Western Reserve has been guided by the belief that this public television station plays a critical role in providing universally free access to quality programming and services that advance knowledge, promote justice and embrace diversity. We do this through the presentation of consistently outstanding programs and lifelong educational services that are responsive to the varied interests and needs of the 4.9 million people who reside in our northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania viewing area. We consider it our obligation and privilege to champion diversity, equality and inclusion on our air, online, with our educational services and within our workplace and governing board. 

 

We strive to:

  • Produce and seek out artistic and educational programming content that reflects diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Feature important stories about our community via the LuminUS: Stories About Us collection on our website.
  • Provide quality programming with an emphasis on ethnicity and culture, including on-air carriage of the channel FNX (First Nations Experience).
  • Shape our workforce, production teams and boards to reflect the diverse population that we serve.
  • Provide an inclusive work environment that is free of bias, discrimination, harassment and intimidation.
  • Follow Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines when evaluating candidates for jobs within the organization, participate in minority job fairs and include postings of staff openings in diverse media throughout the viewership region.

 

In the last two to three years we have:

  • Produced and distributed nationally four locally produced programs designed to educate our viewers on racial inequality and inclusion
  • Established a Greenlight Committee process as a sincere attempt to create a fair and equitable local program selection process that is inclusive and encourages diversity
  • Included the following statement in our message to local producers: PBS Western Reserve’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion both on screen and on our production teams, is paramount to our storytelling and our public media mission. We welcome and encourage women, minorities and veterans to submit proposals

 

In the future we will:

Continue to explore, evaluate and develop DEI strategies to assure that our programs, services, staff and board are reflective of the many voices of our community. 

PBS Western Reserve continues to improve on fair hiring practices indicated by the following graphs. PBS Western Reserve is committed to representing employees, board members and executive committees from all backgrounds and communities. Over the years, diversity has increased, and the station’s identity reflects a safe and inclusive place for people of all races, ethnicities, genders and orientations. 

PBS Western Reserve’s Workforce Diversity

Below, we are providing data on race and gender for our staff and board for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

PBS Western Reserve Staff

Board of Directors