In an episode of this season of Hacks, the Emmy-winning intergenerational comedy, the older comedian Deborah Vance returns to her alma mater (UC Berkeley) to receive an honorary degree. Shortly after arriving, a video containing offensive jokes she delivered early in...
Purpose Prize
The Latest from CoGenerate
Event Recording: Knowing our Neighbors
https://youtu.be/mUAKKP6SfNk "Stoop Chat with Jimmy and Shanaya” is a 13-minute, touching, intergenerational conversation between two Brooklyn neighbors, as captured on film. Watch the award-winning documentary, then listen in on a discussion with filmmaker Marj...
Event Recording: Cogenerational Solutions to Social Isolation and Loneliness
https://youtu.be/J9uzkEZpaPQ Young people and older ones are the two groups most affected by social isolation and loneliness. At CoGenerate, we believe the most important solution to social isolation and loneliness is to bring these two groups together. Not as...
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Dale Bell and Harry Wiland
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007
Using public television to provoke civil discourse and community engagement.
With nearly five decades in visual and performance media, Dale Bell had earned an Academy Award (Woodstock), two Emmy’s, and a Peabody. His longtime colleague, Harry Wiland, had an Emmy-award winning career as a television producer/director and a reputation as a new media innovator in the field of educational courseware. In 1999, the two joined forces to create “media that matters” for Public Broadcasting. In 2003, the two created The Media & Policy Center Foundation with the goal of leveraging media to provoke civil discourse and community engagement, while providing essential media and community action tools to encourage grassroots activism. They did this by creating a media model that not only included a PBS special broadcast but included companion books, action guides, a series of televised town hall meetings and academic symposia. All of which was keyed to an extensive community-based and educational outreach campaign. The initial PBS broadcast acted as the rock in the water, the complimentary media and outreach campaign continued the impact for years after the broadcast, turning it into a public policy initiative. Their first project, “And Thou Shalt Honor,” designed to help people prepare for the economic, emotional, and psychological complexities of family caregiving, aired on PBS in October 2002, was seen by more than 16 million viewers. Today the two are working on “Edens Lost & Found,” a multi-part PBS series highlighting practical solutions to improve the environment and quality of life in cities. The centerpiece of a multimedia program and outreach initiative, this special broadcast will showcase extraordinary community activists as well as forward-thinking professionals who are offering best practice solutions to transform their urban environments. In 2006 the two were honored as the only media professionals to become Ashoka Fellows.