TPT NOW
Lillian McDonald, Managing Director of TPT NOW at Twin Cities PBS (TPT), has received the 2021 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award. This award recognizes McDonald’s long-term and exceptional contributions to ensure critical health, safety, and security messaging reach all people, including those whose first language is not English. This award specifically highlights the partnership she led between the FBI and TPT NOW to provide audiences with information on hate crimes and hate crime reporting.
The TPT NOW and the FBI partnership raised public awareness of hate crimes and encouraged African American, Hmong, Latinx, and Somali communities to report witnessed hate crimes to law enforcement. Culturally resonant, multilingual content was distributed in collaboration with cultural media partners. The campaign produced radio and television PSAs and information graphics distributed on social media and television to help audiences better understand what a hate crime is and how to report one.
TPT NOW collaborates with AccuWeather and HennepinWestMesonet to provide local, national, and world weather forecasts and alerts to the Twin Cities metro area in English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali.
Weather content updates seasonally to ensure audiences prepare for the unpredictable weather changes that come with Minnesota’s four seasons. These updates include important tips on how to prepare for seasonal changes, what to do if you are ever stuck in a weather-related emergency, and signs to look out for if you see a health or safety concern related to weather.
TPT NOW became an essential source for coronavirus updates when communities that spoke little to no English were unable to find accurate, non-sensationalized data on health and safety information related to the pandemic. TPT NOW continues to provide real-time health and safety information to these communities not only with the pandemic, but also on everyday health and safety tips and topics, such as air quality alerts, resources for mental health assistance, and more.
TPT NOW also provides real-time press conferences as requested by public officials including Governor Walz, MDH and DPS. Press conference simulcasts reach English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali speaking audiences via our partners including community media, TPT NOW, Somali TV, Hmong TV, and Univision-MN.
TPT NOW helps Minnesotans prepare to face any emergency revolving health, weather, safety in order to minimize injury, trauma, and various disasters. Providing messaging and resources for prevention, response, and recovery achieve this during times of crises.
Prevention: TPT NOW collaborates with cultural media and funders across the state to supply methods of prevention to avoid disasters. This includes plans and preparations to help save lives and assist response and recovery teams when necessary.
Response: TPT NOW delivers safety and emergency content to diverse audiences across the state through television broadcast and social media outreach. These messages distribute through the Minnesota governor’s press conferences, PSAs with the latest health and safety information, and collaboration with cultural media, government, and funders. TPT NOW strives to provide clear communication and transparent facts on all emergency and safety situations that may arise.
Recovery: TPT NOW guides communities to public and individual assistance resources, and provides strategies to help communities and businesses return to normal quickly as possible while taking into consideration the permanent changes that may come after disasters occur. There may not be a way to return to normal, but TPT NOW helps guide communities to a “new normal” to help communities recover after times of crises.
Partners & Sponsors
With the help of our partners and sponsors, TPT NOW is able to provide a variety of safety topics and alerts to diverse communities across Minnesota. Support and funding for TPT NOW is provided by:
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