The Capital Area Community Media Center is a regional non-profit multimedia center promoting our community and telling our stories.

We believe the Capital Area can thrive. For this to happen we have to do a better job of promoting our region and encouraging community development. A nonprofit, regional Community Media Center will do this by providing a full spectrum of media services to non-profit groups working to improve our community, and by encouraging residents to tell their own stories in ways that inform, educate and entertain.

There are many Public and Government Access television stations in the Capital Area. However, many people agree that the quality of most public access television in our area has declined in recent years. The main reason for this is that Cable Franchise Agreements, which create public access stations, have been negotiated by individual cities and townships. Thus each station has only a small share of the regional market. As a result, the costs of doing business have been too high and public access services have been reduced or eliminated.

In addition, local public access stations have been operated by cable companies for local government. For good reasons, these stations have been evaluated in terms of how well they served the requirements of these institutions, rather than assessing the overall community benefit. Without pressure to creatively serve the whole community, the content of local public access television has not been as competitive as it might have been.

A non-profit, regional public access station could address both of these problems. A cable station spanning only Lansing, East Lansing and Meridian township would reach nearly a quarter of a million people, yet it would cost no more to operate than any other public access station to operate.

If the station were organized as a mission-driven non-profit controlled by a Board of Directors it could aggressively develop competitive content. The Board could evaluate staff performance in terms of the quality of the content of the broadcasting. Over time this would tend to make the station an effective vehicle for promoting our community.

CACMC TEAM - BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Each team member understands the mission of the CACMC- building community through media.  Each member has an abundance of professional skills that will aid in the growth and success of the Capital Area Community Media Center (CACMC). Their skills range from:  Community Neighborhood Activists, Public Relations and Marketing, Academia, Media Consultation, and Media Production. 

Gary Andrews – Public Access Producer

Marcus Cheathum – Ingham County Health Department

Jeffrey Grabill – Co-Director, Writing In Digital Environments Research Center

LeRoy Harvey – Community Development

Marcus Jefferson – Black Child and Family Institute

Lynn Meikle – TV coordinator, HOM TV – Channel 21 

John Melcher – Center for Urban Affairs, Michigan State University

Matthew Penniman - Allen Neighborhood Center

Documents: Minutes, Notes and Business Plan