FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(May 26, 2009 – CLEVELAND, OHIO) OCA Greater Cleveland Chapter was recently awarded a $5000 grant from Neighborhood Connections for its new educational and cross-cultural multi-media outreach initiative – The OCA IMAGE TV, a 30 minutes television programming that aims at creating awareness, promoting diversity and educating all Northeast Ohio and Greater Cleveland residents about the vitality of Asian Pacific American culture and business in the Greater Cleveland and the surrounding region.
OCA IMAGE TV will focus on the local Asian Pacific prospective in Economic, Social, Arts and Cultural Development throughout all of Cleveland’s historic neighborhoods. The program will communicate a better understanding of the 60,000 Northeast Ohio residents of Asian/Pacific culture and traditions. Each episode will include segments offering a variety of diverse topics related to business, education, culture, traditions, leadership, food, health and beauty, fashion, sports, arts and entertainment, news, and current issues as well as spotlighting local events.
With the grant assistance from Neighborhood Connections, OCA IMAGE TV will continue to establish OCA’s objective within the St. Clair Superior Neighborhood which include bridging the gap between Eastern and Western culture through cultural awareness and education; engaging participation across differences within the Asian and local community; informing about local diverse leaders and events; advancing community building; and foster cultural heritage.
Pilot episode was aired on March 9 which depicts on how Northeast Ohio’s Asian/Pacific families celebrated the Lunar New Year while Episode 2 on Asian Weddings debuted on April 20th talks about the cultural and tradition wedding differences Asian countries. OCA IMAGE TV Team is currently finalizing the 3rd episode on Health and Wellness with the participation of medical experts from Cleveland Clinic and others. OCA IMAGE TV episodes are currently available on Time Warner Cable Channel 20 (throughout the week in various time), or can be downloaded free of charge via iTunes or watch it online at OCAGC Website.
Neighborhood Connections is a special grants program of the Cleveland Foundation that assists Cleveland neighborhood groups that work to strengthen the social networks in their communities while creatively addressing their neighborhoods’ most important concerns. Grants are intended to spur small, grassroots community efforts and, while doing so, assist groups and individuals in the community to connect with others. The program offers grants of $500 to $5,000 twice a year, for this round, only 104 out of 215 proposals received were funded.
OCA Cleveland Chapter was founded in 1983 with the mission of promoting cultural heritage, active participation in civic and community affairs, securing justice and equal treatment and equal opportunity for all Americans of Asian/Pacific Islander descent. The organization is a non-profit, non-partisan civil rights and educational organization and is part of a National Organization (founded in 1973) with over 84 chapters and affiliates across the United States. Our goal is to embrace the hopes and aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.ocagc.org
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