The Media Literacy Service-Learning Project
Media Literacy in the Monterey Bay Area
In 1996, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation funded a planning grant for the National Alliance for Non-Violent Programming (NANP) to initiate media literacy education and activity in the Monterey Bay area. NANP provided technical assistance and a regional coordinator to organize community collaborations and build support for a media literacy initiative in the Monterey-Santa Cruz area. Media literacy presentations and workshops were organized to recruit volunteers to help convene a community-wide planning meeting. The resultant 1997 Media Violence Summit at California State University, Monterey Bay culminated nine months of planning by volunteers from over 50 local organizations. At the closing session, conferees presented 46 written commitment points, which launched a grassroots movement known as the 1998 Monterey Bay Media Literacy Initiative, which in turn spawned the Media Literacy Alliance, Central Coast (MLACC).
The MLACC's self-defined mission is to reduce the impact and incidence of violence in all types of media through media literacy education, public awareness, and collaborative community action while respecting First Amendment rights. The coalition includes a broad-based group of community agencies, clergy, health care professionals, media, parents, educators and youth who are committed to empowering children, youth and adults to become discriminating media consumers.
Employing some of the media literacy tenets discussed in the previous section, MLACC organizes collaborative community programs to create media-savvy consumers and advocates who
- Understand the health and safety hazards of all forms of violent media;
- Question messages seen and heard in the media;
- Take charge of personal media use, rather than passively acceptinginformation offered; and
- Find ways to support pro-social programming and media outlets.
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