How does the state budget crisis affect residents locally, in city and county governments and schools? How does it affect social services and nonprofit organizations?
The Santa Barbara Channels, the nonprofit that runs Channels 17 and 21, put together an expert panel to address those issues and to answer viewer questions. The one-hour program, “Real Talk: How the State Budget Impacts Santa Barbara, A Santa Barbara Forum,” will begin airing Sunday on Channel 21.
“This is the second in a new series of town hall type programs that the Santa Barbara Channels is initiating,” station executive director Hap Freund said. “Our hope is to engage the community in a dialogue on important issues.”
Guests on the second program were Salud Carbajal, 1st District count supervisor; Gene Lucas, UCSB executive vice chancellor; Lisa Holden, executive director of the Nonprofit Support Center, and Ted Anagnoson, visiting professor at UCSB and an authority on state government
Jerry Roberts, publications director at UCSB and a veteran prize-winning journalist, hosted the program, which also incorporated videotaped comments and questions from residents on the street and some e-mailed concerns.
The show will air on Channel 21 on the following dates and times:
» 7 p.m. Sunday
» Noon and 8:30 p.m. Monday
» Midnight and 5 p.m. Wednesday
» Noon and 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23
The program will repeat on that schedule throughout January.
Hap Freund is executive director of the Santa Barbara Channels.