Your voice will make a difference
Community Media in Sacramento was built over decades, one class, one candidate forum, one youth program, one film, one local story at a time.
Now The Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission (SMCTC) may dismantle that work with a vote.
Funding for community media was unexpectedly cut by 50% for the final quarter of this year while the Commission’s government channel remained protected. More community media cuts are expected at the next Commission meeting on June 4.
Sacramento should not let community media be quietly defunded while government media becomes the priority. That is a policy choice, and the public deserves a say. Tell the Commission: Stop further cuts. Hold a public workshop. Review alternatives. Protect Access Sacramento and community media!
The SMCTC is taking the wrong path. It will be an outlier among jurisdictions in California by cutting community media. See the comparison.
Take Action Before June 4!
Please contact the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission and urge them to protect community media funding. You can use the sample message below by email, phone, or public comment.
Sample email message
Subject: Protect community media funding
I am writing to oppose further cuts to community media funding in Sacramento County.
Community media provides local programming, media education, civic information, and public access to storytelling tools that are not available anywhere else. Access Sacramento and other community media organizations serve residents, nonprofits, students, artists, journalists, and local communities whose voices are too often left out of traditional media.
Before any further funding decisions are made, the Commission should hold a public, transparent discussion, review alternatives and allow meaningful community input.
The community is watching, and so are community media supporters across the country. Sacramento should not set a precedent of cutting public access and community voices without a transparent public process.
I support Access Sacramento, Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium, KVIE, and SacLifeTV. Please do not make additional cuts without considering alternatives and giving the public a true opportunity to be heard.
Thank you.
Short phone or voicemail script
Hello, my name is [your name], and I’m calling to oppose cuts to community media funding.
I support Access Sacramento and local programming. Before any further cuts are made, I urge the Commission to hold a public, transparent discussion and review alternatives.
The community is watching, and people beyond Sacramento are watching too. Please protect community media funding and give the public a chance to be heard.
Thank you.
One-sentence version
I oppose cuts to community media funding and urge the Commission to hold a public, transparent discussion before making further decisions that affect Access Sacramento, local programming and community media access.
Contacts
Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission
Contact first:
- Primary Commission email: sacmetro@saccounty.gov
Commission leadership:
- Kevin Spease (Board Chair): kspease@elkgrovecity.org
- Porsche Middleton (Board Vice Chair) pmiddleton@citrusheights.net
Commission members:
- David Gull dgull@cityofsacramento.org
- James T Hackett-Little jhackettlittle@cityofsacramento.org
- Matt Hedges hedgesm@saccounty.gov
- Barbara Leary: barbaral@folsom.ca.us
- Caity Maple cmaple@cityofsacramento.org
- Vanessa McCarthy-Olmstead: mccarthy-olmsteadv@saccounty.gov
- Alma Munoz: munozalma@saccounty.gov
- Siri Pulipati spulipati@cityofranchocordova.org
- Keaton Riley rileyk@saccounty.gov
- Paul Sandhu: psandhu@cityofgalt.org
- Rebecca Sloan: sloanr@saccounty.gov
Also, contact your Sacramento County Supervisor:
- Primary BOS email: bos@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5411
- District 1: Phil Serna, supervisorserna@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5485
- District 2: Patrick Kennedy, supervisorkennedy@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5481
- District 3: Rich Desmond, richdesmond@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5471
- District 4: Rosario Rodriquez, supervisorrodriguez@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5491
- District 5: Pat Hume, pathume@saccounty.gov, (916) 874-5465
This is about more than funding. Sacramento should not lose these opportunities and economic benefits because public officials failed to act appropriately.
What’s Happening
The Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission is moving toward deep cuts — and potentially defunding — Access Sacramento and our community media partners.
That decision would threaten public access, educational programming, local storytelling, media training and community voices across the Sacramento region. It also would have impacts beyond our organization. If Access Sacramento is dismantled, the loss would create serious financial challenges for the city-owned Coloma Community Center, where we are located and where Access is a major tenant and community partner.
The process being used by the Commission’s leadership is deeply troubling. Funding for community media organizations is being cut while the Commission continues to maintain support for its government channel, Metro 14. All of this is happening without a transparent public process, a clear explanation of what will be considered at the Commission’s June 4 meeting, or a meaningful opportunity to review budget assumptions, evaluate alternatives and understand the full consequences before decisions are made.
Access Sacramento and our community media partners have approached this process in good faith. We have provided information, requested a public discussion, and offered to collaborate on responsible options. These organizations have served Sacramento County residents for decades. They deserve more than silence, fragmented communication and last-minute individual meetings with unclear purpose.
What we are asking for is straightforward: Before the Commission makes decisions that could dismantle community media services, it should hold a transparent public discussion, explain the budget assumptions driving the proposed cuts, review alternatives and consider the full community impact.
This Decision Belongs in Public
The future of community media in Sacramento should not be decided quietly. The public deserves the opportunity to be heard before more damage is done. Sacramento is the capital of California. It should be a model for protecting community voice, not a warning sign for how easily it can be cut.
Our Mission
Access Sacramento lifts all voices by providing media education and local media platforms to engage the community in public dialogue and showcase creative expression.
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Core Values
Access Sacramento's community empowerment mission is based on our inclusive core values.
Inclusion
We value inclusion which is why we provide media training and media distribution channels to the community in order to give access to those who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized for lack of resources.
Originality
We celebrate and encourage originality. It is this independent, unique, creative thought when shared with others enriches our community.
Diversity
We value diversity. We promote intercultural information and dialog in order to promote social empathy and to bring about a variety of ideas and solutions to communal problems, which better strengthens the community.
Localism
We value our locality, one of the most diverse counties in the country. We uplift our neighbors by capturing and archiving their creativity, their views and their actions on local media. We protect speech locally by providing free speech cable and internet distribution platforms for the community to use.