New York Public Radio strives to reflect the diverse voices found within the New York City and tri-state area. The Community Engagement & Audience Development department assists in this effort by working with various cultural and civic organizations along with key community leaders to discover, understand, and address community needs and aspirations.

Through these relationships, we engage non-traditional public radio listeners on air, online, and on the street by:

• Hosting community events around issues of concern in their respective communities.  These efforts allow us to help inform our public affairs and news programming, and also enables us to better reflect the values, concerns, and goals of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic communities.
• Creating the Volunteer Ambassadors Program (VAP) – Our ambassadors serve as our “ears” and are our “foot soldiers” representing New York Public Radio out in the community.  In teams, our ambassadors engage and inform the public about the station and events throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
• Serving as a media sponsor for various NYC cultural institutions and events.

Organizations we work with include, but are not limited to: the African Film Festival, African Diaspora Film Festival, El Museo del Barrio, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (Harlem Week), Brooklyn Museum, The Network Journal, and Queens Council on the Arts, and many others.  Click here to see our “Partners List.”

New York Public Radio is learning about key issues and concerns directly from the community while expanding and diversifying its audience.  In this way, we are informing people of the many ways to voice their concerns and also become involved with New York Public Radio.