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Diversity Statement

DIVERSITY STATEMENT 2022

TPR’s mission is to engage, inspire and inform, to empower our community to make life better. Consistent with our mission, we celebrate the rich diversity of the communities we serve and embrace inclusion in our staffing, our Board of Directors and Community Advisory Board, and our content.

TPR does not discriminate against individuals in hiring, employment or promotion based on ethnicity, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, religion, creed, national origin, citizenship, culture, economic status, physical ability, genetics, or veteran or military status. We strive to ensure that all employees are comfortable and confident in bringing their true selves to their work and contributing their unique perspectives and ideas.

TPR was founded by our community and we are governed and advised by members of our community. Our Board of Directors follows a process for nominations that is intentional in developing a pool of candidates that is representative of our community. Likewise, we cast a wide net in recruiting members for our Community Advisory Board and actively seek their recommendations in developing programming and other policies that meet the specialized educational and cultural needs of the communities we serve.

TPR provides a wide variety of informational, educational and cultural content on a variety of platforms. We continuously strive to create content that resonates with our audience. In addition to being real and reliable, we work to make our content relatable and reflective of all the many elements of diversity of our audience. TPR journalists pride themselves on fair and accurate reporting of the news that includes multiple voices and diverse perspectives. We provide information needed to make sound decisions. We produce programs that feature thoughtful, in-depth conversations with guests from diverse viewpoints addressing a wide variety of topics. We present cultural content that uplifts and inspires a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas, experiences and cultures.



ACTIVITY REPORT

CURRENT STATISTICS/EMPLOYEES

As of January 2023, TPR has 50 full time and 3 part time employees, with two existing positions open. Of those employees, 32 are female and 21 are male; 21 are people of color.

GOVERNANCE AND ADVISORY BOARDS

TPR’s governing Board of Directors and Community Advisory Board (CAB) also include females and persons of color among the membership. The Board of Directors is currently comprised of 9 females and 9 males and includes 8 persons of color. The Board Nominating Committee meets regularly to consider nominees for Board service. In that process, the committee reviews open seats and expiring terms and seeks opportunities to add diverse perspectives when considering potential candidates. Our current Community Advisory Board includes 11 females and 15 males, with 15 members being persons of color. The recruitment and selection of members for the Community Advisory Board is done with an intention to have representation from a wide cross-section of our community.

RECENT DIVERSITY INITIATIVES

TPR continues to work toward improving inclusion and diversity in our workforce.

Our efforts in 2020 were adapted as required by the circumstances of the COVID pandemic. We continued to widely disseminate information about open positions and did targeted recruiting outreach for two positions along the Texas/Mexico border. Both of those were filled by persons of color. With funding help from Bexar County, TPR hired a summer 2021 intern who was a person of color, and who worked full-time for 10 weeks, and continued working for TPR on a contract basis following her internship. TPR began using DAX, a tool to track diversity in sources for reporting.

We continued producing and distributing existing programs that showcase diverse voices and the varied cultures within our community, including The Source, Texas Matters, Fronteras, and Worth Repeating. We also added to the mix a number of special productions and podcasts which explore diverse topics from a range of perspectives. These included extensive reporting on border and immigration issues; Petrie Dish, a continuing in-depth look at the pandemic; a podcast about authors and books, hosted by a person of color, and three daily blogs reporting critical information about the pandemic, including one specific to the Rio Grande Valley and one in Spanish. Our presence at the border and expertise in the issues has allowed a number of our reporters to share diverse perspectives not only locally, but also regionally and nationally. The podcast “The Enduring Gap” was created to explore the Latino college gap in San Antonio, what can be done to close it, and what the rest of the country can learn from it. TPR also produced a short-form series for Black History Month about the life and legacy of composer Scott Joplin, born in Texas.

In 2021-2022, our Worth Repeating event series began hosting live events again with limited attendees due to COVID safety protocols. Our series targets ethnically, professionally, and socially diverse millennials (ages 18-35) and provides unique and engaging content.

Our events practice also represents a wide range of interests and perspectives. Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson, San Antonio's Poet Laureate, began hosting virtual episodes of our Worth Repeating program. To commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, TPR worked again with the San Antonio Poet Laureate to create and perform a work inspired by King. We launched music programs, such as Lonesome Lounge and Daystream, with artists from a broad range of backgrounds and genres including the premiere of Ribas-Dominicci, a chamber opera about a Latino Air Force pilot by composer Nathan Felix. We introduced community event programs that focus on the city’s culture and area history, including The Great SA series which invites community leaders to a conversation about San Antonio’s civic and cultural heritage, as well as its vision for the future. For the second year, TPR is collaborating with San Antonio’s Luminaria Artist Foundation, for ¡Viva!, an online telethon to raise funds for the City’s Working Artists Fund, which provides support to individual artists and musicians who have lost income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COMMITMENT AND PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion features prominently in our 5-year plan, which includes (among others) the following “indicators of success:”

*Our coverage reflects the diversity of our community

*Vibrant and diverse community leverage of the Alvarez Theater & Studio and Performance Studio

*Membership reflects our community

*Increased engagement with diverse audiences

*Strong collaborations with community organizations

*Increased attendance by diverse audiences at TPR events

*Increased diversity on TPR staff

*Content and delivery to engage diverse populations

*Provide staff opportunity to grow and develop with education and training

*Increase diversity amongst staff

*Identify/begin working with organizations to assist with boosting Spanish language/cultural programming

*Attract younger audiences through collaborations with educational entities

*Collaborations with other cultural organizations

Our efforts to live up to that commitment will include, but not be limited to:

*TPR will continue in our efforts to sustain and further promote diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace through our employment practices, sourcing of information for our content, and in reaching more diverse audiences in our community.

*We will participate in recruiting efforts specifically aimed at attracting a diverse pool of potential candidates.

*We will continue to ensure that all job applicants receive fair and equitable treatment and that diverse perspectives are represented within the candidate pool considered for every open position, including internships.

*We will provide training for all employees around diversity, equity and inclusion and workplace culture.

*We will continue to promote fair, equitable and inclusive treatment of all employees in regard to consideration for professional training and growth opportunities.

*We will continue our efforts to reach diverse communities with our programing, partnerships, and community engagement activities.