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Mike Reynolds
Looking to raise public awareness of child care issues, Lifetime Television will present a host of short- and long-form programming elements during April.
Lifetime, with nearly 1,500 non-profit women's and children's advocacy groups in tow, has declared April as National Childcare Month to help bring attention to the need for quality, affordable childcare in the United States. Indeed, the network makes its case for this wont by citing statistics indicating that Americans pay more to have people watch their cars than their kids. Indeed, parking lot attendants earn an average of $6.38 per hour, while childcare workers earn an average of $6.12 per hour.
As part of its "Caring for Kids: Our Lifetime Commitment" initiative, which amplifies viewers concerns about the situation and urges national policymakers to take action, the network is running related public service announcements and is dedicating attendant vignettes under the banner of its Take a Minute series throughout the month.
Additionally, child care issues will be addressed nightly on Lifetime's magazine series New Attitudes, during the week beginning Monday, April 19, at 11 p.m. (ET/PT). Lifetime will also premiere a one-hour documentary, Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America, on April 20 at 10 p.m. (ET). The film is the work of actress and director Lee Grant and is hosted by actress and mother Kyra Sedgwick.
The documentary also serves as the centerpiece of Lifetime's various community outreach programs. On April 7, Lifetime will co-host a screening with MediaOne at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Mass. Six days later, the network and the MSO will pair again on a screening at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. Many of the non-profit partners will hold individual screenings and awareness initiatives around the country during April.
Lifetime kicked off Caring for Kids: Our Lifetime Commitment in March 1998, when it partnered with more than 100 leading women's and children's organizations representing more than 6 million women. Throughout the year, Lifetime, via a toll-free number () and Lifetime Online (www.lifetime.com), gathered thousands of child care stories from women and families across the country.
"Our campaign is pioneering in its effort to weave the outreach of national organizations with the capacities of cyberspace and television, so that women have the opportunity-and the power-to have their voices heard in a new way," said Meredith Wagner, SVP of public affairs at Lifetime. "In a recent poll, 87% of Americans said it was difficult to find affordable, good quality child care. The stories we've collected are the faces behind these numbers."
Elsewhere, Lifetime, in a program that tips off in 2000, will team with the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS) and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to jointly present the Wade Trophy honoring the best player in women's college basketball.
Named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University coach Lily Margaret Wade, the Wade Trophy debuted in 1978 as the first-ever women's national player of the year award in college hoops. Stephanie White-McCarty, the All-American guard/forward from NCAA champion Purdue, received the Wade Trophy this year. Lifetime sponsored the award this past season.
"This unprecedented partnership creates a platform that will catapult the Wade to the level of prominence to which it belongs," said Brian Donlon, VP of sports at Lifetime. "With our air time, the backing and input of the WBCA's coaches, and the support of the athletic administrators in the NAGWS, as well as that organization's grassroots efforts, the Wade Trophy has the potential to become the equal of the Heisman Trophy."
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