MCKINNEY WINS CONTRACT TO PROMOTE NEW PBS SERIES
Social Ills: What’s Killing America’s Poor and People of Color?

(WASHINGTON – Sept. 8, 2005) Income inequality and racism kill even more people of color annually than the combined total of American fatalities during the Vietnam War. Even white middle-class Americans have worse morbidity and mortality outcomes than the small minority of the wealthiest. Everyone has a common stake in combating the chronic health disparities that are rooted in racial determinants.

These realities gave life to an upcoming PBS documentary series with the working title, Social Ills: What’s Killing America’s Poor and People of Color?, scheduled for broadcast in 2007. Produced by California Newsreel, the country’s oldest nonprofit documentary production and distribution center about race and the third world. The series is sponsored in association with the five Minority Consortia of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the series will help Americans understand that social processes ranging from market forces to housing segregation are as much health determinants as diet and pharmaceuticals.

“McKinney & Associates is pleased to be awarded the contract to manage publicity and promotion for this groundbreaking and important educational program,” said President Gwen McKinney. The firm publicized California Newsreel's productions RACE – The Power of an Illusion and Beyond Brown: Pursuing a Promise.

“Conceived as part of a larger campaign in association with leading health, public policy and community organizations, Social Ills aims at nothing less than helping effect a paradigm shift in our approach to public health,” McKinney said. The firm will assist in crafting and implementing a strategic plan that engages stakeholders.

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