1. Why do you want to be on the Local Station Board?

During the last 15 years, I have been a KPFK listener, a member, a guest, a volunteer, a host, and a producer. In doing so, I have worked with other volunteer programmers to increase and strengthen Spanish-language programming, increase and diversify KPFK's audience, and broaden the coverage of issues that affect our Spanish-speaking community.

During my early years as a public health advocate, I worked with Enfoque Latino colleagues to address the problem of organ and tissue donation in the Latino community, an issue ignored and thought to be taboo among other Spanish-language outlets. Several years later, environmental justice issues were continuously addressed at KPFK while most other Spanish-language outlets continued to ignore them.

As an LSB member, I want to continue doing this work from within the board. In addition to diversifying the KPFK board, helping professionalize the volunteer programmers, and strengthening the programming. I want to work with our LSB members, programmers-paid or otherwise- and community to supply us with the information that empowers our communities to make informed decisions and join the policy decision-making processes.

2. How do you envision the Local Station Board working with Pacifica Foundation, KPFK, and the community?

I envision the LSB serving as a liaison among the community, KPFK and the Pacifica Foundation. The LSB must take a more active role in meeting with community members to learn about their communication and information needs and sharing this information with the Pacifica Foundation and KPFK. Even if the LSB did not include on-air staff, nothing should prevent LSB members from communicating directly with the audience and sharing this information with KPFK staff and the Pacifica Foundation.
For almost 50 years, KPFK has barely left its mark in the largest radio market in the world-the Los Angeles area. All LSB members must work with other community leaders and Pacifica to help KPFK staff identify additional funding resources that can help us become the radio station it deserve to be.

3. How could the station better serve its listeners?

The following are some of the man ways in which the station can better serve its listeners:
1) Find additional funding resources to increase the station's visibility, diversity, and audience in the local communities.
2) Work to ensure that a certain percentage of its programming is dedicated to addressing issues that affect the local communities of Southern California
3) Increase its programming standards: create and provide resources to help volunteer programmers improve their skills and programming quality
4) Develop and/or improve current efforts to reach out to the local communities for a better understanding of their communication and information needs

4. Describe some actions you would take to increase the influence of the station in underrepresented communities and to increase the diversity of the listening audience?

The first step for the station to diversify its audience and increase its influence in underrepresented communities is to diversify its board. As an LSB member, my background, not my ethnicity but my education and social (?), will help the LSB achieve its goals to move towards a more diverse audience. Once the LSB becomes a diverse entity, it will have a better understanding of the needs of the diverse audience.
Other actions I would take to increase the station's influence in underrepresented communities and the diversity of the listening audience include the ideas I shared in question 3.

5. What sources of funding, other than listener donations, do you feel KPFK should solicit?

As a nonprofit organization, KPFK has the opportunity to reach many sources of funding available, such as foundations. As an information and education outlet, each year, KPFK conducts hundreds of hours of programming on topics such as public health, voter participation and education, environmental health and justice, among others, that could be funded by many sources other than listener donations.

6. Please state briefly the skills, experience, educational background, work history, organizational affiliations, areas of community service, areas of interest, and expertise that you would bring to the Pacifica network as a member of the Local Station Board.

I have approximately 14 years of experience in the area of community organizing, outreach and coalition building. Over the years, I developed legislative, regulatory, non-profit and media contacts that helped me advance important issues such as health care disparities, voter participation, and environmental justice, regulatory and policy advocacy. I have developed hundreds of millions of earned media impressions to address important issues such as organ and tissue donation, voter participation, and environmental justice. I have been quoted in the Los Angeles Times, La Opinion and the Sacramaento Bee, among many other outlets. I also have been featured on tv and radio shows across the U.S., Mexico, Central and South America.

I graduated Bachelor of Arts cum laude in Cultural Anthropology at Cal State L.A. Additionally, I received a certificate in Youth Agency Administration, a program that trains activists in community organizing, PR and non-profit management. Also, I have participated in training programs such as Volunteer Leadership Program (United Way, 1997), Applying Communications Effectively in the Community (Lead-Safe America, 2001), Social Change Across Borders Summer Institute (UC Santa Cruz, Merrill College,2002), Introduction to Health Data, Data, Advocacy and Technical Assistance Program (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 2002) and SPIN Academy Communications Training Conference (The SPIN Project, 2004) among many others.

Currently, I serve as Senior Campaign and Outreach Associate at Coalition for Clean Air (CCA). At CCA, I am responsible for developing and implementing a multilevel campaign to reduce toxic chemicals that pollute the air. An important aspect of this work focuses on reducing chemicals from consumers' products, including institutional and janitorial cleaning products. My work includes partnering with allies in the development and introduction of legislation, working with state and regional agencies to pitch ideas for regulations, and representing the environmental movement among worker's health advocacy coalitions to address the impacts of toxic chemicals in the workplace.

Prior to CCA, I worked at teh National Environmental Trust (NET), where I was actively involved in getting the California Safe Cosmetics Act (2005) approved by the legislature and signed by Gov. Schwarznegger.

From June 2000 to September 2005, while working at the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) Education Fund, I coordinated environmental justice outreach and voter education campaigns that reached the Latino communities of California through various media outlets.

For your information, I have posted a full resume on www.LuisRCabrales.net

7. On which Local Station Board committees are you interested in actively serving?

If elected, I would feel comfortable serving in any committee. However, I believe my skills would be best used if I served in the following committees:

OUTREACH COMMITTEE
PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
PROGRAMMING OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE