HGTV and The National Trust for Historic Preservation Partner to Restore America
Home & Garden Television (HGTV) has partnered with The National Trust for Historic Preservation for "Restore America - A Salute to Preservation," a public affairs initiative created to raise awareness and generate support for saving America's most beloved and historic places. Inspired by the HGTV series Restore America, the initiative recognizes the restoration efforts at 12 national sites through the network's on-air and on-line programming, and HGTV is donating $1 million to the National Trust to go toward the restoration and preservation of these selected sites.

In addition, HGTV and the National Trust have announced a commitment to a second year for the Restore America partnership. This will include another $1 million donation from HGTV to the National Trust to restore more sites, as well as on-air and online elements that create visibility for the National Trust through at least 2005.

Beginning July 4, 2003, HGTV will salute one of the twelve restoration sites every month with one-minute vignettes that will air at various times throughout each day. In addition, each of the sites will be featured in longer segments as part of the regular Restore America series, now in its fifth season on HGTV, and in two Restore America specials in July 2003 and 2004. The network will produce and air a series of public service announcements focusing on the mission of the National Trust and will feature information on the public affairs initiative on its Web site.

The 12 featured sites are all part of Save America's Treasures, a partnership launched by the White House and the National Trust in 1998 to protect America's threatened cultural treasures, and are all in various stages of restoration. They include:

• Bodie Island Lighthouse in Manteo, North Carolina - Rebuilt in 1872 after being damaged during the Civil War, this lighthouse and its outbuildings are a classic example of the American lighthouse station.
• Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, California - This is the oldest public conservatory in the Western Hemisphere and boasts a collection of very rare and historic tropical plants.
• Cranbrook House in Detroit, Michigan - An outstanding example of early 20^th century design and craftmanship, this house was built between 1908 and 1920.
• Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia - This church played a crucial role in the civil rights movement.
• Far East Building in Los Angeles, California - This is part of the Little Tokyo National Historic District.
• Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago, Illinois - Built in 1906 by businessman and inventor, Frederick C. Robie, this house epitomizes Frank Lloyd Wright's America Prairie style of architecture.
• Hubbell House in Albuquerque, New Mexico - This well-preserved, large adobe building mixes Spanish and American traditions and culture from the Territorial Period of 1848-1912.
• Liberty Theater in Astoria, Oregon - Built in 1925, this classic example of the 1920s motion picture palace opened with silent movies and vaudeville acts.
• Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York, New York - This building is dedicated to presenting tenement life in America while promoting tolerance and historical perspective through interpretation of the immigrant experience.
• Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut - With its Louis Comfort Tiffany interior, this former home of the author served as the Mark Twain branch of the Hartford Public Library for years before a total restoration began in the 1950s.
• President Lincoln & Soldiers' Home National Monument in Washington, D.C. - This little-known, 14-room Gothic Revival cottage and early presidential retreat is where Abraham Lincoln spent a quarter of his presidency and where he drafted the Emancipation Proclamation.
• The Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts - Edith Wharton, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, designed the house and gardens.

HGTV and the National Trust first announced their new partnership and public affairs initiative "Restore America - A Salute to Preservation" in October 2002 during the annual National Preservation Conference. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting the irreplaceable. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the Trust provides leadership, education and advocacy to save America's diverse historical places and revitalize communities.

The Comcast Foundation has announced the winners of their 2003 Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship Program. 889 high school seniors will receive a $1,000 grant that can be applied towards higher education. Students were rewarded for their commitment to community service, leadership skills, and academic achievement. High school seniors in Comcast's Atlantic, Eastern and Midwest Divisions were nominated for the scholarship program by their school principals.

"The Comcast Foundation Board feels it is important to let young people in our communities know that they have the power to impact change, and that the community at large values that contribution," said Diane Tuppeny-Hess, Vice President and Executive Director, The Comcast Foundation. "We're proud to continue to expand this program to recognize more and more students' individual efforts to make a difference in their communities."

Since its establishment in 2001, The Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship program has awarded more then $1.8 million in grants to students. The program has expanded to include schools in Comcast communities in Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, DC and plans to include more Comcast communities in 2004.

In June, ABC Cable Networks Group teamed up with its cable affiliates to bring Toon Disney's Passport to Reading and SOAPnet's Talk It Over Soaps to several local communities. Both initiatives are part of ABC Cable Networks Group's Learning Together! public affairs programs.

A summer reading and rewards program, Toon Disney's Passport to Reading introduces kids to great stories and rewards them for reading selections from a list of recommended books. This new initiative was developed in conjunction with Disney Hand, an organization that facilitates worldwide outreach for The Walt Disney Company, and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association.

On Wednesday June 23, Toon Disney partnered with Cox Communications Northern Virginia and the Virginia Library Foundation to launch the latter's summer reading program. Belle and several other characters from Disney's Beauty and the Beast read one of their favorite stories, The Legend of the Viking Castle, at the Fairfax County Government Center's auditorium. Nearly 150 elementary school-age children from the Computer Learning Center's program and Hispanics Against Child Abuse and Neglect participated in the 45-minute, interactive session. The event was designed to promote reading as an engaging summer activity and the local library's summer education program. Children received a special book bag and bookmark as well as tips on how to make reading fun at the interactive session. Toon Disney also partnered with Comcast in Denver and Pittsburgh to host similar events on June 11 and June 25, respectively.

On June 24, SOAPnet partnered with Time Warner Cable in Los Angeles to host the first Talk It Over Soaps event, a community forum designed to encourage open communications between parents and teenagers. Talk It Over Soaps will address pressing issues facing Los Angeles communities including divorce and underage drinking. A counselor and "General Hospital" star Jackie Zeman, who portrays Bobbie Spencer, moderated the event.

Toon Disney's Passport to Reading and SOAPnet's Talk It Over Soaps are part of ABC Cable Networks Group's Learning Together! public affairs programs. Designed to improve children's learning and personal growth through increased family involvement, Learning Together! also includes ABC Family's One-on-One, Disney Channel's Imagineer That! and Stanley's Story Time Adventure from Playhouse Disney. These three initiatives will debut later this year.

For information on how your organization can join CTPAA as a corporate member in 2004, please contact Steve Jones at sjones@ctpaa.org or at 202/775-1083. For membership details, go to http://www.magnetmail.net/Actions/linktosite.cfm?message_id=13289&user_id=CTPPA&recipient_id=5484063&site=http://www.ctpaa.org/mcorp.shtml.

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NBC Cable Networks
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Time Warner Cable
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc

2003 Benefactors

ABC Cable Networks Group
ESPN
Lifetime Television
MTV Networks
TechTV
The Weather Channel

2003 Friends & Associates

Adelphia
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Cable Telecommunications Association of New York
Comedy Central
Court TV
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Discovery Networks
Florida Cable Telecommunications Association
Game Show Network
Hallmark Channel
HBO
Indiana Cable Telecommunications Association
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