Friends and Supporters,
Before I close out the petition, I just want to say again how grateful I am to each of you for participating with your signature. A handful of you I know personally, and many of you I have never met, but I now feel like I know you through this common cause we came together for. This could have never happened without you.
I urge you to consider making one more step, and that is to make a financial contribution to KBCS in support of the reporting and storytelling that Yuko and her volunteer news team produce each weekday. The link donate is: https://www.kbcs.fm/donate/ or you can mail a check payable to KBCS to: (KBCS Radio | 3000 Landerholm Cir SE | Bellevue, WA 98007).
When you donate, please include your comments about why keeping social justice, race, and equity in the media dialogue is so important to you and your community. While you’re on the KBCS website, take a moment to listen to all of the amazing stories Yuko and the news team have produced. These are the stories that your signature to this petition helped to protect, and by donating to KBCS, you’ll help to protect them in the future too.
Your donation will also speak volumes in positive reinforcement to the leaders who made the right decision to renew Yuko’s contract and ensure that equity and inclusion are at the forefront of KBCS’s reporting, in a time when our community and country needs it more than ever. You’ll also hear your contribution hard at work each time you tune-in to KBCS and hear a story that your dollars helped to fund.
Bellevue College Interim President, Gary Locke, has been key in the decision to renewing Yuko’s contract and putting under-served voices first, in the face of upcoming financial concerns at the college level, state level, and beyond. At the same time, he has stated that Bellevue College cannot afford to subsidize KBCS in the near future. This means that KBCS will need to raise an additional $150,000 over its regular budget in the coming year, if we intend to remain viable.
Simply put, in order for KBCS to continue doing the amazing work you love, the station must see an increase in community support. If you’re in a position to contribute, please do so today.
Wishing each of you peace, health and all the best,
Ben Brandow