• October 6th, 2024
  • Sunday, 05:45:12 AM

America By The Numbers With María Hinojosa


In anticipation of the national broadcast of the one-hour 2016 election special, “The New Deciders,” which will air on local public TV stations nationwide September 6, PBS will rebroadcast programs with updated data from the original America By The Numbers with Maria Hinojosa (ABTN) series produced by The Futuro Media Group. Check local listings for dates and times for the ABTN rebroadcasts. America By The Numbers is the first national program to chronicle the demographic shift in the United States to a majority non-white nation.

The programs from the first ABTN series are now available for public, featuring the original documentary content, as well as new demographic and trend data, supporting graphics and narration. Additionally, the programs will include epilogues providing information on main characters from the six programs, updating what has transpired in their lives since the original broadcast in fall 2014.

“America is increasingly experiencing dramatic changes in its demographics, shifting the cultural landscape and deeply impacting how we look, vote, shop and live,” said ABTN Executive Producer and award-winning journalist María Hinojosa. Hinojosa is also Executive Producer of NPR’s Peabody Award-winning weekly radio show, Latino USA, and President and Founder of the Futuro Media Group. “We are pleased to be able to update the demographic data and numbers of the first series as well as our storytelling, to support the ongoing national dialogue about race, identity, democracy and nationhood.”

In visually compelling programs anchored by Hinojosa, viewers will once again experience surprising numbers and gripping personal stories behind population change in America. The six programs to air from the first season of ABTN include:

“Politics of the New South” – More than 80,000 refugees have settled in Georgia since the 1980s, and 10,000 of them were placed just outside of Atlanta in the small city of Clarkston. As a result, Clarkston’s population went from 97 percent American-born to 53 percent foreign-born. ABTN documents former refugees exercising their civic agency as candidates, running for public office for the first time, in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse towns in the nation.

“Our Private Idaho” – Coeur D’Alene, Idaho has one of the highest white growth rates in the nation, and was once the headquarters for the Aryan Nations white supremacy movement. At a time when the overall percentage of whites in the U.S. is 62 percent and falling, Coeur D’Alene and its surrounding county is holding steady at 90 percent. America By The Numbers goes on location to Coeur D’Alene to understand how white Americans view their place in an increasingly diverse national landscape.

“Island of Warriors” Nearly 3 million Americans have been deployed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11. Roughly 50 percent of returning veterans say they struggle with physical or mental health problems due to their service, and as many as one in five suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. “Island of Warriors” examines the treatment of veterans who live in Guam and have some of the highest rates of enlistment as well as causalities and death.

“Pass or Fail in Cambodia Town” – 54 percent of Asian-Americans aged 25 and older hold a college degree, compared to 33 percent of all U.S. adults. By contrast, Southeast Asian Americans have one of the lowest high school completion rates in the country; as 31.2 percent of Cambodian, 28.1 percent of Hmong, and 28.4 percent of Laotian adults do not have a high school diploma or equivalent. This episode investigates the unique obstacles facing Southeast Asian American students in Long Beach, California.

“Surviving Year One” – In the city of Rochester, NY and surrounding Monroe county, a baby born to an African American or Latino mother is more than twice as likely to die before reaching its first birthday as a baby born to a white mother. Rochester is home to some of the most technologically advanced health care facilities in the nation, yet this rate of infant mortality is higher than Botswana, Sri Lanka and many other developing countries. ABTN investigates the root causes behind these alarming statistics.

“The New Mad Men” – Latinos represent one of the fastest growing groups in the U.S., with a purchasing power of $1.2 trillion. Nearly a quarter of Americans between the ages of six and 34 is Latino. This episode takes a deep dive into trends in advertising and the influence of Latino consumers, especially Latina Millennials.

Funding for the six America By The Numbers documentaries has been provided by the National Minority Consortia (NMC), which is composed of Latino Public Broadcasting, Center for Asian American Media, Pacific Islanders in Communications, Vision Maker Media, and the National Black Programming Consortium. The NMC has been a long-time supporter of America By The Numbers with Maria Hinojosa, contributing to completion of the pilot program as well as the full series. NMC co-chairs, Sandie Viquez Pedlow and Stephen Gong have expressed their enthusiasm for broadcast of the ABTN programs saying, “We are thrilled that the updated America by the Numbers will be re-broadcast on PBS. Maria Hinojosa is a master journalist, and the perspective she provides through these programs makes for vital and compelling television.”

“The New Deciders” will air on pubic TV stations nationwide September 6, 2016 and is presented by WGBH TV for PBS. The ABTN election special “The New Deciders” will examine voters whose power and influence are growing and impacting the 2016 election. Funding for the one-hour special was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.

For more information, visit www.americabythenumbers.org.