I am Vanessa Dixon-Briggs. Thank you for reading my statement so that you may
understand why I am a candidate for the WPFW LSB. I seek your vote so that I
may continue to serve the station that I love.
My vision for pfw and the Pacifica network is financial stability. I believe this will
be accomplished through excellent financial management, increased listenership,
and the absence of factionalism that too often consumes the network’s
resources.
I strive to be conscientious in whatever I undertake…whether volunteer service
on a local station board or my decades-long profession as a labor union
representative.
It may be helpful for you to know that I was a professional jazz and classical
musician who performed with the now Dearly Departed Brother Ah. In addition, I
have over 20 years of service on non-profit boards as well as lobbying at the
Federal, State and municipal levels of government. I designed and facilitated
workshops and conducted EEO investigations. In my capacity as a labor union
representative, my focus has been health care by co-founding several advocacy
organizations in order to achieve access to quality health care for all. I fought the
closure of Washington, DC’s only public hospital, participated in a campaign to
retain clinical services at a Maryland de factor public hospital, endeavored to
preserve public mental health clinics in the Nation’s Capital, and worked to
achieve janitors' health care benefits. These vocations and avocations have
developed significant transferable skills that I bring to the table in my service to
WPFW.
As Shirley Chisholm said, “Service is the rent you pay for room on this earth.” I
seek to serve through conscientious work for WPFW. I take service seriously and
one way I demonstrate this is through active participation on committees –
Management and Search, Evaluations, Programming, Programmer Bill of Rights
Subcommittee. As a Pacifica National Board (PNB) Director I have served on
committees such as Governance, Elections, Personnel, Coordinating, and Strategic
Planning.

Serving on the PNB has been instrumental in helping me to understand how pfw
fits into the larger network structure as well as why decisions are made and how
they affect pfw.
Continuity of service on the LSB is important…especially during this time when
difficult financial decisions must be made. The greater the institutional
knowledge of an LSB delegate, the better that pfw is served. My prior service, as
noted above, helps me to better understand the needs of the station.
I am proud to be a member of pfw, a station that has earned the highest rating in
the Pacifica network as evidenced by our .8 market share (i.e., 8% of the
influential Washington Metropolitan Area are listeners of pfw). That is
outstanding for a small community radio station…but there’s always room to
grow. I seek to positively influence that growth.
Again, I ask for your vote. Since this is ranked voting, I would appreciate your
selection accordingly. Thank you for your consideration of my candidacy.