Línea Directa is an award-winning Spanish-language television series that provides Latino families living in the Washington metropolitan area with information on their rights, as well as on important health, legal, education and social service issues. After more than 17 years of innovative outreach, the half-hour program has become a vital community institution, broadcasting crucial messages directly into the living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms of thousands of Latino households.

A groundbreaking public service partnership that is unique in the nation allows EVS to produce Línea Directa in the studios of NBC4 in Washington, D.C. The weekly program is then broadcast and cablecast throughout the region by the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Washington during one of the channel’s most coveted local time slots — Saturday evenings, at 6:00 p.m.

In the increasingly commercial world of Hispanic media, Línea Directa has often been alone in providing solution oriented coverage of such issues as the parental role in education, affordable medical services for families without health insurance, the rights of Latino workers, the Afro-Latino experience, domestic violence, citizenship and voting, teenage pregnancy, gang violence prevention, breast and cervical cancer, the criminal justice system, traffic safety, HIV/AIDS, and consumer fraud.

Línea Directa – Host Andrea Sarralde

Ms. Sarralde has an accomplished record in broadcasting, having served as the daily morning host of the popular VIVA 900 radio program for more than four years before becoming a reporter and anchor for the Telemundo newscast in the Washington metropolitan area. She is a native of Colombia, and has a degree in Mass Communications and Journalism from the highly respected Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.

Línea Directa – A History of Community Impact

EVS is a true pioneer in the use of commercial Spanish-language television as an effective vehicle for reaching underserved Latino communities.

Since its inception, Línea Directa has covered issues affecting Latino families and workers from a progressive perspective that is rarely seen on Spanish-language television. When the series was first broadcast on January 25, 1990, there were no local Spanish-language television programs, and Latino families had virtually no access to information on services available to them from government or social service organizations. Línea Directa was the first Spanish-language series created to serve the new immigrant community, and to communicate the message that all persons living in the United States have rights, regardless of their legal status, income, or ability to speak English.

Línea Directa’s programming accomplishments have been many. In 1991, after two days of riots in the Latino neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, the program’s one-hour televised community forum allowed Latino leaders to engage District of Columbia Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly in a frank and wide open dialogue about the underlying causes of the violent disturbances. The historic event marked the first appearance by a city Mayor on Spanish-language television, and was widely credited with helping to diffuse the tense situation that existed between Latino residents and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In 1993, Línea Directa succeeded in forcing local Spanish-language radio and television stations to cancel the broadcast of commercials and infomercials being produced by fraudulent psychics who were stealing thousands of dollars from vulnerable immigrants. Thanks to the educational campaign launched by Línea Directa, not only were the false healers denied access to the airwaves, but the public attention generated by the effort led the Washington Post to devote a major front page story to the problem. One year later, Línea Directa was the first local program to speak openly about the use of condoms, infidelity, and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. The innovative four-part series broke many traditional Spanish-language television taboos, featuring on-camera interviews with men and women living with AIDS, and dramatizing the process of condom negotiation between couples.

Up until this time, the Línea Directa television series had been a project housed in the D.C. Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs. When the District's fiscal crisis forced drastic government budget cuts in 1994, Línea Directa producers Arturo Salcedo and Eduardo López received permission from OLA to continue their innovative program by forming the nonprofit organization, EVS Communications. In return, EVS agreed to take on the difficult task of raising all the funds necessary to produce and purchase the broadcast time for the program. The organization was incorporated in November 1994, and was granted a 501 (c)(3) tax exemption by the Internal Revenue Service in February 1995.

In 1996 and 1997, Línea Directa worked with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to increase the Latino community's awareness and knowledge of heart disease. The groundbreaking two-part series focused on the major risk factors related to the development of cardiovascular problems in Latino families, and marked the first time that the National Institutes of Health had supported a local television Spanish-language public education campaign. The effort was so successful that NHLBI produced 10,000 VHS copies of the Línea Directa programs, and entered into a collaborative agreement with the National Council of La Raza to distribute the series nationwide.

NHLBI also conducted an extensive evaluation to measure the impact of the educational campaign. The investigation began before the launch of the educational effort in October 1995, when 344 randomly-chosen Latino residents were approached outside grocery stores and churches, and asked a series of questions regarding heart disease. These responses were then compared to answers given to the same series of questions by 328 Latino residents in April 1997. According to NHLBI, the number of respondents able to identify at least three of the major risk factors related to heart disease increased significantly, from 28 to 43 percent. Most importantly, 65 percent of the respondents stated that of all campaign materials, which included brochures and radio spots, the television program was the most useful and informative.

Between 1998 and 2000, Línea Directa produced a two-part series on the U.S. criminal justice system that explained the judicial process by following a fictional case of domestic violence from arrest through trial. Línea Directa also aired programs on the purchase of a family home and the prevention of housing fraud, a two-part series on teen pregnancy, and two programs for the Arlington Public Schools that focused on parental involvement, as well as on the problems of immigrant families who have faced years of separation while one or both parents made their way in the United States.

The unique partnership EVS established with NBC4 in 2000 gave the organization the opportunity to provide effective coverage of two critical events in 2001 that deeply affected the Latino community -- the devastating earthquakes in El Salvador and the terrorist attacks in September. At a time when telephone lines were still down, and information about loved ones was extremely scarce, Línea Directa gave Salvadoran Ambassador Rene León an extended opportunity to provide thousands of worried families with a detailed report on the situation in the country. Days after the tragedy in New York and the Pentagon, Línea Directa broadcast a program designed to help Latino parents talk to their children about the traumatic events. The following two weeks, EVS produced shows focusing on the employment crisis that resulted from the attacks.

In 2002, EVS worked closely with the Latino Health Initiative of Montgomery County to write and produce La Clínica, a half-hour original drama for television focusing on the growing problem of colon cancer in the Latino community. The Línea Directa special featured a large cast of local Latino actors, and told the story of how an immigrant family faced the father’s positive diagnosis.

After its initial broadcast, more than 100 copies of the program were distributed to bilingual clinics and social service organizations, which then used La Clínica in workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions. The program has proven so successful in encouraging men and women to accept preventive colon cancer screening that the Latino Health Initiative commissioned the writing and publication of a 16-page study guide to accompany the video.

Other Línea Directa programs have included a six-part series on the health of Latino women for the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, a six-part series on the rights of Latino workers for the Public Welfare Foundation and the AFL-CIO, and an eight-part series on the prevention of tobacco use for the American Legacy Foundation.

During the 2006 television season, EVS produced some 25 new Línea Directa programs focusing on issues of importance to Latino families. Public health, education, domestic violence and consumer protection were well represented. We are particularly proud, however, that during this period Línea Directa played an extremely active role in encouraging the Latino vote. We devoted a total of six programs to issues related to civic participation, including our coverage of the historic immigrant marches held in the Spring of 2006.

The controversies surrounding Latino civil rights and the rise of anti-immigrant movements in various localities across the region were also given strong attention. Línea Directa provided Latino leaders and elected officials with a positive platform for discussion when community conflicts surfaced in places like Herndon, Manassas and Gaithersburg.

Through the years, EVS has produced Línea Directa programs in collaboration with nearly every single bilingual community-based organization in the Washington metropolitan area. These include CASA de Maryland, Identity, Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Health Care, the Latin American Youth Center, Clínica del Pueblo, the Carlos Rosario Adult Education Center, CARECEN, the Council of Latino Agencies, Tenants and Workers United, Housing Counseling Services, Centro Familia, GALA Hispanic Theatre, the Nueva Vida Breast Cancer Support Group, the Hermanas Unidas Domestic Violence Support Group, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, AYUDA Legal Services, the Hispanic Committee of Virginia, the Spanish Catholic Center, local chapters of the Service Employees International Union, the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, and the Laborers International Union.