Editor's note: This story was originally published with Southwest Connector

Now more than ever, we need to protect the First Amendment. And the community voices it empowers.

Those voices are under threat in Minneapolis. Buried deep in the proposed 2026 city budget from Mayor Jacob Frey is an ongoing $12,500 reduction to public access TV funding. It might sound small in a $2 billion budget, but for SPEAK MPLS, our city’s public access station and community media center, that cut is a major blow.

It limits opportunities for young people, elders, and underrepresented communities to tell their own stories and to participate fully in community life.

This isn’t just about a line item. It’s about free speech, civic participation, and the First Amendment. Values that define who we are as a society.

"Public access stations across the country are closing," says Rebecca Smith, CEO of SPEAK MPLS. "It’s an attack on free speech. From the federal government down to our own local elected officials. They're not seeing the importance of investing in the people’s voice."

For more than 40 years, public access television in Minneapolis has been where residents learn, create, and make their voices heard. Beginning with the Minnesota Television Network (MTN) in 1984 to SPEAK MPLS since 2020, these community media centers have given anyone, regardless of income, background, or beliefs, the tools and training to pick up a camera, step into a studio, and speak their truth. They are "America's electronic soapbox." This is civic life in action. This is the First Amendment, alive and strong.

But if we don’t protect and invest in public access TV, that space for community engagement will vanish. And free speech will become ancient history.

The First Amendment, adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees that “Congress shall make no law …  abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

These words, championed by founders like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, were meant to protect citizens from government overreach and ensure that all voices could be heard. Not just those with power or money.

Public access television, the "P" in PEG channels (Public, Educational, and Governmental), was built on this same principle. Born in the late 1960s, PEG channels on cable television gave every community member access to the airwaves, creating local media by and for the people. Cities collected PEG fees from cable subscribers to fund these channels, which became vital platforms for civic engagement and cultural connection.

But as Americans cut the cord and move to streaming platforms, that funding is disappearing. Across the U.S., public access stations have been shuttered or gutted, their studios dark, their airwaves silent. The people’s voice is being drowned out by corporate media consolidation, algorithmic feeds, and political polarization.

Across Minnesota, the crisis in public media funding is growing. In August, American Public Media Group, the parent company of Minnesota Public Radio, laid off 30 staff members after federal and state funding cuts. Twin Cities PBS (TPT) also shut down its youth media program, Hype, and laid off 25 employees. These losses make community outlets like SPEAK MPLS even more essential.

SPEAK MPLS, which took over operations for MTN, has become a creative hub for new voices in Minneapolis. Ten years ago, MTN’s annual budget exceeded $800,000. Today, SPEAK MPLS operates at roughly half that amount, even as demand for community storytelling continues to rise.

"They’re proposing a year-over-year cut," Smith said. "It would just cut us into nowhere."

Despite the challenges, SPEAK MPLS continues to build an ecosystem of collaboration and creativity. Since June 2024, the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation (SMSBF) and our Youth Community Journalism Institute (YCJI) have partnered with SPEAK MPLS to produce youth-led TV shows and podcasts on local news, public health, and community solutions. These programs, designed and produced by youth ages 8-17, amplify stories and voices that rarely make it into mainstream media.

At YCJI, students report on issues like food justice, mental health, and environmental sustainability, then bring those stories to life through digital media and live broadcasts. They’re not just learning journalism. They’re practicing civic engagement. Public access gives them a platform to be heard.

Public access doesn’t just build skills for youth. It strengthens community life for everyone. It gives residents a voice in local conversations, enables grassroots accountability, and fosters participation in shaping the places we live.

“Public access has always been about inclusion,” Smith said. “When we cut that, we’re not just cutting a budget. We’re cutting community voice.”

SPEAK MPLS is more than a TV station. It’s a community hub for digital equity and civic empowerment. Residents can take classes in video production, podcasting, and storytelling. Young people can find mentorship and their first paid work experiences through RYSE MPLS, a youth program that builds leadership and media literacy. Nonprofits, artists, and neighborhood groups use the studios to share ideas and information that rarely make it into mainstream media.

"Community media means so much to our communities," says Carmen Robles, publisher of Conversaciones de Salud, a bilingual health and wellness media initiative that partners with SPEAK MPLS and the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation and Youth Community Journalism Institute. “When people see themselves represented in media — their culture, their language, their struggles — it empowers them. It helps us connect and heal.”

Public access media is where community and humanity meet. It’s where free speech becomes real, not theoretical. And in a time when trust in institutions is collapsing and division feels like the norm, community media is one of the few spaces left where people can come together, face to face, and learn from each other.

Mayor Frey’s proposed cut may seem minor, but the message it sends is major: that the people’s voice is expendable. That connection, empathy, and civic participation can be trimmed without consequence. The truth is the opposite. Cutting public access TV weakens the civic health of our city and silences the voices that make Minneapolis diverse, creative, and resilient.

The cost of losing this space for dialogue, dissent, and discovery is far greater than $12,500. It’s also deeper than the city’s other proposed cuts, including to the Partnership Engagement Fund in the Neighborhood and Community Relationsdepartment.

"We have the power as residents to speak up and influence the city council to restore our funding [through a budget amendment]," Smith reminds us. "We do have a voice. But we have to use it."

That means showing up to testify at budget hearings. Writing letters to council members. Sharing stories about what SPEAK MPLS means to you, your family, your neighborhood. Let the world know that free speech belongs to everyone, not just those who can afford a platform.

We’ve seen what happens when public media disappears. Local voices are silenced. Young creators lose their first opportunities. Neighborhoods stop hearing from one another.

The result isn’t just less media. It’s less connection. Less compassion. Less humanity.

Now is not the time to retreat from the First Amendment. It's time to strengthen it. In our city, our schools, and our shared spaces.

We need to restore full funding for public access TV in Minneapolis. Not as a handout. As a civic duty. Because the future of our community (and every community across America) depends on people being able to see, hear, and understand one another.

Carmen Robles put it best: “Power to the people. We are the power. We’ll figure it out and create our own solutions. It doesn't have to be CBS, ABC, or PBS. Something wonderful will come out of this misery."

That solution starts with us.

The fight for public access isn’t just about funding. It’s about free speech, civic participation, and the connections that bind us.

Stand up.

Speak up.

Defend our voice.

Restore public access.

Protect the First Amendment.

Strengthen community.

Reclaim our humanity.

Eric Ortiz lives in the Wedge with his family. He is executive director of the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation, a national youth and community development nonprofit based in Minneapolis, and associate director of research for The Pivot Fund, a venture philanthropy organization that invests in community newsrooms serving underserved communities.