Date: Sep 09, 2011

SUBURBAN AMERICA: PROBLEMS & PROMISE

Hofstra collaborates on documentary about challenges facing suburbs

Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.  –  The National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University® and an award-winning filmmaker have teamed up to create a documentary that examines the evolution of the nation’s suburbs from small bedroom communities to sprawling, diverse metropolises with unique development challenges and escalating political clout.

The one-hour film, “Suburban America: Problems & Promise”, was produced and directed by Emmy® -winning filmmaker Ron Rudaitis, in collaboration with the National Center for Suburban Studies, which served as the main production consultant. NCSS Executive Dean Lawrence Levy is featured in the film, providing narration-like analysis. It marks the second collaboration between Rudaitis and the center. In 2007, the center commissioned a short film by Rudaitis to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Levittown, N.Y., the nation’s first suburb.

“The National Center for Suburban Studies and its Executive Dean, Lawrence Levy, as well as Hofstra’s Long Island Studies Institute, were dream partners who generously provided expertise and insight, and offered interview leads, archival material, and content suggestions,” Rudaitis said. “They deeply understand all facets of suburban America - its changes and challenges, its problems and promise, and they were always there as a valued sounding board.”

The film intercuts commentary from some of the nation’s top policy experts with personal stories that highlight the social, political and demographic changes taking hold in the suburbs. It follows a local suburban political race that parallels the 2008 presidential election, charts the growing ethnic, racial and religious diversity of suburbia, and profiles Levittown and other Long Island, NY. communities.

“Suburban America: Problems & Promise” is being distributed by American Public Television, and will air on public television stations nationwide throughout the fall. A local preview airing is set for Sept. 13, 2011 on WLIW World, (Cablevision channel 132, Time Warner channel 164, and Verizon Fios channel 473).  The official Long Island/New York premiere is Saturday Oct. 22, 2011 at 8 p.m. on WLIW-Channel 21.

Dean Levy said the film serves notice that “these are not your mother and father’s suburbs anymore…these are the new battlegrounds… politically, demographically, and in terms of infrastructure.”

“The film is central to the mission of the NCSS,” Levy said, “by shining a light on the profound changes in the suburbs, and on the disconnect between their growing political power and the attention paid to their growing problems.”

For a complete national broadcast schedule, go to: http://www.rudaitismedia.com/press/item.phtml?ID=35

The National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University® is a non-partisan research institution dedicated to promoting objective, academically rigorous study of suburbia’s problems and promise. Rooted in the laboratory of Long Island’s diverse and aging suburbs, the National Center studies a broad range of local and national issues. The suburbs have emerged as the nexus of dynamic demographic, social, economic and environmental change. The tasks of identifying, analyzing and solving the problems of suburbia are key to the health of the country – and central to the Center’s mission.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from 140 undergraduate and 150 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied health services, honors, as well as a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

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