(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast, sponsored by KAZU/NPR 90.3 and Monterey College of Law, welcomes Bradley Zeve, Founder & CEO of Monterey County Weekly and Monterey County NOW, and founding partner of Monterey County Gives! Zeve started the Weekly in 1988 and also serves as the Free Speech Chair on the board of the national Association of Alternative Newsmedia. The newspaper has been recognized with numerous California and national newspaper awards since its inception.

Monterey County Gives! is a partnership between Monterey County Weekly, the Community Foundation for Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.

As described by Zeve,“Back in 2000, the Weekly decided to leverage resources to create a new program to support the local nonprofit community with both editorial coverage and philanthropy, and established the Monterey County Weekly Community Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC). Since its inception, the program has raised and donated over $82 million to approximately 500 local nonprofits.”

The 2025 Monterey County Gives! campaign is currently underway and will continue through midnight December 31, 2025. Donors can contribute by going to the campaign website at montereycounty gives or mcgives. With a minimum donation of $10.00, donors can support one or more of the 213 participating nonprofits that have been selected to participate in this year's program. The campaign is a unique example of community collaboration. In addition to the Weekly, the Community Foundation, and the Peninsula Foundation, major partners include Taylor Farms, Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel, Colburn and Alana Jones Foundation at the CFMC, Post Ranch Inn, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Cannery Row Company, Harden Foundation, Cort Companies, and Montage Health Foundation. Through these major partners, MC Gives! campaign will contribute more than $1,600,000 in matching funds to the participating nonprofits.

Zeve points out that the MC Gives! community partnership with the Weekly is a particularly good fit because“the mission of Monterey County Now and Monterey County Weekly is to inspire independent thinking and conscious action. As the largest-circulation newspaper in Monterey County, the Monterey County Weekly has long been recognized for its thoughtful, provocative and engaging coverage of news, arts and entertainment.”

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Special Announcement: KAZU 90.3 radio and SideBarMedia are excited to announce a new collaboration that adds the SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast to KAZU's digital programming on the station's website ( ). KAZU is the NPR affiliate station for Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Cruz. The SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast - sponsored by Monterey College of Law, a long-standing nonprofit sponsor of KAZU 90.3 radio - has become the first non-newscast, locally produced podcast featured on the KAZU website and mobile application.

SideBar: Optimism in Action is cohosted by former law deans Mitch Winick and Jackie Gardina, produced by David Eakin, a local theatre composer, media consultant, and podcast producer, and promoted by Dena Dowsett, social media specialist.“The podcast features nonprofit leaders, advocates, and community members who represent extraordinary work that is improving the humanitarian, public policy, and charitable needs of our local, national, and global communities,” explained Winick.“Our focus this season is on the amazing individuals who are pursuing positive change during challenging times,” said Gardina.

New episodes of SideBar: Optimism in Action are published on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at . To learn more about law dean cohosts Jackie Gardina and Mitch Winick, read our blog, and to preview and listen to more than 70 previous episodes, go to SideBarMedia at .

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