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NEWARK, NJ, January 19, 2022 – Edge is pleased to be the recipient of the Verizon New Jersey Public, Educational or Government (PEG) Training and Equipment Program funds for 2022. The PEG program provides resources and education for developing creative media literacy in the community. Through this program fund, video production, editing equipment, and training programs are available for use in the development of local programming content that can be shown on local public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels.

Through the PEG Program, any municipal-authorized representative or resident can take a free Basic Video Production training course at a participating County or Community College and then be eligible to borrow a complete location video production system to record a community event or program. Once the video shoot is complete, the authorized representative or resident can edit the footage at the participating County or Community College in order to produce a complete video program, ready for broadcast on the local PEG channels. An Advanced Video Production training course is also available, once the Basic Training has been successfully completed.

As the program implementation coordinator, Edge helps to manage the program and act as an interface for participating County and Community colleges. In addition to program management, the Verizon PEG Program provides equipment, technical support, application development, training resources, and maintenance.

Dr. Forough Ghahramani, Edge’s Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs, explains, “Edge has developed software for tracking course enrollment information, inventory, and equipment loans, as well as an inventory management program to track usage of the PEG equipment and its necessary maintenance.” Further elaborates Dr. Ghahramani, “The inventory management service provides a secure web program interface with locally segregated data entry so institutions can provide periodic information on the website including dates when PEG equipment is borrowed and returned, a description of the PEG equipment that is borrowed, and the attendance of students in PEG training courses.” The number of people who participate in PEG training and use the program to develop local programming content can be easily tracked through the use of a registration application.

Participating institutions also have access to customized editing software and licensing of off-the-shelf programming pieces to be used to enhance local programming and its content by individuals and municipalities. To bring the various colleges together and create a forum for information sharing and collaboration, Edge is leveraging the EdgeXchange platform to create a “Creative Media” community where institutions can share their experiences and best practices.

Municipalities are encouraged to take advantage of this free program in order to increase the amount of locally produced programs on the PEG channels. For additional information, please contact PEG@NJEdge.net or refer to peg.njedge.net for contacts at participating community colleges.