No Limits was founded in 1996 by Dr. Michelle Christie, Recognizing the lack of opportunities for children with a hearing loss to improve their speaking abilities in a fun and non-academic setting, Dr. Christie designed an after-school theater program to help develop communication skills, expand vocabulary and grammar, and understand character development. Through role-playing, cultivating creativity, and developing public speaking skills, No Limits children began to confidently move into the hearing world.
After witnessing dramatic improvements in the children and receiving countless testimonials from families, peers, educators and the community at large, No Limits expanded to become a national program. To date, No Limits has produced over 100 original shows in 13 states, with over 200,000 audience members witnessing the accomplishments and talents of these inspiring children. No Limits had the distinct honor of making history as the first time deaf children who speak performed at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and recently made history with its hit production Silent NO MORE at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City.
As a result of its remarkable success, No Limits extended its program beyond the theatrical arts to provide auditory, speech and language training year-round. In 2002, the No Limits Educational Center opened in Culver City, California. The Center provides services for low-income school-age deaf children and their families. Services include: individual therapy, academic tutoring, literacy, STEM, arts enrichment, parent education, audiological services, and a Leadership and Mentoring Academy for teens. In 2013, No Limits opened an additional after-school center in Las Vegas, and most recently, in Oxnard, CA, pioneering the expansion of its services to reach more communities. As a result of the comprehensive No Limits program, children who are deaf or hard of hearing are learning essential skills that will allow them to attend college and become successful, productive members of society.
The original No Limits Educational Center opened in 2002 and is located at the No Limits headquarters in Culver City, California. It is a comprehensive after-school program that serves children with hearing loss from all economic backgrounds in the greater Los Angeles area. No Limits offers the following programming:
- Individual auditory, speech and language therapy
- Academic tutoring
- Literacy classes
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
- Music, Theatrical Arts and Public Speaking
- Leadership & Mentoring Academy for teens
- Parent Education and Family Support
- Audiological services (including loaner hearing aids)
There are 3 sessions each year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Each 10-week session culminates in a graduation ceremony during which every child makes a speech, often a child’s first time speaking in front of an audience. As a result of the comprehensive No Limits program, children with hearing loss are learning essential skills that will allow them to attend college and become productive members of society.
Beloved WEATHER MAN, comedian, podcast host and do-good'er...FRITZ COLEMAN 😊
“And now, here’s Fritz Coleman with the weather.”
For nearly four decades, Los Angelenos came to know and love Fritz Coleman through his gig as the weather reporter on KNBC, where his affable demeanor (honed in his early years of stand-up comedy) made him a staple of local news. But when he retired from his weather gig two years ago, Coleman knew he wasn’t done working. “That 11 o’clock news kept me from a lot of things,” he recalls. “Now I could do all those things that massage my soul, be curious more, and discover more.”
That’s the impetus behind MEDIA PATH PODCAST, co-hosted by Fritz and Louise Palanker, veteran radio producer and documentarian. With 100 episodes released so far, MEDIA PATH is a look back at what has defined our media for the past half-century. With guests as eclectic as Congressional leader Adam Schiff, television legend Henry Winkler, Grammy winning songwriter Diane Warren, and “Double Dare” host Marc Summers, each week is a journey down a new path of remembering, learning, and reevaluating our shared memories and histories.
Every show includes discussion of current cultural events and recommendations from the hosts, as well as extended, deep-dive discussions with figures who have had meaningful and memorable impact on the media world we experience. While many of the subjects will be familiar to Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, the spirit of inquisitiveness, curiosity, and sharing that Fritz and Louise bring to each episode will ring familiar to newer generations who may be hearing about these subjects, people, and stories for the first time.
For Louise Palanker, who has been producing radio entertainment for decades and successful podcasts since 2005, that sense of serious and thoughtful discovery and discussion is what drives the podcast: “We can rediscover the things that matter to us and celebrate what we love.” For Coleman, the show is a new way for him to share his passion and curiosity about the world in the same charitable spirit that earned him Congressional recognition as “Humanitarian of the Year” for his work with the American Red Cross. “It’s a great release valve of the pent-up energy from forty years of weather reporting,” he says.
And now – back to you Fritz and Louise, for more journeys on the MEDIA PATH.