Three Days of Reports from Sharyn Alfonsi to Begin Airing Monday, September 19

This week “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” is taking its popular “Made in America” series to SMU in Dallas, Texas. Monica, a new college freshman and “World News” viewer, is determined to use only products that are made in America as she furnishes her dorm room. When she started her back to school shopping, Monica was only able to find some hangers and a mattress pad that was made right here in the U.S. so she took to twitter. After sending a tweet to @ABCWorldNews asking for help, ABC News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi set of for Dallas to help Monica in her quest to have a “Made in America” dorm room. Reports to air Monday, September 19 and Tuesday, September 20 on “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.”

MONICA’S TWEET: “@ABCWorldNews I move into my college dorm in a month and I haven’t been able to find any #madeinamerica products to fill my dorm, suggestions?” (Sent July 11)

The average college student spends $616.13 on back to school items, but if every student spent at least half of that on products made in America they could help create hundreds of thousands of jobs here at home.

About “Made in America” — This past spring “World News with Diane Sawyer” kicked off a special series, “Made in America,” to examine American manufacturing, the economy, and what simple things people can do every day to help power up jobs in this country. In March “World News” had an experiment for the Dallas-based Usry family: could they identify all the products in their home that are made in America and could they fill their home entirely with products made in the U.S.? Over the past several months, after thousands of viewers weighed in online submitting the names of American businesses that are contributing to their local economies, “World News” has featured many of those companies who have taken steps to keep their businesses in the U.S. creating more American jobs. Some of those employers have seen an uptick in sales after being featured on “World News” allowing them to hire more workers. Furniture company Vaughan-Bassett says they saw a 1,600 percent increase in inquiries and received more orders in two weeks than they had in 6 months after being included in the series. Another furniture company L.J. Gascho went from 35 to 60 employees because of an uptick in sales.

Michael Corn is the executive producer of “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.  The evening newscast airs locally in Dallas, TX on WFAA at 5:30pm and nationally on the ABC Television Network.