The Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded an $850,000 grant for eight new half-hour episodes of America By The Numbers, a series featuring journalist Maria Hinojosa that had a pilot run as a PBS election special.
Programs in the series, which will air on PBS and the World Channel, will cover topics such as health disparities revealed by infant mortality rates, military service by residents of non-voting territories of the Pacific Islands and the effects of the domestic oil boom on Native American lands.
“Consistent with the mission of public broadcasting – to give voice to the extraordinary diversity of this country – I am excited that PBS and the World Channel will premiere America by the Numbers,” said Maria Hinojosa, series host and project leader, in a statement. “This eight-part series is the first national TV program dedicated to documenting massive and historic demographic change in the US using hard data and powerful storytelling.”
America By The Numbers is a collaboration between Hinojosa’s Futuro Media Group and Boston’s WGBH.
CPB backed the production through its Diversity and Innovation Fund, according to its June 5 grant announcement. The series also received funding from PBS and the National Minority Consortia, which includes the Center for Asian American Media, National Black Programming Consortia, Latino Public Broadcasting, Pacific Islanders in Communications and Vision Maker Media.