Current (https://current.org/project-category/parents-families/page/3/)
The Million Minute Challenge was an initiative to get people of all ages and backgrounds in Lehigh Valley reading. We asked our community to come together to read 1,000,000 minutes in March 2020, Reading Awareness Month, and what resulted was a fun, engaging, exciting, audience-captivating event that surpassed its goals and put reading at the center.
KPCC/LAist gave 12 Southern California parents cameras and asked them to document their lives. Over the course of a year, the “Parenting, Unfiltered” project captured the challenges and joys of raising young children during a pandemic, shaped our reporting and supported community members in telling their own stories.
As Detroit emerged as an early epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, Detroit Public Television (DPTV) became a key media partner in the COVID313 Coalition, a group of grassroots organizations that united to help Detroiters access critical information about services in the area. By producing a weekly town hall that was streamed on Facebook Live, as well as broadcasting segments on our weekly public affairs show One Detroit, DPTV and the COVID313 coalition filled a void in the emergency response system and connected our audience with life-saving services
“Friends & Neighbors” is a 30-minute television program exploring what it means to live and work in Northwest Indiana. The series celebrates the idea that behind the multitude of good things that happen in our region is a diverse group of interesting people. It is their stories we strive to share.
“The Learning Space” is an educational program created by Maine Public in partnership with the Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine. It is geared toward students in grades 3-5 and their teachers, and is intended to help bridge the gap for students without reliable internet access during COVID-19. It aired on Maine Public’s primary television channel and reached more than 180,000 people per episode, or roughly 90 classrooms.
The Life Autistic is an extensive multi-platform project that explores the lives of Iowans with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It features people of different ages and abilities who each have a unique story to tell and delves into their challenges and successes.
Maine Public’s Deep Dive is a space for complex, in-depth, high impact reporting. The first edition focused on childcare issues in the state, and utilized the entire 18-member news team to create web, radio and TV stories. Maine Calling, the local talk show, broadcast two editions that opened and closed the series. The station developed a communications plan to inform the audience, politicians and other stakeholders. The capstone moment was a public event at Portland Public Library where reporters discussed their work and took questions from the public.
A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools is a free magazine-style guide from Voice of San Diego that is distributed to 50,000 families annually. It aids parents in making decisions about their children’s education by providing an overview of every public school’s performance in easy-to-read charts and answering common questions about local public school options.
“Promise of Paradise” is a sense of place interview series, launched in June 2018 at KZYX, with members of the “Back to the Earth” movement and their children about their lives and experiences of 20th century homesteaders who arrived in Mendocino County, California, as college-educated hippies were streaming away from the cities to rural areas to re-learn ancient homesteading skills and to reject the cultural norms of post-World War II America.
The PBS39 Kids Summer Series featured free educational activities for children including music, stories and crafts at PBS39’s studios during June and July 2019. TeleBear’s Summer Jam, part of the longstanding annual, regional Musikfest, was an extension of the series and featured free performances with nationally-acclaimed ‘Kindie’ musicians (independent artists who perform for children).
The Vegas PBS Special Needs Resource Library is a free-loan educational media library for Nevada citizens with special needs. Hearing- and visually-impaired residents can check out media with closed captions or descriptive voice-overs. Vegas PBS offers structured play groups for children with special needs ages two to four and their caregivers, conducted in an accessible children’s area within the library. The station provides educational games and activities that parents, teachers and other professionals find vital for teaching children with unique learning challenges.
Storytime in the Commons is Nine Network’s successful response to PBS’s national commitment to kindergarten readiness and the literacy needs expressed by the local community. The community educational experience has seen tremendous growth in diversity of attendees and funders. Activities at Storytime include reading stories (including one story in Spanish), photo ops with PBS KIDS® characters and the Delta Dental Tooth Fairy and Tooth Wizard, games that help children grow, like building blocks, visits from the St. Louis Fire Department, Republic Services recycling, and the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Healthy Kids Corner.
Launched in 2016, KIDS Clubhouse Adventures (KCA) is a multimedia learning experience that engages Iowa children ages three through nine and inspires them to go outside and play, use their imagination, read good books and eat healthy foods. KCA includes a series of locally-hosted 30-minute TV shows, a platform that allows viewers to tell their own stories, and a “Reading Road Trip,” a community outreach initiative that promotes summer reading and libraries year-round.
HomeWork Hotline is a live science and math program that helps students with homework questions, and showcases the projects that young scientists are working on. Teachers on HomeWork Hotline excel at explaining difficult math problems in real time to students, including those who may be too shy to ask questions in the classroom. The program also trains local college and high school students in television production.
Richland Source hosted a community baby shower as a way for the local community to engage with solutions journalism work about infant mortality. Approximately 20 community organizations and 500 attendees came together to learn about resources and educational materials available to help with having a safe and healthy pregnancy and raising a healthy and happy baby.
“Engineer It, Girl!” is a two-fold project where the main focus is encouraging interest in STEM learning for young girls ages 4-6 and introducing them to women who are in field and have successful careers. The project consists of hosting workshops focused on different types of engineering for girls to be hands on with age-appropriate engineering experiences. The other half of the project includes ValleyPBS filming at each workshop to create 3-5 minute interstitials about girls creating engineering projects.
Chronic childhood trauma, or what experts call adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), can disrupt a child’s brain-building process. “Building Strong Brains: Tennessee ACEs Initiative” is a statewide effort to establish Tennessee as a national model for how a state can promote culture change in early childhood based on a philosophy that preventing and mitigating adverse childhood experiences, and their impact, is the most promising approach to helping Tennessee children lead productive, healthy lives and ensure the future prosperity of the state.
The 413Families community-based texting program for families with young children offers information about educational tips and fun things to do – most of it FREE. With the goal of sending 2-3 texts per week, organizations submit messages that inform and engage families about local events, asking parents to submit photos or respond to giveaway opportunities.
KUED hosts a Reading Marathon Kickoff in conjunction with the Salt Lake Public Library during the STEM Festival. The kickoff party invites families to pick up a Reading Log, receive free books, meet favorite PBS Kids characters and participate in engaging Science, Technology, Engineering and Math activities. In an effort to reach a wide geographic population, KUED utilizes partnering organizations to distribute Reading Marathon information.
Nostalgia Nights is an experiential event series designed to engage first-stage adults (ages 25-45) with Twin Cities PBS. The events are fun social gatherings that leverage beloved PBS shows and personalities like Mister Rogers and Bob Ross to spark a sense of nostalgia among audiences who grew up with these formative icons. The live events are themed, include a cash bar, and have the potential to pull in new members and listeners.