“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.
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.
Southern Remedy is Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s flagship health and wellness initiative. It includes a doctor call-in radio show every weekday, a health and wellness documentary TV/digital program, a Health Minute interstitial that airs during the weekly half-hour news round-up, health issues news and radio reporting, a healthy living guide, and materials to teach adults and children about good health habits.
The KUER Sound Booth brings radio production to the community and introduces and excites local people about listening to and recording their own audio. The mobile sound booth structure, complete with audio recording equipment, travels to various community and station events. Kids and adults are invited to record a personal story or news segment, which is then emailed to them and used in station promotional material and fund drives.
Many parents want to do things with their kids, not just for their kids — to explore shared interests like hiking or, in this case, live music. Saturday Morning Tunes is a series of live concerts, mini-festivals, and other events from WTMD which appeal to kids and parents alike. Held in and around Baltimore each month, they’re broadcast live on air and streamed on Facebook Live, and have brought together thousands of adults and children.
In July 2017 WCNY partnered with The Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County, and the Onondaga County Public Library to present the annual Summer Learning Day. The event focused on engaging the community to make summer a season of learning and had the theme “Dive into Summer with Splash & Bubbles,” a new PBS Kids show. Nearly 2000 people turned out for the event, 4X the 2016 attendance. Using PBS characters combined with many other activities was the key to success.
The ValleyPBS Family Circle program is a $10 membership that allows families to support their local PBS station and receive a newsletter, discounts on events, access to Family Circle events and other benefits. The program added over 200 member-families to the PBS network and has hosted over 48 events since 2013.
In 2015, WEDU received a bequest from long-time viewer Phyllis L. Ensign, used to fund the Phyllis L. Ensign Library Corners and the Reading Circle projects. Library Corners creates an area in local libraries where children and families can read, learn and have fun using their favorite PBS Kids characters. Reading Circles – an educational companion piece – has six sessions, each highlighting a different PBS Kids character/theme and featuring a book, music video, educational/arts and craft activity and virtual field trip.
WCTE launched a parental engagement program with a local company, Jackson Kayak, to reach at-risk families in the workplace. The parents who are employed by the company needed support and hands on training to improve their ability to parent their children to help them prepare for school and life. Twenty-five parents now attend monthly lunchtime sessions with each session centered around PBS KIDS programs, activities, and take-home projects to provide engagement moments with their kids.
Over an intensive two-days in November 2016 WGBH welcomed parents, early childhood educators, librarians, pediatricians, designers, and developers to brainstorm apps that parents could use with their children. Working teams focused on apps for family health and wellness. Outcome ideas, included Lil Chef that involves children in cooking and mealtime prep, and, Arthur Out Loud that allows children to practice speaking aloud by themselves or with others using ARTHUR characters as their avatars.
