[dropcap]A[/dropcap]NCHORAGE, ALASKA – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS recently announced that public media station Alaska Public Media (AKPM) has been awarded $175,000 to work with community partners to provide science and literacy resources for the youngest learners to underserved areas.

Alaska Public Media is one of 14 public media stations nationwide to receive a Community Collaboratives for Early Learning and Media (CC-ELM) grant this year, joining 16 other public media stations doing similar work through a community engagement model to help the youngest learners in their communities. This effort is part of a five-year Ready To learn grant awarded to CPB and PBS through the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Learn Initiative to advance new tools supporting personalized and adaptive content for children and parents, establish a network of community collaboratives, and conduct efficacy research on the educational resources provided.

“Since arriving at Alaska Public Media in the spring of 2016, our team has committed to building strong collaborative relationships with early childhood education partners in Anchorage,” said Ed Ulman, CEO/General Manager of AKPM. “We look forward to working with leading partners including Best Beginnings, Anchorage Libraries, Boys and Girls Clubs, Cook Inlet Housing Authority, and the Anchorage Museum to engage our youngest learners with high-quality PBS KIDS educational content.”

The grant will enable AKPM to work closely with various community partners to maximize the impact of new PBS KIDS science and literacy-based programming, mobile apps and digital games from trusted series “Ready Jet Go!” and “Odd Squad” along with other media properties. Work will include Family and Community Learning workshops, which will demonstrate how parents and caregivers can use PBS Kids to extend the educational experiences beyond school. The workshops are designed to build children’s science inquiry and informational text literacy skills, as well as boost the confidence of parents and/or caregivers in supporting and being a part of a child’s learning experience.

‘“Public media’s high-quality children’s content has proven effective in helping our youngest learners make academic gains and experience social-emotional growth to get on the right track for school,” said Deb Sanchez, CPB’s Senior Vice President of Education and Children’s Content. “Through these grants supporting community collaborations, public media can provide engaging learning opportunities – for free, anytime and anywhere – for all children and families, especially those living in low-income communities.”

“Together with community partners, PBS stations play an integral role in helping our nation’s most underserved kids,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, Children’s Media & Education, PBS. “We fully support the work of 14 additional stations sharing impactful resources with their local communities through these new grants. Their work builds on years of research demonstrating that PBS KIDS content is effective in helping children learn critical school readiness skills, with kids in low-income households often making the greatest gains.”

For the past two decades, the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Learn Television grant has funded the development of educational television and digital media targeted at preschool and early elementary school children and their families, especially those who live in low-income communities. CPB and PBS KIDS work with producers, researchers, local public media stations, and other partners to develop, distribute and evaluate PBS KIDS multiplatform content to engage children, families, and educators in learning experiences at home, in preschool, and in out-of-school settings. Information on other stations receiving Community Collaboratives for Early Learning and Media (CC-ELM) grants can be found in the 2015-2020 grant announcement and 2016 press release.

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