CPB Announces First Round of Local Service Initiative Grants

For Immediate Release on October 4, 2007

Washington, D.C. -- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced the first round of recipients of CPB's Local Service Initiative Matching Grant Program.

The Local Service Initiative is designed to provide seed money for the development of new or significantly enhanced public service initiatives aligned with a station's strategic plan.

Funding for this initiative will support projects that strengthen the stations' role and relevance in their communities over the long term and also increase the public's awareness of the station's local service.

"These grants underscore CPB's continuing commitment to strengthening the ties local public television stations have to their communities," said Pat Harrison, CPB President and CEO. "We believe these projects will be models for other communities to emulate and adopt."

Local Service Initiative Grant Recipients:

Vegas PBS: Keeping Kids Fit ($200,000)

Keeping Kids Fit is a new, three-year project designed to reduce the rate of childhood obesity in Southern Nevada, by using the full educational and technological resources of Vegas PBS to reach children and families. The program will primarily target low-income, African-American and Hispanic/Latino children between the ages of 2-12.

Alabama Public Television, Arkansas Educational Television Network, the Kentucky Network and Maryland Public Television: STEM Collaborative ($800,000)

The grant will go to four stations which will create digital education content for use in middle-school classrooms. The stations will also create a library of searchable, "bite-sized" audio and video content focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM Collaborative). The STEM Collaborative will create an online distribution tool so stations can share these digital educational resources with other schools, teachers and families.

WGBY: Latino Youth Media Project ($106,800)

WGBY will work with Latino communities by teaching 10 high school Latino students essential television, radio and online journalism skills needed in today's media environment. The participants will build their media experience and skills through hands-on training by media professionals and a summer internship with a media organization. Some of these projects will air on public television and be available online.

Nashville Public Television: Next Door Neighbors ($200,000)

Nashville Public Television will work with emerging foreign-born populations to create documentaries, hold educational outreach workshops and community forums and create websites to introduce the community to the diversity, talent, entrepreneurship, motivation and work ethic that these new immigrants have brought to the community. These documentaries will run on public TV, on websites and be available to public schools in the Nashville area.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,300 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

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