For more information, contact:
Lisa Goss, Communications Specialist, 216/916-6134
June 20, 2015 – (Cleveland, OH) – As part of the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) 2015 Celebration of Service to America Awards, WVIZ/PBS received the Service to Children Award in the television category.
The NABEF presented the awards to the 2015 winners at a reception, June 16, in Washington, DC. The national awards recognize outstanding community service by local broadcasters, including WVIZ/PBS ideastream. U.S. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, presented the award to WVIZ/PBS.
“These programs can be truly life changing, and we thank WVIZ for their hard work,” Senator Portman said.
WVIZ/PBS was singled out for helping to generate solutions in Cleveland. This includes broadcasting children’s educational programming every day, including 12 hours each weekday, and providing educational offerings to students, teachers and parents.
For example, WVIZ/PBS and its Education team continues its work in the Slavic Village neighborhood, one of the poorest and lowest-achieving areas in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Along with community partners, the station focuses a multiple media early literacy program there, working in classrooms and in the community, even transforming an area hospital clinic’s waiting room into a vibrant learning lab where volunteers teach parents to read to their children and use PBS educational apps.
And, Slavic Village 8th graders attended a WVIZ/PBS ideastream Education dropout-prevention conference, where recent high school graduates inspired the younger students to continue their education, and the event culminated in a cap-and-gown ceremony.
“We are especially proud to receive this recognition,” said Jerry Wareham, President and CEO of ideastream. “Public TV and radio stations work every day with commercial colleagues in markets across this great nation to strengthen communities with programs and services that are available free to all. It’s all about Service to America."
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ideastream’s mission is to strengthen our communities. ideastream pursues its mission as a multiple media public service organization by providing distinctive, thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain.