Nine PBS wins $11m in federal funding via new Ready to Learn programme

US pubcaster PBS’s member station Nine PBS, based in St Louis, Missouri, has won a nationwide competition to receive over US$11m in the first year of a five-year cycle through a new Ready to Learn funding programme.

Amy Shaw

The Ready to Learn programme is administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of the US Department of Education.

It replaces the previous Ready to Learn programme, which had come via the Department of Education but was terminated last year when the Trump administration defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The rebooted grant will fund the creation of the Everyday Literacy Alliance, a national initiative designed to strengthen literacy outcomes for children aged two to eight.

In a press release issued earlier this year, the Department of Education claimed the former Ready to Learn programme, under the previous administration, “prioritised grantees who focused on promoting race- and identity-based programmes rather than promoting early childhood development, school readiness and community and family engagement strategies that improve student outcomes.”

It said the new grant, under the Trump administration, would “utilise Secretary [of Education Linda] McMahon’s Supplemental Priorities to support grantees who will focus on evidence-based literacy and meaningful learning opportunities for students, including career-connected learning and support for families to provide at-home learning.”

Nine PBS and its partners will use the new grant to pilot, assess and refine programmes and resources in St Louis before expanding them nationwide. The initiative will focus on children in underserved, low-income, and rural and urban communities.

It will include supporting the national expansion and creation of multimedia resources for Nine PBS’s series Teaching in Room 9, which helps young learners get ready for school.

The Everyday Literacy Alliance will also create and nationally distribute Fredosaurus Rex, a new multiplatform show from Fred Rogers Productions that uses storytelling and music to help preschoolers build foundational reading skills.

In addition, the Everyday Literacy Alliance will launch Read it, See it (RiSi), a free interactive shared-reading platform from E-Line Media designed to promote joyful family literacy experiences while strengthening children’s conversation, comprehension and storytelling skills.

Nine PBS’s other partners include Ad Astra Media, the Education Development Center, the Brown School Evaluation Center at Washington University in St Louis, local public media stations and community organisations across the country.

Amy Shaw, president and CEO of Nine PBS, said: “Our kids deserve every chance to succeed, and St Louis is the perfect place to build, test and strengthen an initiative that will help families across America. Together with this extraordinary coalition of partners, we embrace this responsibility and are committed to creating lasting impact for generations to come.”