For Immediate Release
Monday, May 7, 2012
Contact: Greg Petrowich, Executive Director, WSIU Public Broadcasting, (618) 453-6181, greg.petrowich@wsiu.org; Amie Miller, Development Advisor, The Development Exchange, Inc. (DEI), (612) 203-8911, amie0422@comcast.net
WSIU Invited to Co-Produce National Seminar
Carbondale, Ill. – WSIU Public Broadcasting, the public media arm of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, was recently invited by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to co-produce “Strategies for Grantseeking Success: Planning for Impact", a professional development webinar convened nationally on May 3.
The webinar is an activity of The Grant Center, an APTS- and CPB-funded entity designed to help public media organizations and their community partners to identify federal and foundation funding to support their community service missions. The WSIU stations were invited to participate based on their long history of success in securing grant funding for locally-relevant production and outreach initiatives and for their ability to show measurable results in communities served.
During the May 3 webinar, station outreach coordinator Beth Spezia presented a case study about WSIU's best practices in project evaluation, which included stories of impact across media platforms and a discussion of the role of journalists in sharing those stories with communities served. Spezia also shared examples of the WSIU's successful collaborations with producers, researchers, faculty, and students on delivering positive outcomes and outlined how public media stations can incorporate local and state priorities in their community engagement activities. Each presenter provided strategies for developing partnerships and evaluation programs that will attract funders in the public and private sectors.
WSIU has been recognized as an education leader by Congress and the White House for its creativity in implementing PBS Ready to Learn, PBS Raising Readers, and other school-readiness programs. WSIU also earned praise from Christopher Koch, Illinois Superintendent of Education, and Rob Lipincott, Senior Vice President for PBS Education, for its successful collaboration with public media stations statewide to create and launch Illinois PBS LearningMedia (illinois.pbslearningmedia.org). The new online educational resource provides K-12 teachers in Illinois with over 22,000 digital media assets aligned with state and federal learning goals.
About WSIU
WSIU Public Broadcasting is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University and is an integral part of the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts on the Carbondale campus. The WSIU stations reach more than three million people across five states and beyond through three digital public television channels, three public radio stations, a radio information service, a website, and an education and community outreach department.
WSIU's mission is to improve the quality of life of the people they serve. The WSIU stations partner with other community organizations to promote positive change and to support the academic and public service missions of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Learn more and get the latest station news online at wsiu.org and on WSIU's Facebook and Twitter pages.
WSIU's programs and services are partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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