CPB Awards $3.7 Million in Job Training Funds

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal funding to noncommercial media, has awarded $3.7 million in funds to 19 public media stations to advance educational and career readiness.

The money is going to the American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative, in which stations work with community partners to assess workforce needs and tailor content to help provide essential skills.

The initiative was launched in 2011 to combat the drop-out rate--the current graduation rate is at an all-time high of 84%.

Nine Network of Public Media, St. Louis, will coordinate the efforts of the stations to develop content and national best practices.

Stations getting the money are:

Alabama Public Television (Birmingham, Alabama), $199,929
Alaska Public Media (Anchorage, Alaska), $199,500
Cincinnati Educational Television (Cincinnati, Ohio), $170,000
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (Hartford, Connecticut), $199,394
Idaho Public Television (Boise, Idaho), $198,465
KCPT (Kansas City, Missouri), $199,998
Kentucky Educational Television (Lexington, Kentucky), $200,000
KLRU (Austin, Texas), $191,790
KUEN (Salt Lake City, Utah), $200,000
Mississippi Public Broadcasting (Jackson, Mississippi), $200,000
Nine Network of Public Media (St. Louis, Missouri), $200,000
PBS Charlotte (Charlotte, North Carolina), $200,000
Vegas PBS (Las Vegas, Nevada), $188,705
West Virginia Public Broadcasting (Charleston, West Virginia), $179,022
WFSU (Tallahassee, Florida), $177,062
WHRO (Norfolk, Virginia), $200,000
WOSU (Columbus, Ohio), $170,000
WVIZ/PBSideastream (Cleveland, Ohio), $260,160
WXXI (Rochester, New York), $200,000

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.