Educators in Perry, Floyd and Jefferson counties recently were awarded “mini-grants” from KET to help pay for a series of day camps and family learning workshops in those regions later this year.

The grants, each amounting to several thousand dollars, will help offset costs for staffing, food and learning materials associated with the camps and workshops.

The workshops bring together educators, children and parents for a few hours to learn about interactive science and literacy experiences—and how those foundational skills can continue to be developed by families at home through their everyday interactions.

• Perry County’s grant, awarded to the Eastern Kentucky Child Care Coalition and New Beginnings Child Care, will pay to host “Play and Learn Science” workshops in which children and parents are introduced to fun science concepts. The workshops are scheduled for every Tuesday from April 9 through April 30.
• Jefferson County’s grant, awarded to the JCPS Family Resource Center, will pay to host “PBS Scratch Jr.” workshops, which introduce parents and children to the joys of coding.
• Floyd County’s grant was awarded to the county’s Literacy and Learn Program, which offers children ages 1 to 13 a chance to continue their learning during the summer through a series of educational games and activities. The grant will pay to host “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!” workshops, which encourage children to explore design, engineering and creative arts. The workshops, which will coincide with the county’s Summer Feeding Program, are scheduled for every Thursday from June 6 to June 27.
• Floyd County additionally was awarded a second mini-grant to host a week-long summer day camp, called “The Odd Squad: Be The Agent,” in which participants are called upon to solve mysteries that challenge their math, science and engineering skills. The grant was awarded to the Maytown Family Resource Center. The camp is scheduled for July 8 through July 12.

Floyd and Perry counties are the first recipients of KET’s new mini-grants, which are made available through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Ready To Learn initiative. The Ready to Learn initiative strives to promote early learning and school readiness, with an emphasis on supporting children from low-income and underserved communities.

The mini-grants—aside from helping the counties pay to host the workshops and day camps—also provide for educators in Floyd, Perry and Jefferson counties to receive training from KET’s educational consultants so that the counties are equipped to host the events themselves, staffed by their own personnel.

“KET is looking forward to seeing how our community partners take the resources that have been created from the RTL grant and make them work in their own communities,” said Amanda Wright, director of KET’s early childhood education. “We believe these resources will add value to the work our partners are already doing in helping children get ready for kindergarten and later school success.”

KET is Kentucky’s largest classroom, where learning comes to life for more than one million people each week via television, online and mobile. Learn more about Kentucky’s preeminent public media organization at KET.org, on Twitter @KET and at facebook.com/KET.

Contact:

Todd Piccirilli
Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
859-258-7242
tpiccirilli@ket.org