The Center will address the needs of the whole child by hyper-focusing on early childhood, Michigan Learning Channel resources, and mental health

Detroit—Sept. 19, 2022 – With the beginning of a new school year, Detroit PBS and the Michigan Learning Channel are poised to expand their offerings to children and their parents from birth through 12th grade, made possible by the support of generous donors like Donald and Mary Kosch, who have committed $1 million to Detroit PBS’s work in education and mental health. The Donald and Mary Kosch Center for Educational Media has been established to emphasize the importance of addressing the needs of the whole child. By focusing on the holistic needs of young children, families, and teachers will be empowered to improve learning and life outcomes.

“We are very excited about the holistic approach that Detroit PBS is taking,” said Mary Kosch. “Detroit PBS considers the child, parent(s), caregivers, and educators and collaborates with other community partners to understand and inform what’s happening from ages zero to eight–these are formative and significant years for learning. We are very excited about the holistic approach at Detroit PBS.”

Donald Kosch said, “I feel education is building the skills and learning that can serve us throughout our lives; we know our gift will provide a great value to the community and are delighted to establish the Center for Educational Media.”

Detroit PBS President and CEO Rich Homberg believes the Center for Educational Media will revolutionize how families receive support and information. “We are so deeply grateful for the transformational gift from Don and Mary,” Homberg said. “Partnering with them for the past eight years has allowed us to develop a sense of just how special they are. Their gift will allow Detroit PBS and the Michigan Learning Channel to impact families across the state from birth through the working years.”

The Donald and Mary Kosch Center for Educational Media will be focusing on Detroit PBS’s education work in three areas:

Early Childhood:

Every week, the Detroit PBS KIDS team is in Detroit neighborhoods, distributing educational resources to parents and caregivers. The team also leads ongoing parent workshops, using content from “Sesame Street in Communities,” Ready-to-Learn resources promoting literacy and early workforce skills, and Pre-School-U workshops on early childhood brain development.

Works in progress include support for parents of infants and toddlers, as well as an early elementary family engagement program to promote reading skills called “Read, Write, ROAR! at Home.”

The Michigan Learning Channel:

The Michigan Learning Channel is launching its second full school year with new episodes of “Math Mights” and “Read, Write, ROAR!” for K-3 students. These supplemental programs will help reinforce the math and reading lessons children are receiving in school. For older students, there are new episodes of “Story Pirates,” showcasing original stories written by real kids and providing fun creative writing lessons.

Also new to the channel this year is a suite of specialty programs, including the following:

• “Wimee’s Words,” new episodes for preschoolers
• “Signing Time,” a program that teaches American Sign Language
• “Make 48,” promoting STEM learning through the invention process
• “Make It Artsy,” dedicated to crafting and the maker space

Support for Mental Health
Recently, Detroit PBS and the Michigan Learning Channel delivered on a promise to address the well-being of students and teachers by hosting a professional development seminar called “The Relationship Initiative.” Developed in conjunction with Dr. Shalya R. Griffin and the Justice Leaders Collaborative, the MLC team developed a digital version of this important curriculum featuring engaging video content, discussion prompts, mindful moments videos, and project-based learning resources around social-emotional learning, diversity and inclusion, and mental health. These free resources are at MichiganLearning.org.

Later this fall, the Michigan Learning Channel will be unveiling a new set of resources from the producers of the MLC’s popular “POP Check” features, which encourage mindfulness and building resiliency for student mental health. The new resources will be targeted toward older elementary school students.

For more information on the Donald and Mary Kosch Center for Educational Media, contact Jenna Moritz, Director of Philanthropic Giving, Detroit Public Television at jmoritz@dptv.org.