The Library’s community partner, WUCF, has been awarded  a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS to extend the reach and impact of PBS KIDS early learning resources to local communities.

Over the next two years, contingent on congressional funding, WUCF will collaborate with local partners to create a “Learning Neighborhood” that fosters a community-wide culture of learning at home, in the neighborhood, and within local systems and spaces.

The program is part of the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The 2020-2025 Ready To Learn Initiative is focused on connecting children’s media and learning environments to build key skills for success in school and life, including functional literacy, critical thinking, and collaboration, as well as showing them career options in age-appropriate ways.

“Having WUCF as our partner in early literacy has been amazing! Our partnership events, featuring their beloved characters, are among our best attended family programs,” said Lisa Jones, Youth Services Manager of Hart Memorial Central Library. “We are so excited to bring the innovative and enriching Ready to Learn content to our community and continue offering these engaging, fun and, most of all, educational programs provided by WUCF.”

Centered in understanding local assets and needs, WUCF will collaborate with Hart Memorial Central Library to develop and build a “Learning Neighborhood” that fosters a community-wide culture of learning at home, in the neighborhood, and within local systems and spaces.

WUCF is one of 19 stations in the third and final cohort developing “Learning Neighborhoods” in the 2020-2025 CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative, bringing the total number of station partners to 41. 

The Library is so excited to partner with WUCF to bring the Ready to Learn curriculum to our young patrons!

Read more about WUCF and the Ready to Learn Initiative here.