At Detroit Public TV, we are proud of the role we play in the education eco-system of our community. Each and every day, we reach tens of thousands of children and the people who love and care for them through teacher-tested, parent-trusted programming and engagement efforts.  

But of course, we couldn’t do this without similarly committed partners in the foundation and philanthropic communities.

For this reason, we are honored to announce that Detroit Public TV is one of nine local nonprofit organizations selected by The Kresge Foundation to receive funding in its ongoing efforts to provide children and families with arts and creative enrichment, behavioral and mental health services, parent education and engagement, and programs promoting healthy living and eating.

This round of funding from The Kresge Foundation totals $2.2 million and is part of its $25 million commitment to Hope Starts Here, a community initiative to improve early childhood outcomes in Detroit developed in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 

Detroit Public TV’s new grant will go toward expanding our enrichment programs, creative learning workshops and other efforts aimed at children, parents and early childhood education providers.

At DPTV, we may be best known for our unparalleled education programming, which we deliver on our airwaves, websites, social media and digital apps. But we are also very much on the ground, out in the community – wherever kids are – engaging with the people who care for them. We offer curriculum-based educational materials, workshops and special events all meant to help parents and educators prepare children to succeed in school and in life.

Here’s an example of how we are more than just a TV station: For the past year, our Education team has been deeply embedded in the Brightmoor neighborhood on Detroit’s west side. We have been conducting workshops on Pre-School U, our nationally acclaimed program that teaches parents and other caregivers a series of fun and educational activities designed to build healthy and productive skills for communicating with young children. It has been professionally evaluated and shown to bolster parent-child interactions and school readiness. 

In the past, we have offered a variety of sessions on Pre-School U activities and resources. But now we have embarked on an ambitious and innovative plan to greatly scale up our work. We call it “training the trainers,” by which we mean that we instruct educators in Brightmoor area schools on delivering the programs themselves to parents and caregivers.

In this way, we can reach far more parents and far more children.

We began this effort in Brightmoor with the generous support of the Lauren and Phillip Fisher Fund. But now with the help of Kresge and others we have an opportunity to refine our pre-school initiative and to expand it into other communities across the city and region.

You can read more about Kresge’s latest investment in early childhood education and the other worthwhile grant recipients here.

Thank you to Kresge, from all of us at DPTV and the communities we serve, as we all work together on building a brighter future for our children.

Rich Homberg

President and CEO

Detroit Public Television - 1 Clover Court, Wixom, MI 48393

248-640-4169 - rhomberg@dptv.org  - @RichHomberg