MPB Parent Academy: Val's Story

Valeria Haley, 39, of Jackson is grateful she participated in Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s first Parent Academy workshop in April 2015. “That first class changed my entire life,” Haley said. “The classes were phenomenal. I can’t say it enough. All the questions I had on what to do next in life, they pretty much told me.”

Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) will implement Ready To Learn transmedia content into the Jackson neighborhood that feeds into Lanier High School, which has high poverty, unemployment, and dropout rates. MPB has chosen Dawson Elementary and neighboring apartment complexes as partners to engage children, families, and teachers with in-school, after-school, and at home educational support. In addition to this focus, MPB plans to hold community awareness events in conjunction with the National Summer Learning Day and with the One Jackson, Many Readers summer reading program to raise awareness of and participation in their Ready To Learn activities, which should directly engage over 300 children, their families, and educators.

In 2005, Mississippi Public Broadcasting received a Ready to Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS.  MPB joined public broadcasting markets in Baltimore, MD; Oakland, CA; San Antonio, TX; and Toledo, OH to be among the first five markets to received the $200,000 five-year grant.  MPB has helped create community partnerships across the state that are connecting with low-income families to enhance literacy skills, as well as increase awareness, especially among parents and educators, of the Ready to Learn initiative and scientifically-based reading research that supports it.  Click here to download MPB’s Ready to Learn Report , featuring activities from 2005-2010.