WASHINGTON – May 13, 2021 – America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) today commended Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) for re-introducing the Partnerships for American Jobs Act. This bipartisan legislation would create a grant program at the U. S. Department of Education to support local public media stations preparing young people for the 21st century American workforce.
“America’s Public Television Stations are most grateful to Congressman Krishnamoorthi and Congressman Meuser for re-introducing the Partnerships for American Jobs Act, ” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “The Partnerships for American Jobs Act will effectively address the skills gap by matching the versatile educational and training resources of public media with emerging job opportunities in a rapidly changing economy.
“In Nevada, Vegas PBS operates a robust online workforce education resource which includes 450 online, instructor-led certification courses. More than 126,000 people have completed one of the courses. An independent economic impact evaluator, Applied Analytics, estimated that the station’s local annual wage impact was over $3.6 billion — disproportionately centered in low-income ZIP codes where educational access was a barrier to success. Vegas PBS is the single largest career instructor in the state of Nevada.
“We believe the Partnerships for Americans Jobs Act can bring successes like this to the whole country, enhancing the lifelong learning mission to which local public television stations across America have been committed for more than fifty years. By creating and distributing innovative educational broadcast and digital content and services, local public media stations already help hundreds of thousands of students and adult learners with GED preparation, adult literacy, workforce training and job certification courses.
“Public television stations across the country have dramatically demonstrated their essential role in education during the coronavirus pandemic over the last year. As our nation begins to safely reopen, public television stations look forward to playing a vital role in ensuring that America’s workers are prepared for the jobs of the new economy.
“The grants established by the Partnerships for American Jobs Act would provide critical support for these activities at local public media stations throughout the country, helping ensure that every community can connect students and workers to the education and training pathways for the high-skilled technical careers that their local economy needs.
“We are honored that Congressman Krishnamoorthi and Congressman Meuser’s legislation recognizes the important and powerful role local public television stations can play in providing workforce training and helping bring their local community together to address the skills gap.”
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About APTS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system and helping member stations provide essential public services in education, public safety and civic leadership to the American people. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
Contact:
Stacey Karp
202-654-4222
skarp@apts.org