WVIZ/PBS ideastream, the public television station based in Cleveland, Ohio, was awarded the Service to Children Award for Television. The award was presented to WVIZ/PBS ideastream by U.S. Senator Rob Portman at the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) 2015 Celebration of Service to America Awards. The event included celebrities such as Gary Sinise and Michael Bolton along with several United States Congress members. 
WVIZ/PBS ideastream was recognized for its exemplary work with combating Cleveland Public School District's second-worst dropout rate in the country. WVIZ/PBS ideastream addressed this problem by working together with community partners to provide a multimedia early literacy program for one of the lowest achieving neighborhoods in the area. This included working in classrooms and transforming a hospital clinic's waiting room into a learning lab to teach parents and children how to use PBS educational apps.
WVIZ/PBS ideastream invited over 100 at-risk eighth graders to a televised town hall meeting where college students talked about the importance of continuing their education. At the end of this meeting, the eighth graders had the chance to participate in a cap and gown ceremony.
For more information about WVIZ/PBS ideastream and the Service to Children Award for Television, click here.
You can watch a clip of WVIZ/PBS ideastream's work below:
For more information about the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation 2015 Celebration of Service to America Awards, click here.
You can watch a clip from the 2015 Celebration of Service to America Awards below: