FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calle Andrus, Communications Specialist
216.916.6434 | calle.andrus@ideastream.org
Ohio Public Television Documentary About Education and Training for an Evolving Workforce to Premiere Sept. 5, 2019 at 8 p.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 14, 2019) — How will Ohio face its looming skills gap? Travel across the state to explore new ways of preparing young people for skilled jobs with “ The Career Path Less Taken,” a brand-new Ohio public television special. Co-produced by a statewide public media collaborative of CET in Cincinnati, ideastream in Cleveland and WOSU Public Media in Columbus, the half-hour documentary is set to air Thursday, Sept. 5 at 8 p.m. on Ohio public television channels. “The Career Path Less Taken” is part of the “American Graduate: Getting to Work” nationwide public media initiative, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
A companion digital toolkit will be available online from CET, ideastream and WOSU Public Media to help schools and community organizations facilitate local screenings of the documentary. The screening toolkit includes a discussion guide, specifically designed to inspire conversations about career options and planning among families and communities. The documentary also will be available on each station's YouTube and Facebook pages as well as on the PBS Video App at the time of the broadcast premiere. Viewers are encouraged to follow the conversation on social media using #AmGrad and #CareerPathOH.
“Through American Graduate, public television and radio stations in communities across the country cover timely education issues that matter on both local and national levels. ‘The Career Path Less Taken’ taps all three of these stations’ unique partnerships and strengths in service to the statewide community,” said Debra Sanchez, CPB Senior Vice President of Education and Children’s Content. “We hope all young people across Ohio are inspired to explore the many options available to them because of this special.”
In 2018, as part of the “American Graduate” initiative, the statewide public media collaborative of CET, ideastream and WOSU Public Media co-produced “Talking Jobs with Ohio’s Next Governor,” a unique forum with then Ohio gubernatorial candidates Richard Cordray and Mike DeWine that addressed education and jobs with young students and workers across Ohio. This year, the collaborative continues its “American Graduate” efforts with the documentary “The Career Path Less Taken.”
“The Career Path Less Taken” challenges traditional notions of success by putting the spotlight on innovative career-tech programs. The documentary dispels common myths about career and technical education, and informs students and parents about the variety of career-development options available, across Ohio, during and after high school.
Labor shortages in high-growth fields such as computer technology, healthcare services and advanced manufacturing threaten economic growth at both the state and federal level. Ohio is invested in growing a skilled labor force and increasing emphasis on multiple options for education and training. “The Career Path Less Taken,” demonstrates that there are many pathways to skilled jobs that do not require a four-year college degree. The pathways provided by career technical education are proving invaluable to both students and employers, and are helping to close the skills gap.
“It used to be that students had to choose between a college pathway or a vocational track,” said David Fogarty, CET President and CEO. “This documentary shows us programs that bring together challenging academics and workplace learning, so students are prepared for the highly-skilled jobs of tomorrow.”
“This significant documentary from our Ohio public media collaborative has the power to change a lot of lives,” said Kevin Martin, ideastream President & CEO. “For young adults who feel uncertain about what lies ahead, ‘The Career Path Less Taken’ will provide them with ideas and options towards discovering a sustainable, fulfilling career.”
“This important documentary continues the statewide focus by Ohio public television stations on building a stronger Ohio,” said Tom Rieland, General Manager of WOSU Public Media. “By producing public forums, podcasts, radio programming and a digital video series, we are targeting young people to show there is not just one path to a satisfying, well-paid career.”
“This documentary is a fantastic opportunity for Ohio students and their families to gain a better understanding of career-technical education and its many benefits,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria said. “Hands-on learning is more engaging and exciting for students and can lead to amazing career opportunities. We also know that career-tech students are ready for college and are very successful when they get there. I’m grateful to Ohio's public media stations for telling this story and for bringing attention to this form of education in our state.”
About CET
CET, the first licensed educational television station in the nation, provides multichannel broadcast and cable services, including CET Arts, the first local 24-hour arts and cultural programming channel in the country. For more information about CET, CET Arts or CET Create, visit www.CETconnect.org.
CET is a service of Public Media Connect (PMC), a regional public media partnership with Think TV, Dayton, serving the more than 3 million people in the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton communities. PMC serves viewers and learners in the following counties: Adams, Brown , Butler, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Darke, Fayette, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Warren in Ohio; Dearborn, Decatur, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley, Rush, Switzerland, Union and Wayne in Indiana; Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Mason, Owen, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott and Trimble in Kentucky.
About ideastream
ideastream serves the people of Northeast Ohio as a trusted and dynamic multimedia source for illuminating the world around us. Publicly supported and locally owned, ideastream is indispensable and highly valued for its unique ability to strengthen our community. ideastream is the consolidation of WVIZ/PBS, with five channels of public television service (WVIZ/PBS-HD, WVIZ/PBS OHIO, WVIZ/PBS WORLD, WVIZ/PBS CREATE and WVIZ/PBS KIDS); 90.3 WCPN, Northeast Ohio’s NPR news and public affairs radio station; WCLV 104.9, Northeast Ohio’s classical music radio station; ideastream Education, with educational resources, services and the award-winning children’s series NewsDepth; and management of The Ohio Channel and the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau on behalf of all Ohio’s public broadcasting stations. For more information about ideastream’s rich legacy of innovation and credible content, visit ideastream.org.
About WOSU Public Media
A licensee of The Ohio State University, WOSU Public Media is a non-profit, community supported, noncommercial multimedia organization serving 31 counties in Ohio. An NPR and PBS affiliate, WOSU offers programming and services through two public radio stations (89.7 NPR News and Classical 101), a public TV station made up of four channels (WOSU TV, WOSU Plus, WOSU Ohio and WOSU Kids), a mobile app, and two websites (wosu.org and columbusneighborhoods.org). From initiatives like Ready To Learn ®, which provides workshops to childcare providers, teachers and parents, to American Graduate, which looks at workforce issues in Ohio, to offering venues for civil discourse, the mission of WOSU Public Media is to enrich lives through content and experiences that engage, inform, and inspire.
About American Graduate
Since 2011, the public media initiative American Graduate, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), has grown into one of the largest public media collaborations across the country with over 125 local public media organizations, and national television and radio producers and distributors, working with more than 1,700 community partners. National and local reporting, public forums and town halls, and education resources drove awareness and discussions among leaders, educators, students and concerned citizens, and inspired adults to become an American Graduate Champion for the nation’s youth. Stations played an important role helping communities address the challenges and highlight local solutions to the dropout crisis, and the national graduation rate is now at an unprecedented 84.1 percent.
In 2018, together with 19 stations, CPB launched the initiative’s next phase, American Graduate: Getting to Work, to partner with schools and businesses, and help prepare students with the skill sets and training needed to be part of the new workforce, especially for high-demand fields. Join the conversation at facebook/americangraduate, and find out more through your local public media station or cpb.org/americangraduate.
About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit www.cpb.org and follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, and subscribe for other updates.
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