WKSU is committed to serving the community's information needs.
Several foundations joined together last fall to invite local media to pursue collaborative projects that could meet the basic information needs of often underserved communities.
In their call for ideas, the foundations (
Cleveland Foundation,
Akron Community Foundation,
Knight Foundation and
The Center for Community Solutions) expressed an interest in "projects that provide actionable information that people need and can use."
WKSU was awarded a grant to work with
The Plain Dealer and
Spectrum News1 Ohio to produce content around the topic of infant mortality. Infant mortality rates in Cleveland and Akron have been unusually high and both communities have initiated efforts to address this. The media organizations are working with
First Year Cleveland,
Birthing Beautiful Communities and
Project Ujima, a partner organization in
Akron's Full Term First Birthday strategic plan. Our goal is to identify the information needs and create effective media on the best platform to reach communities who can most use this information.