Public Media Briefing on Children’s Media

For more than 50 years, PBS Kids has offered free, research-based programming that supports children’s learning and development, with particular emphasis on families and communities historically underserved by the market. But the decision to defund the federal Ready to Learn grants, alongside broader public media rescission cuts, has raised urgent questions about the future of PBS Kids and the infrastructure that sustains it.

At a time when children’s media is increasingly shaped by commercial incentives, platform design and fragmented attention—often without the same grounding in developmental research—this Media Impact Funders call will explore the role PBS Kids and its production partners have historically played in delivering trusted, educational content for young audiences and what it will take to sustain and evolve that role going forward.

Presented in partnership with Grantmakers for Education, the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative and Grantmakers for Thriving Youth, the conversation will bring together both education and media funders to consider how non-commercial children’s media fits within a broader public-interest media ecosystem. Leaders from PBS Kids, GBH and Fred Rogers Productions will share how nonprofit producers are balancing creative vision, educational mission and digital transformation in a rapidly changing media landscape.

The Grable Foundation, Arthur Vining Davis Foundation and Einhorn Collaborative will share how their organizations are approaching these questions.

Participants will gain deeper insights into the role of PBS Kids and non-commercial children’s media, as well as explore emerging funding strategies and opportunities for coordination at a moment when the future of this work is actively being shaped.