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Regional Activists, Educators and Visionaries Dedicated to Making a Difference in the Community Recognized by KCET and PBS SoCal

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CONTACT 
Amanda Martin
amartin@kcet.org
747-201-5727

Local Heroes Honorees, Community Spotlight Award

And PBS Kids Early Learning Champion

To Be Feted at Inaugural Public Media Group of Southern California

Holiday Community Celebration Dinner

local heroes
Honorees Include (from l to r): Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Sir Chef Bruno Serato and Shelly Bautista

Burbank, Calif. – Dec. 4, 2018 – The Public Media Group of Southern California, formed by the merger of KCET and PBS SoCal, announced the individuals and organization named as honorees of their PBS KIDS Early Learning Champions and KCET Local Heroes initiatives as well as the PBS SoCal Community Spotlight Award. The awards recognize the accomplishments of those who are dedicated to making a difference in the community: recognizing activists, educators, community leaders and visionaries doing critical work that often goes unrecognized in the Southern California region. The 2018 honorees named are preschool teacher Shelly Bautista as the PBS KIDS Early Learning Champion, Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez and Sir Chef Bruno Serato as the 2018 KCET Local Heroes honorees as well as the Compton Unified School District as the PBS SoCal 2018 recipient of the Community Spotlight Award. The honorees will be recognized at a private Inaugural Holiday Celebration Dinner at the City Club Los Angeles on Dec. 5 which will bring together the Board of Directors, Community Advisory Boards and Community Councils of both KCET and PBS SoCal.

“Our core mission is to tell stories that matter. The stories of these community leaders working to change lives in their communities are essential and inspiring – and important ones for us to tell,” said Andrew Russell, President and CEO, Public Media Group of Southern California. “By celebrating and shining a light on the people who are making a difference in the lives of others, public media can build our community’s awareness and understanding of their vital work.” 

PBS SoCal’s educational work in the community is focused on inspiring people to fulfill their full potential as lifelong learners who are committed to culture and community. Necessary educational opportunities are often difficult to access, so PBS SoCal helps close the achievement gap through their local education and engagement initiatives - which change the way children learn and introduce them to a world of possibilities. For their first PBS SoCal Community Spotlight Award the station chose Compton Unified School District, a critical partner for over six years in this effort of helping PBS SoCal deliver their innovative models for educational media engagement that extends the reach of the early learning initiative to parents and educators through in-depth localized workshops, camps, events and resources.

The PBS KIDS Early Learning Champions is a new awards program which recognizes committed educators who work with young children, from infants to second-graders, and will offer a variety of community building, leadership and professional learning opportunities provided by PBS and member stations over the next two years. Shelly Bautista, Kindergarten teacher at Carson Street Elementary School in Los Angeles Unified School District, was named as a PBS KIDS Early Learning Champion. The program kicked off in November when the PBS KIDS Early Learning Champions participated in the National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference (Nov. 14-16) and attended the inaugural PBS KIDS Early Learning Champions Summit (Nov. 17). Bautista was selected due to her passion for helping her young students succeed and reach their full potential.  Bautista is not only a teacher but also an instructional leader and role model for other teachers and educators. Bautista approaches her job each day striving to be the best education leader she can be for her school community. She is also an innovator in her field by integrating media and technology, including the Ready To Learn and PBS KIDS on-air, digital, off-line resources. The full list of 2018 PBS KIDS Early Learning Champions, their profiles and photographs can be found at http://www.pbs.org/education/digitalinnovators/early-learning-champions-class-of-2018.

KCET’s community engagement efforts with its viewers and supporters would not be possible without the help of the KCET Community Advisory Board (CAB). This active group of volunteer leaders is the station’s eyes and ears of the community and plays an integral part of the planning and implementation of many KCET outreach programs including the Local Heroes initiative, which the station has actively supported for over 20 years. This year’s two honorees were chosen from a group of 15 outstanding individuals nominated by the CAB. Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez was chosen for the work she has done promoting social justice, most recently with her Million Dollar Hoods project which uses police data to monitor incarceration costs in L.A. and reports on trends in the local criminal justice system. A Professor of History and African American Studies at UCLA and award-winning author, Lytle Hernandez is considered one of the nation’s leading historians of race, policing, immigration and incarceration in the United States. Sir Chef Bruno Serato was selected for his humanitarian work feeding hungry children and families. The world class Chef, knighted by the Italian Government, is owner of the Anaheim White House Restaurant. Chef Bruno established “Caterina’s Club” in 2005, with an overarching vision that started to prevent children living in motels from going to bed hungry. The program has since expanded to 4,039 children receiving a meal every night at 80 sites throughout L.A., San Diego and Orange County as well as in 27 cities throughout Southern California. Short films on both Local Heroes Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez and Sir Chef Bruno Serato produced by KCET’s SOCAL CONNECTED will begin running as interstitials on KCET starting today and can be viewed online at kcet.org/localheroes. The full list of the 2018 KCET Local Heroes nominees, their profiles and photographs, can also be found at kcet.org/localheroes.

ABOUT PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA tells stories that matter. We create original programs that reflect the diversity of the region, and share the full schedule of PBS programs that viewers love and trust – delivering a public media service that educates, informs and empowers. Through three content channels – PBS SoCal, KCET and LINK TV – our library of programs is available for streaming on any internet-connected screen, seven Southern California broadcast channels, and one national satellite channel. A donor-supported community institution, PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA hosts hundreds of in-person cultural events, screenings and community conversations to spark the sharing of diverse ideas and perspectives, and delivers real social impact through an Early Learning service that prepares our most vulnerable children for school, as well as other special public service initiatives. Find us at pbssocal.org, kcet.org and linktv.org.

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