Public media advances civic education and strengthens our nation’s democratic foundation through trusted news and information, high-quality programming and educational resources, and community engagement. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has a long history of supporting civic education to teach children and lifelong learners about American citizenship, our democracy, and the fundamentals of our government.
Engagement
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Civic Spark: As we look forward to 2026 and the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, CPB is funding a short-form, digital content and engagement initiative asking Americans from all walks of life the question: “What’s your Civic Spark?” Americans will share the defining moment or experience that awakened the realization that they could make a difference through public service and community engagement. CPB has issued a Request for Proposals for a lead station to design and implement the initiative, including working with a partner to research and develop a strategic plan and selecting a pilot cohort of public radio and television stations to produce short-form, multimedia content that reflects the research and plan.
- One Small Step: StoryCorps’ One Small Step initiative, launched six years ago with CPB support, pairs strangers from opposite sides of the political spectrum for civil conversations under the premise that it is hard to hate up close. StoryCorps has spent years testing the premise that we can build political civility by connecting people of differing political viewpoints to share common ground.
Educational Resources:
- U.S. History Collection: GBH has created an award-winning, comprehensive compilation of 400 media-rich digital learning resources for teaching U.S. history to students in grades 6-12 in PBS LearningMedia, a free library of more than 30,000 resources designed to supplement classroom instruction, aligned to state and national curriculum standards.
- GBH will launch its Civics Collection on PBS LearningMedia in August 2024. The Collection will help teach middle and high school students about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, the founding principles of our constitution, and explore issues of government policy and decision-making with a robust set of interactive educational resources.
Programming
- Civics 101 podcast: Civics 101, from New Hampshire Public Radio, is a podcast about how our democracy works. It explores topical issues related to civics, such as what is the difference between the House and the Senate? How do landmark Supreme Court decisions affect our lives?
- A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy: This one-hour PBS program, hosted by Hari Sreenivasan and based on a book by Richard Haass, explores the habits of good citizens. It is streaming on demand for free through 2026.
- Latino Vote 2024: Through a one-hour documentary and six short digital videos, producer Bernardo Ruiz is delving into the 2024 presidential election, examining the priorities of Latino voters in key battleground states.
- City Island: City Island is an animated, short-form PBS KIDS video series set in a living city where objects—mailboxes, lamp posts, cars, and more—are characters who show how people in a community work together to make decisions and solve problems. The series, on PBSKIDS.org and on broadcast, looks at citizenship, civic participation, geography, culture, and family in age-appropriate ways.
- Rosie’s Rules: Rosie’s Rules provides children from ages 3 to 6 with social studies lessons about how a community works, helping them develop awareness of themselves as individuals and as part of a broader society.
- Together We Can is a music series from Sesame Workshop for children ages 4 to 8 consisting of 20 live-action music videos that cover civics topics such as the importance of rules and rights, voting, symbols of democracy and our Constitution. One of the videos is called “50 States in Our Country,” which teaches the foundations of government in a modern doo-wop style. The series premieres July 3, 2024.
News and Information
- America Amplified Election 2024: WFYI in Indianapolis leads this initiative, aimed at helping public media stations across the country ensure that their audiences and communities get the information they need to participate in local, state, and federal elections. More than 50 stations, reaching audiences in all 50 states, are using America Amplified tools and strategies to respond to public questions and inform voters about the 2024 voting process.
- PBS News/NPR/Washington Week With the Atlantic Election Coverage: PBS News Hour and NPR offer comprehensive and balanced coverage of the American political process, including the 2024 Republican and Democratic Presidential primaries, conventions, and general election, and Congressional and gubernatorial races across the country, with reporting and analysis from Washington and in the field. Washington Week With The Atlantic provides insightful primetime news and analysis each week.
- Judy Woodruff Presents: America at a Crossroads: PBS News Senior Correspondent Judy Woodruff explores the forces driving Americans apart and asks people from across the country and all political persuasions what might be done to reverse these trends. This series airs as part of the CPB-supported PBS News Hour and as stand-alone specials.