PBS Hawaii Receives $5 Million Grant
September 15, 2011
When PBS Hawaii learned that it would lose its lease at the University of Hawaii at Manoa after 40 years of occupancy, the station launched a capital campaign to build a new facility. In August 2011, PBS Hawaii announced that it had received a $5 million grant from The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, pushing the campaign more than halfway toward its $30 million goal.
It was the station's work with young people that really piqued the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation's interest. In 2009, the Foundation committed $100,000 to help PBS Hawaii launch HIKI NO: The Nation's First Statewide Student News Network. HIKI NO -- the Hawaiian phrase for "Can Do" -- is now active in 61 schools statewide and is about to begin its second season on the air. HIKI NO received start-up money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which sees the program as a model for how public media can partner with schools across the country. The project also attracted support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through the Knight Community Information Challenge.
The grant for HIKI NO from the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation was their first to PBS Hawaii. "It was unprecedented for them," says Robert Pennybacker, Vice President, Creative Services at PBS Hawaii. "But their emphasis is education and HIKI NO spoke to their mission." PBS Hawaii's commitment to educate and engage young people through HIKI NO led directly to the Foundation's decision to invest in the station's future through its capital campaign.
PBS Hawaii envisions the new facility as a 21st century community gathering place and forum for civil discourse. "It's really just new language to describe an old concept," says Pennybacker. "It's all about local people interacting. And HIKI NO is a new version of community engagement."
PBS Hawaii produced this video, "A Tree Grows on Nimitz Highway," about The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation and its support of the station.
