Teach Your Children Well

Sitka, AK, 2000

Teach Your Children Well is a 24-part radio series on the health of young children. Now in its third season of production, Teach Your Children Well still closely follows the programming and outreach model developed in the Sound Partners Round One grant cycle. Each program is 7 minutes long, and is broadcast weekly, July–December, over the CoastAlaska Network, a coalition of six community broadcast stations in southeast Alaska. While the program hosts are all qualified professionals in medicine, family therapy or child care, they are also parents who speak to the audience primarily as peers—regular people who have made their share of mistakes with their own kids and who are willing to share the lessons they have learned. Basic information and a genuine empathy for people involved in the daily challenge of child-rearing are the two main ingredients in the show's success.

Content and outreach for the series are developed by the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), the Infant Learning Program, the State of Alaska Public Health Nurses and Islands Counseling Services. The regional health aides and family service workers who work for these agencies provide most of the programming topics. They, along with numerous clinics, Head Start offices and child care centers, also receive weekly outreach materials—a faxed packet that serves as reference material or can be distributed to the public.

This season, a “face” was added to the series by means of a portable display that consolidates the services and information distributed by the partners at children's fairs and health fairs throughout the region.

Contact Information

KCAW-FM
Robert Woolsey, Producer
Tel: 907-747-5353

SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium
Lisa Sadleir-Hart, Director, Health Promotions
Tel: 907-966-8736

Awards:

KCAW Round One Additional Funding
Teach Your Children Well received a combined total of $32,000 of additional funding from the Grossett Foundation, Infant Learning, and Island Counseling Service.

KCAW Round Two Additional Funding Teach Your Children Well received $60,000 from the Reuben E. Crossett Endowed Alaskan Fund, $12,000 from Islands Counseling and the Center for Community, and $26,000 from Alaska Children's Fund, for a total package of $98,000 for project expansion.