September 2005 - 'A Place of Our Own'/'Los Niños en Su Casa' Premieres
In September 2005, the landmark KCET-produced educational series oriented towards childcare providers, "A Place Of Our Own," premiered, along with its Spanish-language counterpart, "Los Niños en Su Casa."
KCET had intended to make a major contribution in educational programming, and created an educational brand, called "KCEd" as a service mark in educational programming. KCET board member and Cal State University Los Angeles President Jim Rosser noted that graduation rates among Californians, particularly among people of color, were noticeably low.
Child development research has pointed to findings indicating that children's health and educational well-being depends highly on their first five years of life. Statistics have shown that 33 percent of kindergarteners nationwide are unprepared for school. The best way to improve grad rates, according to many education experts, was to start students off in the right way during their preschool years.
In November 1998, California voters approved Proposition 10, which implemented a statewide tax on tobacco products that funded early childhood education programs, an initiative advocated by actor and activist Rob Reiner. Revenues from the tobacco tax were divided among the statewide organization First5 California and the 58 respective First5 agencies in each county, distributed according to each county's percentage of 5-and-under population.
Previously, childcare and preschool caregiving was not seen as a profession. But there was a tremendous need to train preschool caregivers at a time when many family situations had single parents or both parents busy working.
In response, KCET developed the series, "A Place Of Our Own," where preschool caregivers can learn best practices and the information they need to improve the lives of the children they care for.
The series garnered an unprecedented $50 million in funding: $25 million from BP, $14 million from First 5 California, and the remainder from First 5 Los Angeles and smaller funders. The series was produced in conjunction with 44 Blue Productions, Inc, and Sesame Workshop, which provided research support.
It was much more than a television series -- it became an educational endeavor. The show's production staff consulted experts from the academic, educational and health care fields relating to children ages five and under. Ann Barbour, professor at Cal State L.A.'s School of Education, helped create a circle of advisors in the childcare field and an academic curriculum on preschool caregiving, which was integrated into each episode.
The series was initially designed to air locally, but was modified for a statewide audience. A Spanish-language version, "Los Niños en Su Casa" was also produced, and used the same curriculum as its English-language counterpart. Individual websites were created for both shows.
"A Place Of Our Own" was hosted in its first two seasons by Debi Gutierrez, and in later seasons by Elizabeth Sanchez. Alina Rosario hosted "Los Niños" for its entire run.
After the show's fourth season, a $3.8 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting enabled the show to be distributed nationwide on PBS.
The combined series also won a Peabody Award in 2005, and shows' online sites also garnered the 2006 Japan Prize (awarding educational media) for Best Web Prize.
"A Place of Our Own"/"Los Niños en Su Casa" ran for seven seasons with 650 individual half-hour episodes between them. Incidentally, the $50 million raised for the program ignited tensions between KCET and PBS, which eventually led to the station ending its 40-year affiliation with the network.