SESAME STREET HELPS FAMILIES COMMUNICATE DURING TOUGH TIMES WITH NEW PRIMETIME SPECIAL BROUGHT TO YOU BY CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times  

Al Roker, Deborah Roberts and Elmo Host Original Special Featuring Jean
Chatzky.

Tune into PBS September 21, 9pm ET (check local listings)

Washington, D.C., September 2, 2009
In today’s economic climate, approximately two out of three middle class families are at high risk of sustaining or losing their economic security[1]. Moreover, increases in job loss and income cuts have made families struggle with basic costs like housing, medical care, transportation, food, clothing, and child care.  Too often, parents are being forced to make difficult decisions that affect their children’s well-being. In response to these recent changes in family economics, Sesame Street has produced, in association with David Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Lookalike Productions, a new PBS primetime special, Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times. This hour-long HD special, hosted by Al Roker, Deborah Roberts and Elmo, aims to help families with children, ages two to eight, experiencing difficult economic circumstances by offering strategies and tips that can lead to positive outcomes for their children’s physical and emotional well-being during this tough economic climate. A sneak peak was shown today at WHUT in Washington D.C. presented by Gary E. Knell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sesame Workshop, Patricia Harrison, President and Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Beth Courtney, Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Jennifer Lawson, General Manager, Howard University Television, WHUT, Jean Chatzky, Personal finance expert, and Sesame Street’s Elmo.

The special will air on PBS on September 21, 2009 at 9PM ET (check local listings). This initiative is made possible by the generous support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). 

Photo by Gil Vaknin

Featuring Sesame Street’s Grover, Chris, Elmo’s family and financial expert Jean Chatzky and parenting and relationship expert Dr. Joshua Coleman, Families Stand Together provides simple strategies and helpful tips that can easily be integrated into families’ everyday routines. The special includes documentary footage of real American families who are living through difficult economic conditions, encouraging positive strategies and modeling behavior for parents and care providers to support the entire family during insecure times. The special is part of a two-hour economy-focused block of programming on PBS which also includes WNED’s Your Life, Your Money aimed at young adults hosted by Donald Faison.

“For nearly 40 years, Sesame Workshop and our beloved Sesame Street Muppets have addressed educational and community needs through the creative use of media. We have never shied away from delving into deep and complex issues and finding accessible and age appropriate ways to talk about these issues with children and families,” said Gary E. Knell, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop. “We are grateful to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for acknowledging our goals with their generous funding of the television special Families Stand Together and additional resources for our families.  And we are grateful for the bravery of these families depicted on the show who tell their very personal stories so others can learn from their journeys.”

“CPB is a proud partner with Sesame Workshop on behalf of the nation's families and children at a time of great economic uncertainty,” said Pat Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “The impact of financial loss undermining family stability is taking its toll on children and we applaud Gary Knell and Sesame Workshop for recognizing the need and committing to help.”

“In these difficult financial times, we find that parents often lack the words to explain what is going on to their children and that prevents them from having the necessary conversations,” said Jean Chatzky. “Working with Sesame Street, we’re able to give the families in the special — and the many others watching from home — the tools they need.”

“WHUT is thrilled to be hosting the sneak peek for Sesame Street’s primetime special,” said Jennifer Lawson, General Manager, Howard University Television, WHUT. “We have been working in our community to help get resources to our families in need and Families Stand Together is another wonderful tool for us to offer.”

Beyond the primetime special, Sesame Workshop will extend the initiative by providing additional resources online, in print and into local communities to help guide families during these tough times. Sesame Workshop will work with PBS stations and community organizations in 32 key markets to promote community screenings and to deliver 200,000 bi-lingual educational outreach kits nationwide beginning October 15, 2009.

The bi-lingual (English/Spanish) outreach kit will consist of:

• A bi-lingual (English/Spanish) outreach kit with a DVD featuring documentary moments of families as well as content to help children and families talk about the feelings and stresses during economic insecurity.
• A printed children’s story which offers support and strategies for families during economic transitions.
• A parent/caregiver guide which provides strategies on how to meet challenges as a family, ideas about how to explain difficult situations to young children, and tips on planning for the short- and long-term.

Resources and materials will be available online at www.sesameworkshop.org/toughtimes beginning September 9, 2009 so that families everywhere can view the videos and download the information.

About CPB

CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,100 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related online services.

About LOOKALIKE PRODUCTIONS – Lisa Lax & Nancy Stern

Lookalike Productions represents the diverse collaborative efforts of twin sister filmmakers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, whose television and film productions have earned them a combined 16 Emmy Awards. After spending fifteen years in network television producing & directing documentary films, live sporting events, entertainment specials and series, Lisa and Nancy became producing partners in 2002.Telling stories on film is Lookalike’s specialty, and their first collaboration was the award-winning documentary “Emmanuel’s Gift”. The film highlighted the courageous efforts of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah as he fought for the rights of two million of his fellow disabled in Ghana, West Africa. “Emmanuel’s Gift” sparked a call to action. In July, 2006, Ghana’s Parliament passed a Disability Bill that had been ignored for decades, guaranteeing unparalleled rights for this long-overlooked community. Lisa and Nancy take great pride in producing important and meaningful projects that generate awareness and trigger social change.

About PBS

PBS, with its 357 member stations, offers all Americans — from every walk of life — the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches more than 115 million people on-air and online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; hear diverse viewpoints; and take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and Web site, pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org Web sites on the Internet.

About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that changed television forever with the legendary Sesame Street.  As the single largest informal educator of young children, local Sesame Street programs produced in countries as diverse as South Africa, Bangladesh and India are making a difference in over 120 nations. Using proprietary research to create engaging and enriching content, Sesame Workshop produces programs such as Dragon Tales and Pinky Dinky Doo. In addition, multimedia needs-driven initiatives providefamilies tools for addressing such issues as children’s health, military deployment and emergency preparedness.  As a nonprofit, product proceeds and philanthropic donations support Sesame Workshop’s educational research and creative content for children around the world.  Learn more at www.sesameworkshop.org.

About Worldwide Pants Incorporated

Worldwide Pants, Inc. (WPI) is the independent, New York City-based entertainment company that David Letterman founded in 1993. WPI creates original content for television and film, as well as for new media platforms including broadband and wireless. It currently has several comedy, animation, variety/talk, and feature projects in active development.  WPI's successful network productions include "The Late Show with David Letterman;" "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson;" and the Emmy award-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond," which completed a successful nine-year run in 2005. WPI also created the critically acclaimed and Emmy-nominated "Ed," which ran for four seasons on NBC; "The Knights of Prosperity," which aired on ABC in 2006-2007; and "Welcome to New York," which aired on CBS in 2000. WPI has garnered more than 100 Emmy nominations and won 24 Emmy awards. "The Late Show" alone has received 60 Emmy nominations and won nine Emmys awards, including "Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program" in 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. "Everybody Loves Raymond" received 69 Emmy nominations and 15 Emmy awards in its nine seasons.   WPI expanded into feature films with the 2004 production of "Strangers with Candy," which debuted at Sundance to wide critical acclaim and was distributed by THINKFilm in 2006, and "The Youngest Candidate," a feature documentary released earlier this year, that follows teens running for elected office. 

Press Contacts

Pam Hacker
Sesame Workshop
212.875.6225
Pam.hacker@sesameworkshop.org

tkeaney@rubenstein.com

Stephanie Baumoel
FerenComm for Sesame Workshop
212.983.9898
stephanieb@ferencomm.com

[1] Demos & the Institute for Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University. (2007). By a Thread. Retrieved March 11, 2009 from http://www.demos.org/pubs/BaT112807.pdf.