The Public Education Foundation’s 24th Annual Education Hero Award Gala will transform to a virtual extravaganza this year to honor community heroes who stepped up on behalf of students and families during the COVID-19 crisis.
The show will broadcast on Vegas PBS and online at thepef.org/hero on September 11, 2020, from 7-8:30 pm.
For the past 23 years, The Public Education Foundation has held an Education Hero Award Gala to celebrate public education advocates who have demonstrated courage, leadership, and service. This year’s Education Hero Award Gala is dedicated to our Community Heroes.
Over the past few months, we have witnessed the power of communities pulling together. Untold numbers of people in the Las Vegas community have acted heroically to support our students and families as we have all tried to cope with this global pandemic. On September 11, The Foundation will recognize and celebrate some of these unsung individuals.
“This fast-paced evening will be inspiring, sometimes humorous, and deeply touching – featuring a variety of celebrities, artists, business and community leaders, elected officials, students, families, and more,” said Judi Steele, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Public Education Foundation. “We believe this is a defining moment in time when all of us – educators, families and the community – must work together in a renewed commitment to improving outcomes for all students.”
This is the community’s first major virtual gala to occur since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down large gatherings. Inspired by the One World: Together at Home event held on April 18, the show on September 11 is the first event approved by the FCC nationally to receive a fundraising waiver in response to COVID-19.
“Nonprofits are facing unprecedented challenges and many depend on an annual gala as their biggest fundraiser,” said Tom Axtell, General Manager of Vegas PBS. “When leaders of The Public Education Foundation requested our assistance with their Gala, we quickly huddled with our management team and made a precedent setting request to the FCC to grant a waiver to use our broadcast channel to help raise funds for a nonprofit, whose mission is related to Vegas PBS programming and services. We are thrilled the FCC granted our request allowing Vegas PBS and The Public Education Foundation to move forward with this partnership. Vegas PBS is the first PBS station in the country to receive permission for emergency on air fundraising for community nonprofits. We hope it will be the first of several in the coming months.”
About The Public Education Foundation
The Public Education Foundation (The Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded nearly 30 years ago by leaders from the public and private sectors who believed that improving our public schools was too big a task for a school district to take on alone. The Foundation’s mission is to improve student achievement by creating transformational change in teaching, learning, and educational leadership. At any given moment, thousands of Nevada’s children, families, and educators are benefiting from resources that The Foundation has strategically invested in schools, classrooms, and communities. Our flagship programs include the Leadership Institute of Nevada, which offers leadership academies and summits for high-achieving teachers and administrators; a collaboration with the community to award more than $2.8 million in scholarships each year; an innovative family engagement program that coaches parents how to support their children in school, especially utilizing digital learning; and, the Teacher EXCHANGE®, a reallocation and surplus resource center that provides much-needed school supplies and materials for teachers.
For more information about The Foundation, please visit thepef.org. Follow us on Facebook @ThePublicEducationFoundation and Twitter @ThePEFtoday.
About Vegas PBS
Vegas PBS is a member-supported public television service providing educational content for over 50 years. Vegas PBS builds community through television, education services, and unique experiences that create a sense of place, civic and social capital. For 11 consecutive years, Vegas PBS has remained among the top three most-watched PBS stations in the country. The station offers five unique secondary channels: Create, VEGAS PBS KIDS, WORLD, Rewind and Jackpot! The station collaborates with community partners to create award-winning content that examines informational, cultural, historic, and educational regional issues.
Vegas PBS provides a robust variety of education services that extend the educational experience beyond the broadcast. Resources and services include Vegas PBS’ Ready To Learn educational workshops for children and families, professional development for teachers, online learning courses and certifications for adults, multimedia educational support for educators, 25+ channels of educational and local news for in-classroom viewing, and a Special Needs Resource Library serving those with special needs throughout the state of Nevada.
Vegas PBS viewers can access their favorite shows across multiple platforms including broadcast, vegaspbs.org, the PBS Video App and the PBS KIDS Video App. For more information, visit vegaspbs.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.