Marketplace is a 30-minute early evening program that airs weekdays on more than 330 public radio stations nationwide. The associated nine-minute program, Marketplace Morning Report, airs on weekday mornings. Together they reach more than 7 million different listeners. Over the next year, the Work-Family Desk of the two programs will produce and air 40 stories related to working families and the changing workplace. This grant ensures that 29 of these 40 stories will focus on workplace flexibility. A one-day meeting of leading business and work-family experts will address salient story lines. Stories under discussion include a series describing new forms of flexibility, such as part-year work, career breaks, or “second acts” programs that bring people back into the workforce after time off for caring. Project Director: J. J. Yore, Executive Producer and Vice President, Programming.

To The Contrary is a Public Broadcasting Station news analysis program that airs weekly on more than 240 PBS stations and on the United States Information Agency’s Worldnet, reaching an audience of almost a million viewers. The show has the highest percentage of women viewers aged 34 to 54 of any public affairs program. Each weekly program consists of two taped segments on critical issues of the day, followed by an in-studio panel discussion by Washington, D.C.-based women who represent different points of view on the issues. Women consistently rank workplace flexibility as a compelling work-family issue. With this grant, three segments on workplace flexibility will be produced and aired on To The Contrary. These three programs will inform the American public about cutting edge workforce patterns that point to the need for a more flexible workplace. For example, the segment on phased retirement will point up the growing interest in flexible work by the aging workforce. By 2010, 80 million baby boomers will reach 65 years of age. A significant proportion anticipate working beyond the conventional retirement age, but have an interest in flexible work arrangements since they do not want to work full time or full year. Project Director: Bonnie Erbe, Chief Executive Officer.