Ranny Levy, KIDS FIRST! / Coalition for Quality Children’s Media (Hello, Self… Episode 17)
Ranny Levy, Founder and CEO of KIDS FIRST!, a program of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, and host Patricia Leonard discussed children, the media, and the KIDS FIRST! program which teaches children to be film critics. Ranny offered her thoughts on education, described the experiences of the children, the popularity of the program, teaching kids to be critical thinkers, and much more.
Hello, Self… is presented by Patricia Leonard & Associates and produced by Arlia Hoffman in association with the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
KIDS FIRST! and Coalition for Quality Children’s Media
The Coalition for Quality Children’s Media is a national, nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization, founded in 1991, whose mission is to teach children critical viewing skills and to increase the visibility and availability of quality children’s media.
The Coalition’s KIDS FIRST! program evaluates, rates, and endorses films, digital media, TV shows, and other media using volunteer, community-based juries of adults and children from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and offers its ratings and reviews to consumers for free in a variety of ways – on our website, blogs, social media, YouTube Channel and through partnerships with other online and print publications.
KIDS FIRST! Film Critics program puts kids up front and center, reviewing the latest films and other media pre-release, interviewing talent from those shows, and exploring behind-the-scenes of programs in development. The KIDS FIRST! Film Critics team is made up of 65+ tween and teens from across the US, plus some from foreign countries. They offer up to date entertainment news For Kids, By Kids. Their written and videotaped reviews and coverage reach as many as 7 million people per release.
KIDS FIRST! is supported by major entertainment industry leaders, teachers, librarians, media professionals, lobbyists, policymakers, child advocates, educators, parents and families nationwide. Support comes from national nonprofit organizations including the National Association of Family And Community Education, Daddying Advocacy Organization as well as publishers who republish reviews generated by KIDS FIRST! such as Kidsworld.com, Kidsville News, News-o-matic, Grand Magazine, Voice America’s Press Pass who reach an audience of over 7 million with each release.
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Ranny Levy, Founder, CEO, KIDS FIRST! / Coalition for Quality Children’s Media
The invasive impact of violent and biased media on children became the impetus, in 1991, for Ranny Levy to create KIDS FIRST! / Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, dedicated to promoting and nurturing quality children’s media as a vehicle for social change. A former educator, Levy created an award-winning PBS, produced an ACE-nominated television show and managed an independent film production and distribution company in the mid 80s.
In 1991, Levy co-founded the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media and its popular KIDS FIRST! program. Levy developed the KIDS FIRST! Film Critics initiative, a program that engages young people (ages 9 to 22) as entertainment reporters. These kids attend press screenings, red carpets, press junkets, site visits and similar. They review all the latest films rated PG-13 younger and interview talent on and off the red carpet.
Their reviews are both on camera and written. KIDS FIRST! has a robust YouTube Channel with more than 4000 video-taped film reviews and talent interviews and more than 100,000 visitors weekly. KIDS FIRST! Film Critics reviews reach more than 7 million people each month through the KIDS FIRST! website, social media, YouTube Channel and radio show as well as in blogs on Huffington Post, GRAND Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, Kidzworld.com, Kidsville News and 50 additional online and print publications. KIDS FIRST! also produces a weekly radio show and a traveling children’s film festival.
Levy has written three books, “The New York Times / KIDS FIRST Guide to The Best Children’s Videos,” “A Parent’s Guide to the Best Children’s Videos, DVDs and CD-ROMs” and “The Field Guide for Young Women: Finding Your Life Partner.” She is a frequent speaker at conferences, including:
- Kid, Youth and Parent Power Conference
- Vice President Gore’s Family Re-Union
- National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
- National Governor’s Association Conference on Quality in Education
- Head Start Research Conference
- National Association of Family and Community Educators
- Kidscreen
Education: University of Michigan, Connecticut College/American Dance Institute, California State University Long Beach, Naropa Institute, Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance.
Ms. Levy is mother of grown children, has two wonderful grandchildren, one surrogate son and one lovely daughter-in-law. She loves watching and reviewing films, writing screenplays, keeping fit, organic gardening, traveling, the opera, lots of other music, attending the theater and entertaining friends and family.
About Hello, Self…
Hello, Self… is a biweekly podcast focused on inspiring stories of turning dreams into reality. Join coach and author Patricia Leonard and her guests as they share life-changing Hello, Self… moments.
Hello, Self… is brought to you by Patricia Leonard & Associates and is based on the new book by Patricia Leonard, Hello, Self.., available here.
The show is produced by Arlia Hoffman in association with Business RadioX®. You can find this show on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
Patricia Leonard, Host of Hello, Self…
Patricia Leonard is President of RUNWAY TO SUCCESS, a division of Patricia Leonard & Associates located in Nashville, TN. She is a MESSAGE ARTIST speaker, career & business coach, author and magazine columnist. Patricia consults with clients on leadership, empowerment, career management, entrepreneurship and the power of language. Her work is focused on helping clients find their runway to success!
She has a professional background in management, human resources, corporate training, business consulting and talent development. Patricia has worked with companies in the service, music, banking, manufacturing, publishing, warehousing, healthcare, academic, retail and financial industries, and has taught management classes as an adjunct professor.
Patricia has a degree in Human Resource Management, is certified as a Career Coach and Consulting Hypnotist and is MBTI qualified.
Her volunteer energies are focused on Women in Film and Television-Nashville, where she is a Board Vice President; Dress for Success as the Advisory Board President; and International Coaching Federation-Nashville where she held Board roles for several years.
Patricia is the author of Wearing High Heels in a Flip Flop World, BECOMING WOMAN…a journal of personal discovery, THE NOW, HOW & WOW of Success, Happenings, a full year calendar of inspirational messages and a spoken word album titled, I AM…
She enjoys songwriting, creating poetry and has written a one-woman show and artistic speech she performs titled Hello, Self…, about a woman in midlife reinventing herself, which led to her new book by the same name, available here.
On the personal side, Patricia, describes herself as a woman, lover of life, mother, grandmother, career professional and message artist; AND in that order! Her goal is to continue inspiring others, of any age, to START NOW creating and expanding their Runway to Success.
She believes that life is a gift, the way we wrap it is our choice.
