The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation has announced a $7.5 challenge grant to Detroit PBS in support of moving the station’s headquarters to the City of Detroit.

The gift will provide a one-to-one match in support of the campaign to move to Piquette Avenue, where the public broadcaster will renovate and expand an existing building. The foundation’s commitment honors the legacy of Fred and Barbara Erb, their lifelong love of and commitment to Detroit PBS and 90.9 WRCJ, and the family's shared values of sustainability, servant leadership, and collaboration toward a just and civil society.

“Detroit PBS was one of only two nonprofit boards our father, Fred, served on. He truly enjoyed the jazz and educational programming as a viewer and listener for decades and advocated for the station’s move to New Center in 1971. Our mother, Barbara, loved PBS nature programming and had been involved with the organization going back to the earliest days of the auction on TV in 1969,” said John Erb, the foundation’s chair. “This campus will be an extension of their belief in the enjoyment and educational power of Detroit PBS and WRCJ."

“Just as Fred and Barbara Erb demonstrated through their philanthropy during their extraordinary lifetimes, their legacy of generosity and commitment to and belief in this community will impact generations to come,” said Detroit PBS president and CEO Rich Homberg. “Every time there’s a program that makes a viewer think or act, every time a child gains enthusiasm about reading, whenever a more informed citizen decides to volunteer to help protect the Great Lakes or participate in the arts, and countless other examples, Fred and Barbara Erb will have played a role.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/PRANGKUL RUANGSRI)