Fred Rogers Institute carries on legacy, opens partnership opportunities with name change

The Fred Rogers Institute exists to share every part of Rogers’ legacy, not only his televised impact. And institute Executive Director Dana Winters believes the organization’s name change is going to further that mission.

This week, the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media announced it would rebrand to become the Fred Rogers Institute. Though the name change might seem inconsequential, Winters said it “really feels big.” The institute is on the campus of Saint Vincent College in Unity.

“It feels like, for the first time, we’re making a clear identification of where we stand within the field and also opening our doors for partnership,” Winters said.

Winters said staff wanted to better communicate the institute’s purpose, as there was a misconception that the organization provided early learning services or produced children’s media.

Additionally, the staff hopes to now go “much broader” in their mission to explore who Rogers was.

“That tagline limited the scope of what the legacy of Fred Rogers really could create and support,” Winters said.

Winters believes the name change will encourage staff and their partners to further delve into Rogers’ life and “make sure Fred never dies.” The institute boasts an extensive archive with more than 22,000 items from Rogers’ personal and professional life.

Currently, the center is supporting research on Rogers’ impact in children’s music, mental health and well-being, and spirituality and theology.

“These were all parts of Fred,” Winters said, “and there’s so much more that the archive has to offer.”

Rogers helped to found the Saint Vincent organization shortly before his death in 2003.

After Rogers left children’s television, he wanted to continue to support children and education. While Fred Rogers Productions aims to help children, the Fred Rogers Institute hopes to “help the helpers” by providing adults with resources and sharing Rogers’ values.

“ ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ is a part of the legacy that we extend, but there is this entire side of Fred — we like to call it Fred outside of the sweater, his writings, his speeches, his public advocacy — that is the work that we want to make sure continues to live on, as well,” Winters said.