SPRINGFIELD – A program that has helped at-risk students from Springfield and Holyoke received $100,000 in state funding so it could continue.

New England Public Radio Youth Media Lab was started in February 2016 and offers broadcast journalism training and radio and web production classes to about 30 students a year in three cohorts.

Members of the Springfield legislative delegation gathered at NEPR for the official presentation of the funding.

NEPR CEO and General Manager Martin Miller, explained that the Media Lab program locally was patterned after one in Oakland, CA. The participants are considered academically at risk and the students receive job readiness skills, an introduction to journalism and a $300 stipend.

Miller said one student used the stipend to buy groceries.

Media lab produces stories told by the students themselves and are broadcast on the NEPR Media Lab podcast with new episodes each month. The podcasts are available through Apple Podacasts and at www.nepr.net.

“They are telling stories that are not only healing for them, but allow them to see a path for the future,” Miller said.

On student wrote about her experience in the program, “NEPR Medias Lab pushed me to better myself in ways I didn’t even know possible, and do things I didn’t think I could ever do. It’s become such a huge part of my life, and I’ve become so committed to it.”

Miller said some of the students have gone onto become interns at NEPR and he would like to expand the programing to the Springfield schools.     

“When you give people opportunity, they can succeed,” he said.