A decade ago, Springfield Public Schools began to roll out one of the largest “Breakfast in the Classroom” programs in Massachusetts – tackling food insecurity with the most important meal of the day. Ten years later, the program’s only grown in popularity, with proponents calling it a “national model.”

A new grant will fund a youth mental health initiative in the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, public school system. As WAMC reports, the support comes at an urgent time.

The biggest city in western Massachusetts is the latest to get an alternative electricity supply option. Come December, much of Springfield will be in the program – one that community members and officials have spent years advocating for.

At a time when getting healthy food to those who need it most is critical, a farm-focused non-profit in western Massachusetts has been firing on all cylinders.

The head of Berkshire County’s Regional Planning Commission is preparing to step down after almost 30 years with the organization.

Tuesday’s elections featured plenty of incumbent mayors sticking around in western Massachusetts – though just barely in Northampton. And in Easthampton, with no incumbent on the ballot, voters picked the city’s 4th mayor in 30 years.

With the federal government committing to funding only half of this month’s SNAP benefits, states across the country, including in the Northeast, are continuing to pick a path forward with less federal food assistance funding now on the table. Massachusetts is home to at least a million people who rely on the program, with many in the state’s Gateway cities. However, as Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester State Senator Jo Comerford tells WAMC, food insecurity is just as present in one of the state’s most rural corners.

The founder of Vermont-based BETA Technologies rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell this morning to celebrate the company’s Initial Public Offering.

A long-awaited dam removal project in Mount Washington, Massachusetts, finally began in earnest this week. WAMC was there and reports on how demolishing a dam can breathe new life into ecosystems thousands of miles away.

Nearly half of all residents in Springfield, Mass. utilize SNAP benefits in some way. With federal funding for the food assistance in flux, city officials have announced a series of efforts and partnerships to help stave off hunger in their community.