Karen Brown

This three-part series looks at growing rates of childhood obesity through the efforts of one community health clinic in Holyoke, MA. Approximately half of all children in this predominantly low-income and Puerto Rican community are overweight or obese. Nationally, an estimated 30 percent of all children are overweight or obese. The series first aired on WFCR in July, 2010.

Listen to Part One

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Childhood obesity has become a public health crisis in the US - and one of First Lady Michelle Obama’s main causes. More than 30 percent of all children in the US — about 11 million — are considered clinically overweight or obese. In Holyoke, Massachusetts, which has many Puerto Rican and low-income residents, the problem is even worse than the national average. In the first of a series, WFCR’s Karen Brown reports how one community health center is trying to reverse this trend.

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Listen to Part Two

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In Part 1, we profiled a clinical effort to reduce rates of obesity and diabetes, especially among low-income and Latino populations. In Part 2, we check in with one Holyoke family trying to follow their doctor’s advice.

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Listen to Part Three

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The Holyoke Health Center runs an intensive weight loss program for children. But can families keep up the momentum - and spread it to the community - after the program is over? WFCR’s Karen Brown has the final report in our series.

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Chrystal Concepcion, Denise Shaw-Miranda, Somali Santos

Massachusetts will soon release its annual statistics on teen pregnancy. For the past several years, the cities of Holyoke and Springfield - both among the poorest in the state - have traded the dubious honor of most teen births per year, which is why advocates are working to get sex education in the public schools.

This story aired on WFCR on March 25, 2010. To download audio, right click here

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Mario Hornsby Jr

A father of a slain teenager — who was the unintended target of a gang hit in Springfield, MA — tries to overcome his grief, and help the city, with a poignant memorial. He’s erecting a community garden on the very spot where his son’s killers carried out their crime.

This aired on WFCR on Aug. 19, 2009.

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After the foreclosure notice….comes the rescue scam. Homeowners in financial crisis have been finding

Debra Avezzie, rescue scam victim

themselves the victims of hucksters who claim to help….but often end up running away with a person’s home AND equity. This piece first aired on NPR’s Justice Talking on November 11, 2007. (The story hit more mainstream media outlets, such as the New York Times, in late 2008 and early 2009.)

Part One — Rates on the Rise, Frontline Providers say Why

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More teenagers in Holyoke and Springfield get pregnant than in any other town or city in Massachusetts. The teen birth rates in those urban areas had been going down over the past few years, but as of 2008, they’re back at number one and two in the state. Latina women make up a disproportionate number of teen mothers. In the first of a three-part series, Karen Brown talks to some frontline providers about why so many young people in our region are having babies. Aired on WFCR in June, 2008.

Part Two — High Schoolers Do Their Part

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This feature profiles an effort by a Springfield obstetrician and a group of teenagers to stem the trend of teen pregnancy in western Massachusetts.

Part Three — Meeting Teen Moms

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We meet three young women living out the teen pregnancy statistics, and working to change their destinies.

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The city of Springfield, Massachusetts — like many poor, urban areas — is facing a severe problem with youth violence. Kids as young as 13 or 14 are getting pressured into joining gangs, dealing drugs, and carrying guns. And an ongoing feud between two major gangs in Springfield — called the Ave and Sycamore Street — means those guns are getting used more and more, to tragic ends. Police try to round up the most prominent gang leaders, with limited success. So one community organization is trying a different approach; they dispatch street outreach workers to intervene before young people go down a violent path. This story chronicles a day with the workers and the young people they’re trying to reach.

Story aired on WFCR, May 2008.