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Public school enrollment in New England is down during the pandemic. But even when kids are enrolled, it can be a struggle to get some to show up. This week on NEXT, how one district is tackling absenteeism and why doctors are increasingly concerned about youth mental health. Plus, Massachusetts school districts try to cope with a teacher shortage. And when a Vermonter’s business plummeted after COVID hit, she donned an inflatable T-Rex costume and started dancing. 

This week, in a special episode of NEXT, we listen to a collection of award-winning stories from the New England News Collaborative: from a retrospective on the couple that fought for marriage equality in Massachusetts, and later divorced, to a close look at a First Amendment dispute in New Hampshire.

The brothers behind New England’s famous R&B group Tavares are of Cape Verdean descent. This week on NEXT, what that means in a Black and white America. And an effort to change the name of Faneuil Hall in Boston continues as New Englanders grapple with the region’s racist past. Plus, how author Jennifer De Leon’s childhood experience informed her debut novel about school desegregation.  

The first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are arriving, but it’s up to each state to figure out how to distribute the vaccines. This week on NEXT,  New England News Collaborative's weekly podcast, we’ll hear about who gets priority in New England. Plus, some health experts question whether contract tracing is worth the investment. And as hunting license sales boom and more people hit the trails in northern New England, the benefits of getting outside.

This week on NEXT podcast from the New England News Collaborative: North Atlantic right whales are under threat of extinction. Scientists say entanglement in fishing lines is the main cause of death, but changing the way New England lobstermen fish won’t be easy. Plus, we hear from young climate activists pushing Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a bill requiring climate change education in K-12 classrooms. And the banner and burden of the phrase #BlackGirlMagic.

On this week's episode of New England News Colaborative's podcast NEXT, the story of Bami Farm in Rhode Island. A group of immigrants started a community farm in a Yankee farming town; their presence was complicated by race and rural American identity. Plus, how the pandemic has accelerated the debate over driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts. And journalist Maria Hinojosa talks about what’s at stake if public media fails to become more diverse.

Here’s the story that New England tells itself: Racism is a Southern problem. But our region’s abolitionist past hides a darker history of racism, slavery and white supremacy. It’s a legacy that lives with us today.

 This week on NEXT: the pandemic has been a balancing act for first-gen college students like Mikayla, who attends Brown University while worrying about her family back home. We hear her audio diaries on navigating 2020 as an Ivy Leaguer and the daughter of undocumented immigrants. Plus, when a student gets COVID, what’s it like in the “isolation dorms”? And actor Luis Guzman on making Vermont his home. .