SPOT 127, KJZZ’s youth media center, empowers teens to find their voices and engage with their communities through photo, audio and video storytelling.

Developing and producing digital media content can deepen students’ knowledge across various subject areas, increase media literacy, and open up educational and career opportunities.

SPOT is an innovative educational outreach initiative that is a service of Rio Salado College aimed at serving low-income and at-risk high school students ages 14-18 across the metro Phoenix area. Our free in-school and after-school programs, along with our summer boot camps, provide mentoring and instruction in multimedia production and storytelling.

SPOT 127 students have become instructors for the program, graduates of journalism school, and professionals in the media industry.

Our after-school program is now 100% virtual, which enables us to have a broader geographical reach and impact. Our instruction is constantly adapting, so a student can start in our beginner’s class as a freshman, progress to the advanced class, and learn new skills every semester through high school graduation.

We also host in-person, hands-on, project-based summer programs.

SPOT 127 is focused on serving low-income and at-risk students in the Phoenix metropolitan area. SPOT is an open, safe, inclusive environment for all teens. We provide a safe place where everyone can thrive. Differences and unique perspectives are embraced at SPOT.

SPOT conducts in-school workshops with our local high school partners to bring the program into the classroom through short-term, intensive, hands-on workshops. These workshops, taught by our media professionals, enhance the students’ understanding and learning in targeted areas.

This semester we are partnering with Phoenix Coding Academy (photography), Horizon High School (screenwriting), and North Valley Arts Academy (Photoshop). Other free in-school workshops include lighting design for theater, live music recording, podcasting, yearbook photography and layout, and short film production.

These workshops are funded by private donors interested in promoting the arts, media, and journalism in the local high schools.

In the fall of 2021, SPOT created a series of student-produced videos titled “Shaping Your Future: The How, What, and Why of Voting.” This series explored voting and election-related issues from the point of view of first-time or soon-to-be voters. Our partner was the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Arizona’s only non-partisan voter education program. We’ve partnered with other organizations on grant-funded projects on such topics as bullying, human trafficking, and dating violence.

This spring, SPOT is taking the next logical training transition into professional development workshops for local organizations. These workshops, besides offering much needed technical knowledge skills in photography, graphic design, digital editing, as well as software specific training, will help fund our program to support media education for the youth in our community.

There are a number of ways to support SPOT 127 students, from making a dollar-for-dollar charitable tax credit contribution, a direct tax-deductible donation, funding an in-school workshop, or partnering with SPOT 127 for professional development.

Visit our support page at www.spot127.org to see all the ways you can help ensure the future of journalism and storytelling through our youth.

Matt Myers is executive director of SPOT 127, which is part of the Division of Public Service of Rio Salado College. The ivision is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that also includes public radio news station KJZZZ 91.5FM, classical 89.5FM KBACH, Sun Sounds of Arizona providing audio information for those who cannot read print due to a disability, and Hear Arizona, a podcast initiative that addresses issues and empowers communities.