PBS News Student Reporting Labs Selected as a Young Futures Innovator for the Oops!… AI Did It Again Challenge

March 25, 2026

Arlington, VA  –   PBS News Student Reporting Labs‘ Executive Director Leah Clapman has been selected to join the 5th cohort of Young Futures (YF) Innovators, a national community of leaders working to make it easier for young people to grow up in a tech-filled world. 

PBS News Student Reporting Labs is a grant recipient of the Oops!… AI Did It Again Challenge, Young Futures’ first dedicated funding initiative for nonprofits at the intersection of youth and AI. The challenge supports solutions that help preteens and teens engage with artificial intelligence safely, critically, and with true agency. 

As part of the cohort, Clapman will participate in the Young Futures Academy, a five-month accelerator offering peer community, leadership development, and coaching in storytelling and fundraising.  Together, the cohort is advancing youth-centered solutions across four focus areas: Youth-Powered AI, Learning & Work, Relationships & Mental Health, and Intergenerational Guidance. We are honored to be in community with fellow YF Innovators working to help pre-teens and teens navigate AI safely, critically, and with agency.

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About PBS News Student Reporting Labs

PBS News Student Reporting Labs (SRL) is a hands-on journalism training program from PBS News and WETA that connects young people to real-world experiences and their educators to tools, resources, and community. This national program trains and equips educators and teens with the tools and training to report stories in their own communities, and provides platforms for their stories to reach national audiences. Since 2009, Student Reporting Labs has helped students publish over 150 video news reports on the PBS News Hour nightly broadcast and many more via local media outlets. Student Reporting Labs reaches over 9,500 educators through StoryMaker, its free learning platform. Visit www.studentreportinglabs.org and www.story-maker.org to learn more.

About Young Futures 

Young Futures (YF) is a nonprofit seeking to make the digital world an easier place to grow up. YF provides a social compass for teens and families navigating the tech-driven world by supporting emerging nonprofits working tirelessly to help young people and their families not just survive but flourish as a team when navigating the uncertainties of the digital wilderness. Its foundational funders include Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, The Goodness Web, Enlight Foundation, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and, Resonance Philanthropies.