AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – More than a dozen people were laid off Tuesday at New England Public Media (NEPM).

In a statement to 22News, the media company said, “the need to align our staffing with a new model, along with serious financial headwinds from the last three years, has led us to the painful decision to reduce our staff by 17 people.”

This includes the staff that produced the television program, Connecting Point. NEPM said they will provide these employees with financial and career placement support.

You can read the full statement from NEPM below:

“NEPM is transforming into a more nimble multiplatform media company that centers our audience’s needs both in terms of the content we offer and on the platforms where they want to consume it. The need to align our staffing with this new model, along with serious financial headwinds from the last three years, has led us to the painful decision to reduce our staff by 17 people. We will provide these employees with financial and career placement support and we remain committed to serving our community.

We remain committed to covering local arts and culture in the most impactful ways for our audiences and to growing our coverage of those subjects. While we have made the difficult decision to stop producing Connecting Point, earlier this year, we launched a new program called The Fabulous 413 to continue this important work. We plan to invest further in that initiative, among other local efforts.“

NEPM