“Un solo empleo debería ser suficiente”. Cómo los trabajos de bajos salarios de Charlotte hacen que la vivienda sea inaccesible

A Massachusetts pilot program provided philanthropic funding to bolster mental health support in schools, with money for extra clinicians, social workers, and bilingual staff to help better coordinate with families. School officials say the additional resources have helped reduce suspensions and emergency calls and gotten students who would otherwise not have access connected to care, but future funding for the services is uncertain.

WindowDressers mobilizes community volunteers to build low-cost insulating window inserts for older homes. Their efforts have saved nearly 4 million gallons of heating fuel, preventing 44,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and strengthening neighborhood ties while making heating more affordable—especially for low-income households who now represent nearly 40% of recipients.

Since 2017, Rewilding Ukraine has reintroduced native grazing species like kulan and water buffalo to the Danube Delta, which has restored more than 18,000 hectares of wetlands, doubled carbon storage in soils, increased plant diversity, reduced wildfire risk, and helped native fish populations recover—even amid ongoing war.

For the past year, community organizers in Baltimore have been going door to door to share Know Your Rights materials, as well as hosting trainings to help residents get involved in rapid responses against ICE operations in the city. Hundreds of people have been trained so far and the effort has led to the formation of about a dozen community-based ICE watch groups.

The Port of Skagit Commission invested $7.5 million in a public-private partnership to build grain infrastructure (including a $1.2 million mill, granary, and research center) that enabled local farmers to shift from unprofitable commodity wheat to specialty grains.

Small Midwest towns are converting homes and commercial spaces into clusters of small, fully-equipped childcare facilities that house multiple independent family childcare providers under one roof. Using blended funding from federal dollars, state grants, and local development funds, communities build or renovate spaces that comply with less restrictive family childcare licensing, providing care for small, mixed-age groups of children while sharing resources like substitute teachers, administrative support, and retention bonuses, all in an effort to close childcare gaps.

Hoboken, New Jersey implemented a comprehensive strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities through multiple coordinated responses, including curb extensions that narrow crossing distances and slow traffic, seven-second pedestrian head starts at crosswalks, physical barriers to enforce no-parking zones near intersections, reduced speed limits and high-visibility crosswalk markings. Since January 17, 2017, Hoboken has recorded zero traffic fatalities for nine consecutive years.

Teen Line operates a peer-to-peer mental health hotline where trained teenage volunteers provide support to other teens struggling with stress, depression, relationships, and suicidal thoughts. High school volunteers have been completing rigorous 3-month training in active listening, crisis response, and emotional regulation as part of this program since 1980. Over 40+ years of operation, Teen Line has logged 10,000+ annual contacts with a 98% caller satisfaction rate.

In 2019, Colorado passed a pay-transparency law requiring employers to disclose pay ranges and information on health benefits in all job postings, as well as barring them from using applicants’ pay history to set wages. One study indicates that the law may have helped boost wages by as much as 3.6%, but another found that it may have weakened individual workers’ bargaining power.

Digital public infrastructure is helping African countries build more sustainable health systems by replacing fragmented, donor-funded projects with interoperable digital services. In Zambia, for example, the SmartCare Pro electronic health record system uses thumbprints to identify patients and track chronic diseases like TB and HIV, ensuring continuity of care, where it was historically missing.