The Solutions Story Tracker® is a curated database of rigorous reporting on responses to social problems. We collect and tag every story, providing you with the ability to find coverage of effective or promising ideas and approaches— by issue, location, journalist, and success factor (strategic insights that emerge as patterns).
https://www.wwno.org/news/2021-09-24/they-saw-me-and-thought-the-worst?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Richard A. Webster
New Orleans Public Radio (WWNO)
24 September 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Comparing police accountability in Jefferson Parish, La., to neighboring New Orleans reveals a stark contrast because of federally imposed reforms in New Orleans. Jefferson's sheriff's office, one of the nation's largest police agencies not using body cameras, has a weak internal investigation process and lack of transparency for its uses of force, which are skewed by race. New Orleans had similar problems until a Justice Department report led to a package of reforms that have helped reduce the use of force and increased accountability and transparency.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/inside-chaotic-response-911-call-texas-half-family-just-disappeared-n1277076?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Perla Trevizo
Suzy Khimm
Mike Hixenbaugh
Lexi Churchill
NBC News
19 September 2021
Multi-Media / Over 3000 Words
First responders usually have wide discretion over whether to force their way into a private home to respond to an emergency. One family's tragic carbon monoxide poisoning during Texas' severe winter weather in 2021 illustrates how the lack of a clear policy for firefighters, combined with miscommunication from 911 operators, led to a lengthy delay in providing medical help. Two family members died and two others suffered serious injuries when exhaust from their car filled their house and they could not respond to knocks at their door. Help was delayed for several hours.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/14/every-man-was-drinking-how-much-do-bans-on-alcohol-help-women-in-india?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Preeti Jha
The Guardian
14 September 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
The Bihar, India, state government banned drinking and selling of alcohol in 2016 after women in the mostly rural state mounted protests blaming men's alcohol abuse for rampant violence against women. Hundreds of thousands of arrests, carrying severe penalties, resulted from the ban. Previous bans in Bihar and other states failed because of unpopularity and loopholes. This one has some evidence to suggest it cut drinking by a lot but violence by only a little, while bootlegging and other crimes have increased. The prohibition protests have spread to other states.
https://qz.com/2059001/delta-air-lines-sees-boost-in-employee-vaccinations-after-mandate?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Courtney Vinopal
Quartz
14 September 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
In order to increase the number of employees getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Delta Air Lines announced that the company would charge employees for their healthcare plans if they were not vaccinated. Many businesses have used incentives to encourage their employees to get the vaccine, which can be positive rewards or, as in this case, the threat of a potential penalty. Within two weeks of the announcement, 20% of Delta’s remaining unvaccinated employees received their shots and no employees have resigned as a result of the new policy.
https://www.vaildaily.com/news/eagle-county-problem-solving-courts-offer-new-hope-to-repeat-offenders-battling-substance-abuse?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Kelli Duncan
Vail Daily
9 September 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Eagle County's two problem-solving courts put treatment ahead of punishment when addressing crimes committed by people with substance abuse problems. Originally set up as one court, they now function separately to address drunken driving and drugs and serve people "teetering on the edge of serious prison time" for repeat offenses. More than 90 percent of participants in 2020 maintained sobriety and more than 80 percent avoided new legal troubles. While the threat of punishment is used to win compliance with rules, prosecutors say they're more interested in permanently curing the underlying disease.
https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/improving-maternal-healthcare-in-rural-nigeria-with-free-drugs-and-birthing-kits/zx1dz5x?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Bayo Wahab
Pulse Nigeria
9 September 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Hacey Health Initiative and Alabiyamo Maternal and Child Healthcare Foundation are improving maternal and newborn health in rural communities. The groups have provided more than 50,000 birthing kits containing sterilized tools and other essentials and handed out over 100,000 long-lasting treated nets to prevent malaria. Women and infants can get medications and important vaccinations, along with clothes and baby food. The care is free and the groups work with community gatekeepers, like leaders in local markets, midwives, and other traditional birthing assistants, whose buy in is important to build trust.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210908-the-lost-generation-of-ancient-trees?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Katherine Latham
BBC
8 September 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Ancient trees like the Big Belly Oak, which grows to be hundreds of years old, provide substance to thousands of invertebrate species, and hundreds of species of lichen and fungi. However, due to changes in forest management and agriculture, many of the ancient trees are not surviving long enough to age. It's crucial for them to age because that's when many species of fungi and insects begin to move into their core. In order to speed up the aging process scientists are trying two methods, veteranisation and inserting fungi into trees.
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2021/0908/Why-a-Swedish-city-with-a-violent-crime-problem-looked-to-US-for-solutions?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Erika Page
Christian Science Monitor
8 September 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Malmö's Sluta Skjut (Stop Shooting) program adopts a group violence intervention approach that has been used widely in the U.S. Gang members and others believed to be involved in street violence are summoned to "call-ins" to hear messages from law enforcement officials, community members, and social services providers. The overarching message: stop the violence, or go to prison; if you do stop, help is available to change your life. About 300 men have been called in, 49 of whom have accepted the offered help. Violence in the city has dropped since the program started.
https://news48.it/university-degree-awarded-to-student-behind-bars-his-thesis-on-autoethnography-is-a-survival-story?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Francesco Ciampa
News48
7 September 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Magna Graecia University partnered with prison administrators in Catanzaro, Italy, to help two incarcerated men find a form of rehabilitation by writing their own lives' stories. In a process called autoethnography, the men, who are serving life sentences, focus on describing without moral judgment "the psychological and creative resources they used for survival before prison and during their time behind bars." This helps them see the traits that led them into crime might also lead them out of it. Both men tell of extraordinary personal growth through the experience, which others now seek to duplicate.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/As-homicides-surged-Oakland-s-premier-16431412.php?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rachel Swan
San Francisco Chronicle
7 September 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Oakland Ceasefire's "delicate architecture" balancing law enforcement and community-based responses to gun violence, which seemed to have helped lower the city's gun violence by half since 2012, came crashing down during the pandemic. While arrests continued, the alternative offered to people at high risk of violence – an array of services to turn their lives around – withered with a virtual ban on in-person meetings. Violence in the city surged as years of progress unraveled. The program is working to rebuild, while questioning if it should distance itself more from the police.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/us/politics/nazi-whitefish-charlottesville.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Elizabeth Williamson
The New York Times
5 September 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
When a white nationalist leader sparked an antisemitic hate campaign in his vacation community to settle a personal grievance, the community rose up in unison to confront the hate and render it toothless. Everyone from neighbors to the governor joined in the effort to counter disinformation and intimidation with alternative messages that telegraphed communal disapproval. A planned march by neo-Nazis was a flop and the leader of the planned attacks is now shunned. Other communities have contacted the leaders of the counteroffensive to get tips on protecting themselves from similar attacks.
https://humanglemedia.com/endsars-impact-of-judicial-panels-in-facilitating-justice-for-victims-of-police-brutalities?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Kehinde Ogunyale
HumAngle
4 September 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Protests against alleged brutality and extrajudicial killings by Nigeria's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) led to demands for judicial panels of inquiry to investigate the abuses and provide justice to victims. Of Nigeria's 36 states, 29 set up panels of inquiry, and seven of those submitted reports and recommendations. Some victims have been compensated for illegal arrests and beatings. While critics say these measures don't go far enough, they concede the reports and payments have provided at least some accountability.
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Photos are licensed under Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license, and are credited to the following photographers:
Ra'ed Qutena, 段 文慶, Fabio Campo, City Clock Magazine, Justin Norman, scarlatti2004, Gary Simmons, Kathryn McCallum, and Nearsoft Inc
Photos are licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license / Desaturated from original, and are credited to the following photographers:
Burak Kebapci and SCY.
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Conference attendee listening to speaker, Jenifer Daniels / Colorstock getcolorstock.com.
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Photo Credit: Sonia Narang
