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.propublica.org/article/burning-sugar-cane-pollutes-communities-of-color-in-florida-brazil-shows-theres-another-way?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nadia Sussman
ProPublica
29 December 2021
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
In Brazil, the world's largest producer of sugar cane, industry leaders have found a way to harvest the crop without sugar cane burning. Sugar cane burning is harmful to the environment and nearby residents. After complaints and regulations, producers invested in technology that allows them to cut the cane without burning it. This is a contrast to South Florida, despite producing less sugar cane than Brazil, producers in the state continue the practice.
https://www.sfreporter.com/news/2021/12/22/skeleton-crew?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ted Alcorn
Santa Fe Reporter
22 December 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
One of the nation's first programs using police officers to get people into drug treatment instead of jail succeeded at first, and inspired other programs throughout New Mexico. But the original Santa Fe program now serves as a lesson in what can all but kill such a program, thanks to a leadership vacuum and mistakes that undercut the cultural change needed within a police department. Like the first program of its kind, in Seattle, Santa Fe's LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) program takes aim at people whose drug abuse deeply entangles them in the justice system when what they need is treatment.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/12/20/the-prison-radio-station-that-s-reaching-men-on-death-row?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Keri Blakinger
The Marshall Project
20 December 2021
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
At Texas’ Polunsky Unit, 106.5FM The Tank is a prison radio station run by and for the prison's incarcerated men, including nearly 200 on death row for whom the radio's shows form "a community center for men who can never leave their cells." The death-row prisoners, like many others in the prison, live in solitary confinement with no access to classes, jobs, or TVs. But they are allowed radios, and the prison warden allowed the creation of The Tank using donated equipment. Shows range from advice and religion to music of all sorts. All the shows are recorded as a security precaution.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/burlington-vermont-defunded-police-force-s-happened-rcna8409?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Emily R. Siegel
Hannah Rappleye
Stephanie Gosk
NBC News
19 December 2021
Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes
In Burlington, a city of progressive politics with a police department long seen as forward-looking, city leaders' decision in June 2020 to respond to social-justice protests by cutting the police force by 30% has backfired in a number of ways. By moving quickly without an analysis of optimal staffing or how to shift duties to other agencies, the "defund police" measure prompted more police resignations than expected. Residents complain about conditions on downtown streets that make them feel unsafe. The city has since restored some of the police positions while moving more deliberately toward alternatives.
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/ideas-we-should-steal-citywide-restorative-justice?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jessica Blatt Press
The Philadelphia Citizen
16 December 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Modeled on a long-running and successful program in Oakland, Philadelphia schools' Relationships First program uses restorative justice to reform school discipline. The program follows a three-step approach to changing culture. At its core, teachers and students deepen their relationships so that when they use group dialogue to address the harm that people have caused, the chances for healing are greater. Violence has dropped when it was used in one Philadelphia neighborhood in cases of serious offenses. In Oakland, expulsions, suspensions, and racial disparities are all way down.
https://slate.com/business/2021/12/speed-limit-americas-most-broken-law-history.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Henry Grabar
Slate
15 December 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Lowering speed limits and aggressive traffic enforcement by police patrols have not succeeded at erasing America's exceptionally high traffic death rate. The 1974-95 mandate for a national 55-mph limit coincided with a steep drop in highway deaths. But its repeal did not reverse the trend, with deaths hitting a 40-year low in 2014. Speed remains a factor in about a quarter of highway deaths, which remain high by world standards. Speed cameras and automated ticketing for violations have worked in their limited use, just as they have in broader use in Europe. But they remain politically unpopular in the U.S.
https://www.modeldmedia.com/features/ClimateResiliencyHubs.aspx?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
David Sands
Model D
14 December 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
In Detroit, a coalition of nonprofits and organizations are coming together to transform buildings into resilience centers. A resilience center is a hub that people can go to for help, especially in moments of a natural emergency. In Detroit, the hubs are part of a response to the effects of climate change, which can leave people displaced. Some of the things people can find in a hub include emergency services, internet access, and workforce development.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/14/us/tornado-warnings.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Thomas Fuller
Tariro Mzezewa
The New York Times
14 December 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Advances in meteorological technology have helped drive down the fatality rate from tornadoes in the U.S. to a fraction of what it was a century ago. Violent tornadoes rarely evade advance detection, thanks to weather satellites, advances in radar, and a communication system to announce warnings. The deadly tornadoes that struck Kentucky and other states in December 2021 illustrate the ways in which even this system – one scientist called it "one of the most incredible success stories in applied science" – can fail, including when people ignore warnings or buildings cannot withstand the high winds.
https://primeprogressng.com/posts/this-ngos-strategy-helps-ex-convicts-avoid-repeating-crime-53?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ekpali Saint
Prime Progress
13 December 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
In the nine years since its founding, Dream Again Prison and Youth Initiative has helped more than 2,000 incarcerated Nigerians prepare for success in work and life after they leave prison. Using mental health support, vocational training, and financial aid after graduates leave prison, the program works in six prisons in an effort to combat the country's rising recidivism rate. Much of the focus is on helping would-be entrepreneurs start their own businesses rather than rely on existing businesses that may not want to give the formerly incarcerated a second chance.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/12/12/role-play-police-shootings?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Caren Chesler
The Washington Post
12 December 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Training courses based on role-playing that supplement classroom teaching have helped some police departments reduce incidents of unnecessary use of lethal force. In response to protests over police shootings, more departments are using a variety of courses that train officers to seek alternatives to shooting when they perceive a threat. The most expensive and intensive course uses live actors. Others use video and virtual reality headsets. The key to effectiveness is the realism of a training that lets officers repeatedly act out the lessons so that they become second nature.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article256411806.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Aaron Sánchez-Guerra
The News & Observer
11 December 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
The Wake County district attorney worked with criminal-justice reform groups to hold a "warrant clinic" where people could apply to void arrest warrants that could land them in jail, with all of the financial and social costs that come with that. About 45 of 160 applicants were approved in the process, which comes with multiple conditions limiting eligibility to people facing relatively minor charges who missed court dates or had similar reasons for getting named in a warrant. The organizers hope to continue the practice, which also saves the county money.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/18806/co-ops-stepping-in-to-solve-rural-internet-gaps-in-noxubee-nearby-counties?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Torsheta Jackson
Mississippi Free Press
10 December 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
A cooperative solution to provide broadband services to rural towns in the Golden Triangle of Mississippi is being funded by a federal program. The pandemic exacerbated the digital divide felt disproportionately by Black families struggling to access school, health, and remote work opportunities. Co-ops are member-owned, not-for-profit, electric companies that provide consistent broadband service to rural areas where big companies don’t operate due to a lack of profit.
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Burak Kebapci and SCY.
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Photo Credit: Sonia Narang
