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.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/how-camden-new-jersey-reformed-its-police-department?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sarah Holder
Bloomberg Businessweek
4 June 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Since Camden began addressing its high homicide rate in 2012 with closer collaboration with the community and stricter rules on the use of force, both murders and complaints about police have fallen dramatically. As part of what is considered some of the most extensive police reforms in the country, the city put more police on the streets. That had both good outcomes (interactions outside of crises) and bad (a troubling increase in low-level arrests). But, when many cities’ police-brutality protests in 2020 turned violent, Camden’s did not.
https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/health-care/2020/06/01/amid-covid-19-montrose-area-resources-step-up-support-for-vulnerable-populations-in-lgbtq-community?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Emma Whalen
Impact Storytelling
1 June 2020
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The Montrose Center in Texas, which provides LGBTQ support services, has turned to the use of technology to keep resources available during the coronavirus pandemic. Virtual support groups have been one of their most successful innovations, with providers reporting that attendance at times has been higher than for in-person sessions.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jamiles Lartey
Maggie Koerth
The Marshall Project
1 June 2020
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Half a century of research showing the dynamics of how protesters and police interact under pressure teaches that when police respond with escalating force, it doesn’t work. But police continue to lean on such tactics out of instinct and culture, even in the face of strong evidence that they often instigate the very riots they ostensibly seek to prevent. Defusing tension is no simple matter, and officer safety concerns are often legitimate. But much can be learned from common mistakes and from some model strategies that have been deployed successfully.
http://nmindepth.com/2020/06/01/nm-jail-populations-plummet-amid-joint-efforts-to-avoid-covid-19-outbreak-positive-test-rates-are-low?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jeff Proctor
New Mexico In Depth
1 June 2020
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New Mexico criminal justice officials joined forces to lower local jail populations by one-third in just 11 weeks, a rushed COVID-19 response that not only seems to have prevented widespread illness but also led law enforcement officials to question whether they need to lock up so many people in the future. Prosecutors, police, and county jails arrested fewer people, released low-risk inmates, and suspended “warrant sweeps” and jailing people for technical probation and parole violations. With 27 jails less than half-full, a top prosecutor acknowledged the virus response may turn into standard practice.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/nyregion/newark-peaceful-protests-george-floyd.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Tracey Tully
Kevin Armstrong
The New York Times
1 June 2020
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Through a combination of protesters’ vigilance, mayoral leadership, anti-violence interventions, and de-escalation by police, Newark managed to avoid the violence that marred other cities’ responses in the initial burst of protest after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd. Newark has worked in recent years to reduce street violence using trained mediators. That team, aided by a resolve among protesters to prevent widespread looting and vandalism, helped prevent all but minor problems and arrests in the first volatile weekend of protests.
https://hechingerreport.org/this-school-was-on-its-way-to-a-turnaround-until-the-coronavirus-struck?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Amadou Diallo
The Hechinger Report
1 June 2020
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
When the John Q. Adams Middle School in Louisiana received a D rating, a new principal stepped in to restructure and address the ongoing issues with staff and students and was seeing success—but that changed when the pandemic hit and the school was unable to shift to remote learning. Progress started by holding one-on-one sessions with all staff and administrators at the school, tidying up the campus, and by approaching school discipline with a perspective that is conducive to long-term positive change.
https://www.silive.com/coronavirus/2020/05/from-dance-to-karate-schools-keeping-kids-active-with-online-sessions-amid-coronavirus.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jordan Hafizi
Staten Island Advance
31 May 2020
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
Dance, karate, and music instructors in Staten Island, New York are adapting and shifting the ways they deliver lessons to work within the virtual landscape their students, and the rest of society, are living in due to the pandemic. Some of the new ways these instructors have approached lesson delivery include using Google Classroom, developing a new music-specific learning platform, and incorporating more classes normally not offered.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-05-31/remote-distance-learning-digital-education-covid-19-coronavirus?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Deborah Sullivan Brennan
The San Diego Union-Tribune
31 May 2020
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
As teachers have shifted their classrooms to remote learning during the pandemic, the challenge of keeping students actively engaged and interested remains. For some teachers in California this included enhancing lessons by taking students on a virtual field trips, hosting online poetry slams and workshops featuring prominent local artists, and even meeting students at the "place" they seem to be frequenting the most, the popular visual social media platform TikTok.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/asia/coronavirus-vietnam-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nectar Gan
CNN
30 May 2020
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
Thanks to a speedy early containment effort, rigorous contact tracing and quarantine policies, and effective public communications, Vietnam suffered zero COVID-19 deaths through the first four-plus months of the crisis and a relatively low infection rate overall. The country’s success, notable especially in light of its modest economic and healthcare conditions, began with a strict three-week national lockdown. Since then, businesses and schools reopened, under social-distancing rules. Throughout, the country's elaborate propaganda network spread hygiene messages to a public accustomed to viral outbreaks.
https://religionnews.com/2020/05/30/how-coronavirus-and-the-fight-to-protect-alaskas-wilderness-is-reviving-one-tribes-spiritual-tradition?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Daysha Eaton
Religion News Service
30 May 2020
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To the Gwich’in Athabascan people living inside the Arctic Circle in Alaska, the decades-long fight against oil drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) represents more than an environmental struggle: It has sparked a spiritual and cultural renaissance among indigenous people whose customs had been discouraged since colonial days. Young Gwich’in have worked to revive their language, self-sufficiency, and traditional arts and crafts. The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened their commit to respond to threats to their way of life.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/30/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Shaila Dewan
Serge Kovaleski
The New York Times
30 May 2020
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Derek Chauvin's journey through the Minneapolis Police Department’s officer-disciplinary system illustrates the weaknesses of that system and the failure of efforts to fix it. Chauvin, the officer charged in the death of George Floyd, survived at least 17 misconduct complaints before he was fired for killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Critics charge the department never complied with recommendations by federal analysts to improve the tracking and disciplining of problem officers. That and other administrative failures are coupled with political and cultural barriers to neuter many reform ideas.
https://www.equaltimes.org/how-kerala-managed-to-flatten-the?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Oscar Espinosa
Laura Fornell
Equal Times
29 May 2020
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
The local government in Kerala implemented swift and aggressive measures to contain the coronavirus, within three days of learning that China was experiencing an outbreak. The success of the state is largely due to the way the government functions under the "Kerala model," which is a culmination of "decades of progressive politics and an egalitarian development strategy." Although the curve has been flattened, there are still significant socio-economic ramifications that are posing a challenge to recovery.
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Fondriest Environmental, David De Wit / Community Eye Health, Linda Steil / Herald Post, John Amis / UGA College of Ag & Environmental Sciences – OCCS, Andy B, Peter Garnhum, Thomas Hawk, 7ty9, Isriya Paireepairit, David Berger, UnLtd The Foundation For Social Entrepreneurs, Michael Dunne, Burak Kebapci, and Forrest Berkshire / U.S. Army Cadet Command public affairs
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
