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://laist.com/how-to-new-la/reinvent/traffic-safety-los-angeles-police-roles-reexamined-vision-zero.php?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ryan Fonseca
LAist
24 September 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Five years after Los Angeles launched its Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities, the numbers of pedestrians and cyclists killed on city streets have soared. By relying too heavily on the racially fraught and often ineffective practice of police stops of vehicles, and by not spending enough on street redesigns and automated enforcement technologies, LA has failed to make the kind of progress that cities like New York and Seattle have made with engineering innovations, stricter speed limits, and camera enforcement.
https://www.thetrace.org/2020/09/covid-remote-learning-gun-violence-philadelphia-schools?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
J. Brian Charles
The Trace
24 September 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Remote learning during the pandemic robs teachers and counselors of face-to-face contact that can reveal serious problems in children's lives, and so Philadelphia schools created the Healing Together program to train teachers to spot problems over a video connection. With gun violence raging in the city, many children are suffering trauma that can affect their performance and well-being. Because physical school presence provides safety from the streets' dangers, there's an urgent need for trauma-informed teaching that requires new skills and strategies.
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2020/0924/The-Sudbury-model-How-one-of-the-world-s-major-polluters-went-green?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sara Miller Llana
Christian Science Monitor
24 September 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
After being known as a polluted mining town, politicians, scientists, industry officials, and residents of Sudbury, Ontario, were able to come together to restore its land. After 40 years and $33.5 million, they are about halfway through recovering about 200,000 acres of land. So far, they’ve been successful at restoring air quality, neutralizing soil to allow for replanting, and restocking lakes with fish. While some locals think the mining companies should have done more, the collaborative spirit could be a model for other communities looking to improve the environment.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/chicago-teens-unveil-vision-change-and-public-safety-in-their-neighborhood?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Zach Mortice
Next City
23 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
20 High School students enrolled in Territory, an urban design nonprofit, produced a zine and their own quality of life report for West Austin, where many of the students live. “They critiqued the city and institutions around them, and tracked threats to public safety posed by both a novel virus that’s disproportionately harmed disinvested, poor neighborhoods like Austin.” The students conducted interviews, surveys, and gathered community input to create the report. It includes sections on public safety, youth empowerment, and mental health.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200923-could-geoengineering-save-the-arctic-sea-ice?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Katarina Zimmer
BBC
23 September 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
The nonprofit Arctic Ice Project is testing an unusual approach to combat climate change: by scattering a thin layer of reflective glass powder over parts of the Arctic. By putting this material on top of the ice, they’re studying if the powder can protect the ice during the summer months and rebuild it over time. In one pond in Minnesota, just a few layers of the material made young ice 20 percent more reflective and delayed the melting of the ice. Other scientists question the impact the material can have on the Arctic ecosystem, but the approach could be a way to counteract the effects of global warming.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/waiving-regulations-for-affordable-housing-shows-results-in-austin?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jared Brey
Next City
22 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Affordable housing requirements for developers were eased in Austin through legislation known as Affordability Unlocked. As a result of less stringent parking, set-back and height codes, developers are able to maximize the number of units per building and deliver a bigger impact per project. These projects are generally built through government subsidies, therefore giving tax payers a higher return on investment.
https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/how-a-housing-first-strategy-could-save-domestic-violence-survivors-during-a-pandemic?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Conor Morris
The Land
22 September 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
To provide emergency housing to domestic violence victims without crowding them into shelters during the pandemic, Ohio victim-aid groups have helped hundreds of families to flee violence and find safe housing in subsidized apartments or short-term hotel stays. One program, the REACH Rapid Rehousing program, has given rental assistance to more than 100 families in rural counties who need but cannot afford permanent alternative housing. Another, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, has housed 126 families in hotels for up to two weeks at a time.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/22/metro/states-emergency-child-care-centers-kept-covid-19-check-heres-how?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Stephanie Ebbert
The Boston Globe
22 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Emergency child-care centers in Massachusetts have recorded only a small handful of cases of COVID-19 due to strict adherence to safety measures. Most notably, the centers have implemented a combination of contact tracing and mandatory two-week quarantine for anyone who could have been exposed, which applies to all school personnel, students, teachers, and family members.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/09/22/how-did-these-students-get-the-city-to-change-the-name-of-douglass-park-by-building-collective-power-and-not-backing-down?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Pascal Sabino
Block Club Chicago
22 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Chicago students organized and, for the first time, convinced the city to rename a park in honor of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass. The former Douglas Park was named after a Civil War era Illinois senator who advocated to expand slavery, and whose wife owned slaves. Not daunted by the city’s bureaucracy, the students canvassed in their community and gathered over 10,000 signatures for a petition to change the park’s name. The campaign, which began in 2017, was much harder and longer than the students anticipated, but by forming a coalition and continuing to speak out they persevered.
https://missionlocal.org/2020/09/the-shared-spaces-program-a-crisis-driven-experiment-that-could-permanently-change-san-franciscos-urban-landscape?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Hayden Manseau
Mission Local
22 September 2020
Text / Under 800 Words
The Shared Spaces program is a pandemic-driven initiative that increases outdoor dining space in commercial areas. The initiative made the permit process more user friendly and less expensive. Over 1,200 outdoor dining applications were approved in three months, which is more than the city approved in 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased capacity of outdoor dining seating takes away other public spaces, usually parking and driving space, but the program’s success has helped businesses survive pandemic-related restrictions and officials are assessing the program to maintain it moving forward.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/black-male-teachers-philadelphia-boys-latin-charter-20200922.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Maddie Hanna
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network)
22 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Data shows that nationally only 2% of public-school teachers are Black men. To fill that gap, Boys’ Latin, a charter school in Philadelphia, launched a program that creates teaching positions for Black men who want to teach. Research shows that having Black teachers in the classroom decreases the likelihood that Black boys will drop out of high school. “With students at Boys’ Latin, “there’s still work to be done” to forge a connection, said Fletcher, who is teaching Latin to ninth and 10th graders. “But one of those walls is down, because he sees me like I see him.”
https://www.educationnext.org/rise-dual-credit-more-students-take-college-classes-high-school-degree-attainment-rigor?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Kelly Field
Education Next
22 September 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Dual credit classes were a response to the increasing costs of attending college and university and to make postsecondary education more accessible to low-income students. Although, low-income and minority students are still having trouble accessing dual credit courses, research shows they have some level of success. “Research shows that students who take dual credit courses are more likely to enroll in and complete college than students who don’t—and to finish faster, too.”
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