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.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/searching-with-the-mothers-of-mexicos-disappeared?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ana Karina Zatarain
The New Yorker
5 August 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Las Rastreadoras de El Fuerte is a group of about 200 members, mostly mothers whose children are among the more than 73,000 people who have disappeared and presumably were murdered in Mexico's long drug war. Las Rastreadoras search the countryside for the unmarked graves of the missing, hoping to find their own children, often finding others'. In six years, they have found 198 bodies, 120 of whom were identified. What began spontaneously as one woman's search, then a group effort, has become a way to heal from the pain of what a psychologist calls "ambiguous loss" as well as an act of political activism.
https://missionlocal.org/2020/08/locals-who-know-sunnydales-housing-projects-well-flattened-a-covid-19-outbreak?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Lydia Chavez
Mission Local
5 August 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Community leaders in Sunnydale, CA contained a coronavirus scare through swift responses, appeals to the community, contact tracing and establishing neighborhood test sites. An emphasis on public education in the neighborhood was also essential to the efforts. The hyperlocal response, which was unique to the community and catered to its needs, was lauded by health workers.
https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/surveillance-planes-watch-over-baltimore-but-catch-few-criminals?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
J. Cavanaugh Simpson
Baltimore Magazine
5 August 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
In the first half of a six-month experiment, Baltimore's use of "wide-area surveillance" using video cameras flying above city streets to aid in crime investigations has led to only one arrest. The city's police commissioner doubts the city will agree to pay for the surveillance itself once private funding for the pilot project runs out, but he says the data collected in the experiment needs to play out. The experiment is aimed at Baltimore's high rates of gun violence. Besides its effectiveness, critics worry about its privacy implications and that it targets mostly Black neighborhoods.
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/07/oakland-ceasefire-shootings-murder-rate-social-services-life-coach-boston-miracle-thomas-abt-david-kennedy-cat-brooks?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Samantha Michaels
Mother Jones
31 July 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
After two failed attempts, Oakland Ceasefire retooled its approach and since 2013 has been a significant factor in lowering homicides and nonfatal shootings. The program, used in various ways in many cities, identifies young men at high risk of getting shot or shooting others and then offers them life coaching and social services to keep them out of trouble. By de-emphasizing the role of police, pinpointing those most in need of help, boosting community involvement, and forming deeper personal relationships, the program is credited with a 32% reduction in gun homicides over a six-year study.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/how-a-packed-slum-in-mumbai-beat-back-the-coronavirus-as-indias-cases-continue-to-soar/2020/07/30/da859532-d039-11ea-826b-cc394d824e35_story.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Niha Masih
The Washington Post
31 July 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
The population of Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, made the region a hotspot for coronavirus transmission, but local officials' aggressive action plan – which included testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and increased sanitation efforts – helped quell the spread of the virus. Although the process was challenging for local doctors and the shutdown of normal day-to-day routines had a negative impact on the region's economy, Dharavi has already been able to begin the process of reopening.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/how-a-rapid-response-team-in-chicago-is-working-to-fix-decades-of-neglect-in-black-latinx-communities?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Dorothy Tucker
Samah Assad
Carol Thompson
WBBM-TV
31 July 2020
Broadcast TV News / 5-15 Minutes
Spurred by the high concentration of COVID-19 deaths in Black and Latinx neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West sides, city government teamed with multiple community groups to form a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team to distribute protective gear, food, financial aid, and other help in the hard-hit neighborhoods. The help included more than 1 million masks, 6,000 boxes of food, 250,000 information flyers, laptops and free internet access, and $380,000 to help pay rent and utilities. The deaths and desperate need for help stem directly from decades of racial disparities in food and health care access.
https://thecorrespondent.com/622/heres-a-radical-idea-that-will-change-policing-transform-prisons-and-reduce-crime-treat-criminals-like-human-beings/765889997422-dc5fcc17?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rutger Bregman
The Correspondent
31 July 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Comparing Norway's and the United States' approaches to prisons and policing puts the lie to the American notion that being tough and unrelentingly punitive effectively addresses crime. In Norway, even people imprisoned for violent crimes, in maximum-security prisons, are treated with respect and kindness, with privileges that would be unthinkable in most American prisons. The results are telling: Norway's recidivism rate, the lowest in the world, is less than one-third of the U.S. rate. While prison costs are far higher per capita, the ultimate costs in lower crime make the Norwegian approach affordable.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-30/new-york-tries-police-alternatives-to-stop-crime?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Henry Goldman
CityLab
30 July 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
In New York City, 14 organizations have more than 200 people performing street outreach to intervene in potentially deadly gun crimes in at least 20 of the city's most violent "hot spots." These "violence interrupters" mediate disputes and offer social services in a process that relies on former gang members and others with street experience rather than police. While studies have shown mixed evidence of success, New York's programs have been credited with significant crime decreases. With violence on the rise after a long decline, the city is upping its budget for these programs to $39 million.
https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1201942/how-lithuanian-farmers-help-preserve-endangered-bird?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Izabelė Pukėnaitė
Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT)
30 July 2020
Multi-Media / Under 800 Words
A Lithuanian government program pays farmers to delay working in their fields in an effort to preserve the aquatic warbler, an endangered bird species. While there are 186 farmers who participate in the program, more work could be done to protect the birds around water bodies. Once farmers are able to cut their grass, they can bring their grass to a factory to make biofuel.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/30/use-of-plastic-bags-in-england-drops-by-59-in-a-year?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rebecca Smithers
The Guardian
30 July 2020
Text / Under 800 Words
The sales of single-use plastic bags has dropped by more than 95 percent in England’s supermarkets since 2015 when a monetary fee was introduced to encourage shoppers to reduce their plastic waste. Despite this reduction, research suggests that the amount of plastic waste in the world’s oceans was still likely to triple in volume in the next 20 years.
https://theappeal.org/the-defund-movement-aims-to-change-the-policing-and-prosecution-of-domestic-violence?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jessica Pishko
The Appeal
28 July 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Criminalizing domestic violence was considered a feminist-inspired advance for crime victims, but making arrests and prosecution the main responses to the problem has backfired in many ways. With funding and attention focused on punishment, other services for victims have been neglected. And expecting victims will aid in a prosecution, even jailing them for refusing, can ignore the rational choices many victims make for non-cooperation, based on their desire for safety, financial and housing security, to avoid maltreatment by police, and other reasons that point toward more promising responses.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200728-the-mythical-creatures-that-protect-the-philippines?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Arnel Murga
BBC
28 July 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Conservations in the Philippines are using indigenous beliefs known as “mariit” — which is the belief that nature is inhabited by unseen dwellers and should be respected and taken care of — to protect the country’s endangered species. The Mariit Wildlife and Conservation Park serves as a refuge for at least 62 animals and the Taklong Island Marine Natural Reserve is a breeding ground for fish species caught outside its boundary. Experts caution though that mariit can have a positive impact on the environment, sometimes the beliefs can undermine science-based conservation activities.
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It may take a few weeks to see your piece in the Solutions Story Tracker®, as we have a backlog of submissions longer than Ben Hur that we’re diligently working to eliminate. We appreciate your patience.Our issue area taxonomy was adapted from the PCS Taxonomy with definitions by the Foundation Center, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
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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
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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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Photo Credit: Sonia Narang
