SamTrans prepares to roll out 10 electric buses in fleet-replacement program
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SamTrans-prepares-to-roll-out-10-electric-buses-13309494.php?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rachel Swan
SF Chronicle
15 October 2018
Text / Under 800 Words
In California, Governor Jerry Brown has implemented a deadline to have "all transit agencies to eliminate carbon emissions" by 2040. San Mateo County is moving towards this goal by releasing a fleet of electric buses.
A new house for $286,000? With sweat equity and creative financing, a nonprofit developer aids veterans
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-veterans-housing-santa-clarita-20181014-story.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Doug Smith
Los Angeles Times
14 October 2018
Text / 800-1500 Words
After the army, plenty of military families struggle to buy homes. In Southern California, that’s changing. The non-profit Homes 4 Families acquires funding from the government, good development deals, and donations in order to build communities of homes that are affordable to veterans. The veterans put in 500 hours of physical and emotional labor, include support groups, and are rewarded with homes they can afford in a neighborhood of families with whom they share a common bond.
The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is Given a Job
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/how-berea-college-makes-tuition-free-with-its-endowment/572644?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Adam Harris
The Atlantic
11 October 2018
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Berea College is unique for a number of reasons - in the South, it was the first integrated, co-educational college. But perhaps Berea is best known for its tuition-free structure, made possible by endowment investment earnings and a universal work-study program. Without Berea's unique history, can other schools successfully adopt this model?
Meet Hew Locke, the Artist Who Dresses Up 'Patriotic' Statues to Reveal Their Whitewashed Histories
https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/hew-locke-1369636?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Javier Pes
Artnet
11 October 2018
Text / 800-1500 Words
British artist Hew Locke covers photographs of public monuments in a ‘costume’ of plastic, metal, and glass. Through these alterations, Love unearths and presents often forgotten, brutal parts of the person’s biography such as slavery or medical experimentation.
To Help Immigrants Feel Safer Around Police, Some Churches Start Issuing IDs
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/11/656533178/to-help-immigrants-feel-safer-around-police-some-churches-start-issuing-ids?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Laurel Wamsley
NPR
11 October 2018
Text / Under 800 Words
The Archdiocese of Baltimore is set to start issuing parishioner ID cards in a program modeled off a similar one in Texas. The ID cards include a name, address, and birth date and are meant for undocumented immigrants to feel safer around law enforcement.
To Protect the Environment, Buddhist Monks Are Ordaining Trees
https://sojo.net/articles/protect-environment-buddhist-monks-are-ordaining-trees?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
August Rick
Sojourners
11 October 2018
Text / 800-1500 Words
In Cambodia, it is Buddhist tradition and protocol to ordain a tree when a new monk was inducted. Since it is taboo to harm a monk, this practice inadvertently doubled as a conservation tactic by preventing deforestation ongoings, eventually leading those of this faith to be dubbed ecology monks.
Unprotected
https://features.propublica.org/liberia/unprotected-more-than-me-katie-meyler-liberia-sexual-exploitation?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Finlay Young
ProPublica
11 October 2018
Mixed Media / Over 3000 Words
Created to “help some of the world’s most vulnerable children get off the street and into school," More Than Me Foundation exposed its students to widespread sexual abuse by an influential staffer. The charity lacked board members and top leadership with experience running schools and resisted being held accountable for the abuse.
Coming To The Right Answer By Themselves: Talking With Boys About Sexual Assault
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/655932709/talking-with-boys-about-sexual-assault-and-consent?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jeff Brady
NPR
10 October 2018
Radio / Under 5 Minutes
To change the way that young boys and men are taught about consent and sexual assault, a youth group in Philadelphia is hosting conversations, fostering dialogues, and ultimately letting them come to the "right answer" on their own. These groups are working to shift the overall culture surrounding these issues, and the youth involved are responding.
How to grapple with soaring world population? An answer from down south
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/10/how-to-grapple-with-soaring-world-population-an-answer-from-down-south?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nicola Davis
The Guardian
10 October 2018
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Botswana stands out for its rapidly falling fertility rate; a complex set of factors, including increased access to comprehensive education and contraception, is driving the falling rate. The country's family planning programs are far-reaching, providing services in even rural areas of Botswana, and giving women more control of their reproductive health and choices.
Fixing the Problems We Can Fix
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/fixing-the-problems-we-can-fix?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
The Philadelphia Citizen
10 October 2018
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A Philadelphia non-profit is targeting young people who struggle when leaving the foster care system and providing them with comprehensive services to help them transition into independent living successfully; that includes helping them find jobs, homes, and more. The program is based off a model from Youth Villages, a national nonprofit, and is showing impressive results - for example, "90 percent of the youth who joined the program were in need of stable housing; now, 35 percent have their own homes, and the rest live with family, former foster families or in supervised independent living."
Why Public Transportation Works Better Outside the U.S.
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/10/while-america-suffocated-transit-other-countries-embraced-it/572167?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jonathan English
CityLab
10 October 2018
Text / 1500-3000 Words
American cities could find solutions to low transit use by looking to other cities in Europe and Canada where the focus is on robust service and getting people to major transit hubs. These systems don’t necessarily require gigantic new projects, but rather they can use existing infrastructure and space strategically so transit is actually useful, efficient and affordable. This in turn means more people are likely to use it because service is better.
This Radical Bank Will Free People Of Debt By Literally Blowing It Up
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/radical-bank-prints-money-exploding-public-debt-hscb-london_us_5bbc85f4e4b028e1fe414d0b?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sarah Shearman
The Huffington Post
10 October 2018
Text / 800-1500 Words
The Hoe Street Central Bank is an artist run project that raises money through events taking place in a former bank and sells prints designed to mimic paper money. Through the money they raise, the organization buys and eliminates private debt as well as makes donations to organizations affected by austerity measures.
