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.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 in 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://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://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.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/18/metro/how-teachers-are-bringing-lessons-racial-justice-uprisings-into-classroom?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Deanna Pan
The Boston Globe
21 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Teachers across Massachusetts are finding ways to incorporate antiracist practices into their curriculum. An English teacher at Newton High School is replacing required reading materials produced by white male authors with texts from authors like Sandra Cisneros, Langston Hughes and other authors of color. A physics teacher at Brookline High School is sharing more stories about scientists of color and teaching students about "naming conventions in scientific laws and theorems rooted in European colonization."
https://www.richlandsource.com/solutions/how-a-neighborhood-collaborative-transformed-a-small-town/article_5d61ed4e-f3a2-11ea-b74e-67f1af5b5a12.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Katie Ellington
Richland Source
21 September 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Residents are using dollar-for-dollar matching grants to spruce up their homes in Fulton, NY, resulting in higher home values, higher morale and the formation of neighborhood collaborations. The grants are granted to entire neighborhoods with the condition that at least half the residents sign up for the challenge. The initiative strives to create a ripple effect that eventually revitalizes the city.
https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/scientists-work-in-arizona-to-reshape-desert-food-production/article_a7dcbbe1-9c5d-5951-b799-b0b7de632aca.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Henry Brean
Arizona Daily Star
20 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
In an experimental garden in Arizona, scientists are seeing how to produce sustainable and local food in a desert environment. They’re growing plants under a photovoltaic “canopy” of solar panels that provide necessary shade for the crops and, at the same time, generate cheap, renewable energy for irrigation systems and farm equipment. So far, they’ve been able to grow basil, Anasazi red beans, and a special bell pepper. While not all crops will work in this system and scaling the garden has its challenges, learning how to grow food in the desert is necessary to adapt to a future with climate change.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/19/vigilantes-on-a-mission-to-reunite-owners-with-their-stolen-bikes?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Donna Ferguson
The Guardian
19 September 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Facebook groups are reuniting bicycle-theft victims with their property by creating a place to report thefts and alerting others to be on the lookout for the bikes. A pandemic-inspired boom in bicycling, as a means to avoid public transportation, has fed a concurrent boom in bike thefts. Police praise the Facebook groups' public spirit and effectiveness, but warn of risks when confronting those trying to sell stolen bikes. More than 90% of bike theft reports to police hit a dead end, lowering faith in the police as a solution.
https://www.rrstar.com/news/20200919/program-offers-alternative-to-calling-police?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jeff Kolkey
Rockford Register Star
19 September 2020
Text / Under 800 Words
For 31 years, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has used unarmed medics and crisis intervention experts to respond to mental health and other non-violent crises, saving money and preventing potentially violent reactions that can result from having police respond first. No effects on police officers' use of force have been measured. But CAHOOTS estimates it saves taxpayers $8.5 million annually in police costs.
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