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.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/georgia-democrat-blue-abrams-domestic-worker?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Becca Andrews
Mother Jones
March-April 2021 Issue
Text / 800-1500 Words
The domestic worker advocacy group, Care in Action, fell short in their goal to elect Stacey Abrams in 2018, which motivated them to mobilize an effective GOTV campaign in 2020. Over 250 of their members canvassed local neighborhoods each day, knocking on over 1 million doors. Overall, the group contacted 5.85 million voters by phone, mail, or in person. The group prioritized making connections with people historically overlooked in the political process and the member organizers make meaningful connections as canvassers because they share similar challenges and concerns as the people whose homes they visit.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-mass-self-testing-for-covid-19-keep-schools-safe-11613908800?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ruth Bender
Wall Street Journal
21 February 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Schools in Austria are teaching schoolchildren how to use noninvasive antigen tests to test themselves for COVID-19, in an attempt to keep schools open and coronavirus spread low. Although some question how reliable these tests are, a few hundred cases have been detected so far and almost all parents and teachers "have embraced the testing offer."
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/instead-of-eviction-landlords-and-tenants-talk-it-out?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Emily Nonko
Reasons to be Cheerful
19 February 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Philadelphia's Eviction Diversion Program has helped keep more than 400 landlord-tenant disputes out of eviction court proceedings, mainly by using volunteer mediators to work out mutually agreeable plans for tenants to get caught up on their rent payments. The program started last year as a way to keep people housed during the pandemic. By giving landlords and tenants a place to talk out their issues without the expense and repercussions of going to court, and by connecting tenants with rent-assistance aid, the program's launch was successful enough to win an extension throughout 2021.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-freeze-power-grid-failure-electricity-market-incentives-11613777856?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Katherine Blunt
Russell Gold
Wall Street Journal
19 February 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A historic cold snap in Texas revealed cracks in the state’s free-market energy system, which left millions powerless during the storm. Critics of the state’s system say “the alphabet soup of Texas energy oversight bodies” led to inaction and there was a lack of preparation from plant owners to ensure that they could continue to operate in extreme heat and cold weather.
https://youtu.be/Ust6Bh1D3GY?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jacqueline Baylon
Business Insider
19 February 2021
Video / 5-15 Minutes
A Ugandan company called TEXFAD is taking the stems from banana trees that would normally go to waste and is turning them into new textiles like rugs, place mats, and hair extensions. Over its eight year existence, TEXFAD has grown to also employ 23 people, many of whom started in their internship program for students. While the cost to make these products can be expensive, the textiles are biodegradable and uses less water and land to produce.
https://news.trust.org/item/20210219063538-fwb8z?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rina Chandran
Thomson Reuters Foundation
19 February 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
“More than 107,600 people were forcibly removed from their homes in India in 2019.” Evictions can have devastating effects on a student’s access to education, forcing some to drop out of school. In Delhi, a city in India, a school was built by students, community members, and volunteers using locally-sourced materials. The community had been forcibly removed from their homes, and the students were left without a school. "Not only was this approach the most affordable, it also helped create a sense of ownership and pride within the community."
https://thecounter.org/pandemic-us-fisheries-covid-19-seafood-csf?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Katarina Zimmer
The Counter
18 February 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
To weather the uncertainties of the pandemic and geopolitical trade disputes, many small, locally-operated fisheries in the United States have upended the way they do business by selling their catches directly to consumers. For example, OC Wild Seafood in California started to sell its spiny lobsters locally. Though the logistics and regulations can make fish-to-dish initiatives challenging, many community-supported fisheries saw an increase in sales and customers in 2020.
https://beltmag.com/flint-community-water-lab-trust?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nina Misuraca Ignaczak
Belt Magazine
18 February 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A community-based water testing and lead-education pilot program aimed to rebuild confidence and trust among Flint residents, who are skeptical of state-affiliated testing. Trained students collected water samples that were tested by University of Michigan labs. Educational materials provided with results included how to install, maintain, and use filters. While most samples didn't show issues, households with dangerous lead levels were given bottled water, filters, and other services. Once the pilot ended, the Mckenzie Patrice-Croom Water Lab secured funding to continue free community-based water testing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/politics/college-admissions-poor-students.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Erica L. Green
The New York Times
18 February 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
About “1,500 (High School) students from 75 of the nation’s poorest schools in 35 cities,” are enrolling in college courses in elite universities like Harvard and Colombia through an initiative started by a nonprofit—and succeeding. The aim of the program is to prepare underprivileged students for the rigors of college education, and give them a confidence boost before they enter college. They complete the same coursework as the college students and get a grade. “All of these schools talk this game, ‘We want diversity, but we can’t find these kids,’ and this proves they can build a pipeline."
https://tol.org/client/article/integration-starts-in-the-village.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Teresa Di Mauro
Heydar Isayev
Transitions Online
18 February 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Ethnic Azeri students face disproportionate barriers in achieving university education compared to Georgians. One of those reasons is due to language barriers. Isolated from Georgian society, it's not uncommon for Azeri communities to not speak Georgian fluently. “Dashdemirli, 29, an ethnic Azeri and a Georgian-language teacher, transformed a part of his house into an educational center.” The center has now expanded into a network of multiple centers. One center serves as many as 160 children. It’s working. Some of the centers had a 100% success rate in helping Azeri students enter college.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-17/how-plywood-from-boarded-up-stores-gets-reused?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Linda Poon
CityLab
17 February 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
In the months after businesses covered their storefronts with plywood as cities erupted in social-justice protests, environmental and other community groups in many cities organized recycling campaigns to reuse the plywood rather than see it end up in landfills. Twin Cities Plywood Rescue in Minnesota, the heart of the protests, collected 642 sheets of plywood and donated it to nonprofits for use in building construction. Other cities' collections have ended up as voter registration booths, outdoor-dining furniture, and animal enclosures.
https://theappeal.org/the-lab/explainers/crime-free-housing-ordinances-explained?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Deborah N. Archer
The Appeal
17 February 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Starting in the early 1990s, thousands of American towns and cities passed "crime-free housing" ordinances that purport to reduce crime in rental housing. The laws encourage or require landlords to evict tenants based on calls to police, or the criminal records of tenants or their houseguests. The laws' lack of due process has turned them into a tool promoting segregation and retaliation against people of color. Frequently enacted in places that have begun to diversify racially, they give police too much power to declare certain residences a nuisance. Legal challenges have begun to curb some abuses.
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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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.
Photos are licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) and are credited to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Conference attendee listening to speaker, Jenifer Daniels / Colorstock getcolorstock.com.
Photo Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images
Photo Credit: Sonia Narang
