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  • Western's sexual assault prevention program is up for renewal — does the online training do more harm than good?

    June 14, 2021 |

    The Front |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Bellingham, Washington

    Research shows that online training isn’t successful at changing attitudes or beliefs on sexual assault. This article takes an in-depth look at EverFi, an online sexual assault module that students at Western Washington University are required to take. The program is used at 1,300 other institutions. Researchers recommend programs that target specific individuals. Other methods that have been successful include implementing activities like group discussions, lectures, and policy changes. The programs should also take a long time to complete, for example, a semester-long training versus the few minutes,

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  • Federal program that helps farmers during the pandemic is changing the local food landscape

    June 13, 2021 |

    The Almanac |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    The Farmers to Family program, an initiative from the U.S Department of Agriculture set aside $3 billion for its Farmers to Families Food Box program, part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The program awarded contracts farmers and distributors to provide food for families experiencing food insecurity. The article lays out some of the challenges with the program like issues with how the contracts were awarded, difficulty coordinating between distributors and farmers, stringent requirements, as well as the quick, creative solutions that were deployed to overcome them.

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  • Reshaping mental health crisis response in Santa Cruz County

    June 11, 2021 |

    Santa Cruz Local |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Santa Cruz, California

    The nationwide 988 call system for suicide prevention and mental health crises will go live in July 2022, with federal funding available for certain local crisis response programs. Santa Cruz and Alameda counties already offer a variety of police and non-police teams that will either benefit from the new system or must adapt to the changes coming. Most of the non-police responses in the area operate only during daytime hours, and in the case of Santa Cruz's Mobile Emergency Response Team are not well known by the public. When police are the default responders, people may not get the care they need.

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  • The push to remake policing takes decades, only to begin again

    June 10, 2021 |

    The Washington Post |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New Jersey

    Three "historic firsts in policing reforms" show how attempts to root out systemic problems in policing can fail. In all three cases – federal intervention to curb civil rights abuses in Pittsburgh, a computerized early-warning system to spot abusive Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, and rules put in place to reduce racial profiling in New Jersey traffic stops – bureaucratic and leadership failures, plus cultural resistance to change in police ranks, undermined early successes or good intentions. In all three cases, the problems persist decades later.

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  • Mobile crisis response program draws national attention but still struggles with funding

    June 02, 2021 |

    Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) |

    Radio Talk Show |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

    The CAHOOTS program's national popularity as a model for diverting crisis calls from the police to unarmed teams of a medic and counselor belies its inability to fully serve its own community because of under-funding. Program director Ebony Morgan talks about the flip side of the program's cost savings for the city: unfairly low pay for its workers, long response times, and an inability to expand. The program's success with the community is built on trust that people in crisis will be helped rather than viewed as a threat. Morgan says the program itself needs to be valued more by city budget managers.

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  • Both lost jobs. She got paid. He waits. Where they live may be the reason why.

    June 01, 2021 |

    WTVR-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, South Carolina

    Four years before the pandemic caused unemployment compensation claims to spike, South Carolina took advantage of a federal grant to modernize its claims processing systems. That upgrade saved thousands of hours of time once claims rose sharply, which meant that people making legitimate claims got paid relatively quickly. That stands in contrast with the Virginia Employment Commission's huge backlog, which must be run through a decades-old system. The state was finally upgrading its systems when the pandemic put that work on hold, leaving some laid-off people in financial limbo for several months.

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  • The 40-Year-Old System: How an upgrade could help the VEC solve payment problems

    June 01, 2021 |

    WTVR-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, South Carolina

    If Virginia taxpayers who lost their jobs in the pandemic want to understand why their unemployment insurance payments lagged for months and why they couldn't get the Virginia Employment Commission on the phone, they could look to South Carolina. In 2017 that state took advantage of a grant to upgrade its computer systems. It was able to process payments much more quickly, needed many fewer call-center staff, and could help South Carolinians take advantage of enhanced pandemic benefits much sooner. Virginia has struggled to upgrade is decades-old systems, which were overwhelmed with calls and claims.

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  • St. Louis technology detects lots of gunfire, but calls often lead to a dead end

    May 31, 2021 |

    St. Louis Post-Dispatch |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

    St. Louis was one of the first cities to adopt ShotSpotter technology, which uses a network of microphones, software, and human monitors to detect and analyze gunshot sounds. The detection system summoned police more than 15,000 times last year. Only 1% of those calls in a 10-year span yielded enough evidence to result in a police report, and only 13 arrests resulted. There is no evidence that the system actually reduced gun violence. Advocates say the system, which costs St. Louis taxpayers and a nonprofit group more than $1 million per year, yields other useful intelligence and should be maintained.

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  • How Vancouver is protecting itself from future flooding — with plants

    May 27, 2021 |

    Pique Newsmagazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

    Large cities like Vacounver and Seattle are increasingly leaning towards "green infrastracture," a method of managing stormwater through natural systems like green roofs and rain gardens that absorb rainwater. Cities have traditionally relied on traditional sewage systems, but in the face of climate change, and more intense storms, its proving to be inadequate. Green infrascture lowers flood levels, filters out pollutants in the water, and regulates city temperature. In Seattle, an early adopter of green infrastructure, rain gardens absorbed 1.5 trillion liters of rainwate.

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  • 'Gang Contracts' in Cicero and Berwyn Schools Raise Concerns About Criminalization of Youth

    May 26, 2021 |

    Cicero Independiente |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cicero, Illinois

    "Gang contracts" are used by many schools as a way to tell students they are suspected of gang activity and must avoid such activity or face discipline or expulsion. Gang contracts have been put to extensive use in the high schools and middle schools of two towns, Cicero and Berwyn, that underwent large demographic shifts toward more Latinx residents since the 1990s. Meant to make schools safer and put students on a better path, they have been based often on vague, unsubstantiated suspicions in Cicero and Berwyn. Critics cite evidence that young people are wrongly criminalized and denied educations.

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