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Susu as a Vehicle to Advance Economic Mobility

Nana AmaAddo

March 19, 2021 |

FunTimes Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

A traditional African method of mutual aid, Susu, is helping members of the African Diaspora access capital for businesses, education, housing, and more. The informal loan network enables people to contribute periodically to a group fund with each contributor taking turns receiving the collected money. The informal loan club is a centuries-old African tradition that serves as a security net and can also provide economic mobility.

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Pricey textbooks holding Fresno college students back. Could this fix the problem?

Ashleigh Panoo

March 19, 2021 |

The Fresno Bee |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Reedley, California

For many college students, the cost of a textbook is often cost-prohibitive and instructors are looking at ways to address that. At Reedley College in California, instructors are curating their own teaching content through the use of open educational resources, which "are openly licensed content, freely available online to be reused, adapted, redistributed, or changed without permission from the creator." This "Zero textbook cost course" approach has been used in 23 colleges in the state, and showed increases in students' grades.

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Green space in cities can bring considerable health benefits for communities, but access is unequal

Ambika Chawla

March 19, 2021 |

Ensia |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Platte Farm Open Space used to be a garbage dumping ground in Denver, but it’s now an urban green space thanks to the efforts from community members, organizations, and the government. This community-led project was able to secure funding to replace the contaminated land with fresh soil that now attracts animals and includes walking paths and a playground for children. This project offers lessons on how to build a green space in a diverse neighborhood and the health benefits that come from such an initiative.

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Hopeworks expands its outreach to support small businesses and fight regional poverty

Courtney Duchene

March 17, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Camden, New Jersey

Hopeworks is providing a paid job training program along with internship and employment opportunities in any of three businesses owned by the nonprofit. Hopeworks also provides living arrangements in a residential program where students, alumni, and interns can all live together. The nonprofit adopted a trauma-informed approach that allows participants to learn healthy coping mechanisms.

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The plus-size knitters who are solving an inclusivity problem

Mia Sato

March 10, 2021 |

The Verge |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Knitters are using social media, crowdsourcing, and spreadsheets to make the knitwear industry more inclusive of different body types. Designer Sarah Krentz offers patterns using an interactive spreadsheet where knitters fill in key measurements like bust, waist, and bicep circumference and the pattern automatically populates with the correct number of stitches and rows based on a pre-set formula created by Krentz. Fat Test Knits connects designers to plus size knitters who will test the patters. The site also serves as a bulletin board where moderators have vetted and shared over 500 patterns since 2019.

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California job seekers found new careers with help from a rent relief program. Here's how

Jeong Park

March 09, 2021 |

Sacramento Bee |

Multi-Media |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Stockton, California

Rent relief payments in California are helping public housing residents pursue full-time employment. The Jobs-Plus initiative provides payments that are conditional on enrolling in job training and placement programs. An increased income often disqualifies public housing residents from benefits and subsidies such as food stamps, childcare, and discounted rent rates which can negate the increased income from higher wages or more hours. Rent relief empowers residents to build a security net for themselves in addition to pursing full-time employment without the strain of losing much-needed benefits.

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This Ride-Hailing Platform Wants to be Better for Everyone, Starting with Drivers

Oscar Perry Abello

March 09, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

An equitable alternative to Uber and Lyft is giving drivers ownership of a ride-hailing platform with many perks that aren’t available to workers in the gig economy. The Drivers Cooperative is providing drivers with lower interest vehicle loans, better insurance rates, and a pilot program to test their own ride-hailing app.

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Colorado District Uses High School Apprentices to Grow Its Own More Diverse Teacher Workforce

Asher Lehrer-Small

March 09, 2021 |

The 74 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

The Cherry Creek School district is using apprenticeships to create a more racially diverse pipeline of K-12 educators in Colorado. High school juniors and seniors are paid to participate in the apprenticeship, and are able to earn college credit as well. This is one of the ways the district is working on having its workforce reflect its student bodies more accurately. Currently 85% of teachers are white, and half of its student body is kids of color. Now in its second year, the program has grown from an initial cohort of 12 youth apprentices to 26,

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OMOMi is leveraging digital technology to provide women with easy access to quality maternal health care

Paul Adepoju

March 08, 2021 |

Nigeria Health Watch |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

An app is offering reproductive healthcare help to women in Nigeria who don't always have access to reliable maternal and prenatal health information. While it does require the user to have access to technology, it has attracted 40,000 users so far, providing "pregnant women and mothers with access to life-saving maternal and child health information, as well as access to doctors with the touch of a button."

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Freedom Fund: Bringing Justice to Incarcerated LGBTQ Individuals

Lukas Matuszewski

March 08, 2021 |

StreetWise |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

The 2020 social justice uprisings drew attention, and donations, to bail funds, which use donations to bail people out of jail while their criminal charges or immigration cases are pending. One fund that benefited from this trend is the LGBTQ Freedom Fund, which focuses its financial aid and related social and educational services on LGBTQ people, given their high risks for incarceration and mistreatment in the criminal justice system. Since its 2017 founding, the fund has helped post bail for people in 15 states and its fund has grown to several million dollars.

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