Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 158 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

‘There's so much gratitude': engineer who created viral vaccine site for $50

Miranda Bryant

March 01, 2021 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

Frustrated with the Covid-19 vaccination system in New York, a local software engineer created a "much-needed vaccination appointment-finding bot" that shares available times and locations on a website and Twitter. Although the website was not built "in the way that modern websites are supposed to be built," it has still been extremely popular and users have reported successfully booking appointments because of it.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system

Danny Westneat

February 17, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Retired software engineers in Washington have joined together and created a website that aggregates all available COVID vaccine appointments by using "screen scrapers." Although the site doesn't allow the visitor to book an appointment, it has routinely averaged "10,000 visits a day from anxious shot hunters."

Read More
Go to Original Story
Boosting Voter Turnout: Seth Flaxman

Richard Davies Jim Meigs

February 13, 2021 |

How Do We Fix It? |

Podcast |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

Democracy Works has a suite of programs that make it easier to vote. TurboVote helps its 7 million subscribers easily register to vote by taking them to their state's online registration site or by sending them the paperwork with envelopes pre-addressed to their county election office. The service also sends emails and texts to remind users to vote, as well as with other deadlines and their polling location. Their Voting Information Project provides data for all districts in the U.S. that groups, such as Google and Facebook, use to provide their users with their polling place location information.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Worried about losing engagement with COVID remote learning? A school district created an app for that

April Barton

February 08, 2021 |

Burlington Free Press |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, San Antonio, Texas

The San Antonio Independent School District developed an app to help combat the Covid-slide among its students, including English Language Learning students. The app tracks interactions, class attendance, and completed assignments, but also correspondence and in-person interactions. Administrators took the data collected on its close to 50,000 students and developed strategies to direct special attention or make contact with students with decreased engagement. Out of 48,000 students, only 142 didn't have a contact log.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How a better headcount reduces homelessness in the US

Carey L. Biron

February 02, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

The “Built for Zero” campaign relies on frequently updated data collection and a streamlining of homelessness services to reduce the number of unhoused people living on the streets to “functional zero.” The data is housed in one central command center with various agencies, nonprofits, and government offices working together to ensure no one falls through the cracks.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How Covid turbocharged the QR revolution

David Silverberg

January 22, 2021 |

BBC |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

Quick Response (QR) codes have become a popular way to conduct contactless business, and even contact tracing, during the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants and retail stores allow customers to order and pay by scanning the codes with their smart devices, which pulls funds from payment accounts like PayPal, or their bank account, debit, or credit card. Public health agencies in the UK display QR codes that people can scan to “check in” and if someone tests positive for Covid-19 at that location people who scanned the code within 21 days are notified. QR codes hold massive amounts of data reliably and cheaply.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Is There a Better Way to Collect Data on Homelessness?

Kriston Capps Max Reyes

January 22, 2021 |

Bloomberg |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Bakersfield, California

A campaign to end housing instability is counting on frequent data collection to provide a clearer insight into the reality and needs of those living on the streets. “Built for Zero” aims to replace the current federal HUD model which consists of a single annual physical count of the unhoused. The data are used to create a command center which streamline the response from various groups and agencies that can address the issue of homelessness. The city of Bakersfield, California, was able to functionally end homelessness even with the onset of the pandemic after implementing the data-driven strategy.

Read More
Go to Original Story
An Algorithm Is Helping a Community Detect Lead Pipes

Sidney Fussell

January 14, 2021 |

Wired |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

BlueConduit, an analytics startup, applies statistical models to identify neighborhoods and households that might have lead pipes. The models include dozens of factors, such as the age of the home and proximity of other homes where lead has been found, to help predict likely locations of lead pipes and create a ranking by likelihood that cities can use to prioritize which pipes to examine. In Flint, MI, about 70% of the homes identified using the models had lead pipes, compared to about 15% of homes where excavations did not use the model. The company is working with organizations in dozens of other cities.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Three countries have pulled far ahead of the rest of the world in distributing Covid-19 vaccines

Annabelle Timsit

January 11, 2021 |

Quartz |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Israel

Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have each "vaccinated a higher proportion of their populations than the rest of the world" due to strategies that included early approval of the vaccine, centralized and digitized health care data management, and cross-sector information campaigns. Although it's yet to be seen how these efforts will fare when the vaccine is released to the general public, they have proven to be successful for distribution to vulnerable people and communities.

Read More
Go to Original Story
This California city just ended chronic homelessness

Adele Peters

January 06, 2021 |

FastCompany |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Bakersfield, California

The city of Bakersfield, California, was able to functionally end homelessness even with the onset of the pandemic, after implementing a data-driven strategy led by “Built for Zero.” The initiative focuses on frequent data collection which is then used to create a master command center that all agencies, shelters, and nonprofits work on in conjunction. Pooling resources and working together leads to clearer insight into where the most pressing need is and prevents unhoused people from falling through the cracks.

Read More
Go to Original Story