Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Dependency Court Programs Focus On Babies' Health

    The Safe Babies program model trains judges to oversee foster-care cases with the goal of fixing the problems that led social workers to remove young children from their homes. Operating swiftly, so that babies do not lose precious weeks and months apart from their parents at a critical time, programs like Best For Babies in Pierce County, Washington, put teams of medical and mental health experts on a case. Nationwide, the program used in 30 states makes family reunification much more likely and rapid, with healthier parental attachments and child development.

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  • How a US strategy is helping gang members in Malmö turn their lives around

    When drug-gang violence reached intolerable levels in Malmö in 2017, Swedish crime prevention officials traveled to New York for tips. There they learned about a gang violence intervention strategy in which gang members are summoned to a meeting with law enforcement, community, and social-services representatives. They are told about the harm they are causing, are offered help in changing their lifestyle, and are warned that they will be prosecuted otherwise. In Malmö since then, hundreds heard that message, dozens accepted the help, and violence dropped significantly year after year.

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  • The climate solution adding millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere

    A decade after California established its forest offset program as a way to incentivize saving trees to store carbon, a new analysis shows that it might not be working. Loopholes in the program allow for people to claim credits for trees that aren’t delivering the carbon benefits they should and ultimately results in companies emitting more pollution than is being stored. While this program has provided economic benefits for several Indigenous tribes, some argue that “the program creates the false appearance of progress when in fact it makes the climate problem worse.”

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  • Philly Under Fire Episode 4: A Fresh 24

    Philadelphia's PowerCorpsPHL and a larger program it resembles, Chicago's CRED, spring from one reality: Young men prone to gun violence will readily leave street violence and the underground economy if offered the opportunity for a legitimate job. In Philly, the strategy worked even when the jobs barely pay minimum wage. When pay jumped $3 per hour, the rate at which program participants got arrested dropped from 8% to 3% immediately, versus the city average recidivism rate of about 50%. The programs also provide GED classes, trauma counseling, and other services meant to change lives permanently.

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  • Clues to makes resident life work found during pandemic

    Nursing homes adapted to COVID-19 so that they could protect residents’ physical well-being while also preserving their social and emotional health. Staff at Belknap County Nursing Home modified popular activities to make them safe, like hallway bingo, where numbers were called from hallways so that residents could stay in or near their rooms. Participation jumped 30% from pre-pandemic levels. An adaptation to another popular game, “Price is Right,” had staff bringing items, like snacks and toiletries, room-to-room so that residents could guess the price, with the person coming closest winning the item.

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  • How going solar is helping U.S. schools save millions

    School districts in the United States are switching to solar power to save money on utilities and sell extra power back to the power grid. They use the savings to increase teachers' pay and upgrade facilities like buses and computer labs.

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  • Officers try to break stigma, offer help to drug users

    Tucson Police Department's Substance Use Resource Team reaches out on the streets to people with substance-use disorder, offering them treatment instead of arrest and jail. The team is an extension of the department's mental health support team and was started in response to the opioid epidemic. Officers talk to people they find on the streets, or follow up on 911 calls for overdoses. Not everyone accepts the offered help, and some end up arrested on warrants. But, at a time of rising overdose deaths, the officers and the peer support specialists who accompany them often can get people into treatment.

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  • Vegas Stronger Starts by Asking Businesses to Call Them, Not Police

    When Las Vegas' restrictions on encampments pushed unhoused people into a shopping center outside the restricted zone, Vegas Stronger worked with business owners and the police to intervene without the need for arrests and jail. Although only two months old, the nonprofit has helped about 30 people through the network of services it has arranged. Services include housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and other connections to services people need to stay healthy and off the streets. Police welcome the interventions because they are relieved of handling non-criminal matters.

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  • Michigan aiming to reduce seclusion and restraints at institutions that care for children

    After the death of a 16-year-old boy who was tackled and restrained by staff at a juvenile justice facility, Michigan children's services officials imposed emergency rules limiting the use of restraints. In the past year, the use of restraints – which include handcuffs, straitjackets, even chemicals and medication – dropped from about 600 cases per month to fewer than half that. The state now is considering permanent rules restricting their use and is requiring more training for staff in preventing physical conflicts. One advocate says Pennsylvania serves as a model for nearly eliminating the problem.

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  • A Solution to Ending Homelessness Might Be in the Data

    Built for Zero is a data-driven approach to ending homelessness with a proven track record of success. The strategy is scalable and takes into account variables within different communities. It aims to bring homelessness rates down to “functional zero,” which means that the number of people experiencing homelessness is low enough that they can all be housed if they wanted.

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