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

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 17172 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • This Philly charter school is trying to grow the ranks of Black male teachers

    Data shows that nationally only 2% of public-school teachers are Black men. To fill that gap, Boys’ Latin, a charter school in Philadelphia, launched a program that creates teaching positions for Black men who want to teach. Research shows that having Black teachers in the classroom decreases the likelihood that Black boys will drop out of high school. “With students at Boys’ Latin, “there’s still work to be done” to forge a connection, said Fletcher, who is teaching Latin to ninth and 10th graders. “But one of those walls is down, because he sees me like I see him.”

    Read More

  • How Did These Students Get The City To Change The Name Of Douglass Park? They Built Collective Power And Didn't Back Down

    Chicago students organized and, for the first time, convinced the city to rename a park in honor of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass. The former Douglas Park was named after a Civil War era Illinois senator who advocated to expand slavery, and whose wife owned slaves. Not daunted by the city’s bureaucracy, the students canvassed in their community and gathered over 10,000 signatures for a petition to change the park’s name. The campaign, which began in 2017, was much harder and longer than the students anticipated, but by forming a coalition and continuing to speak out they persevered.

    Read More

  • Polish Drivers Beware: Road Work Ahead

    A series of methodically planned and publicized measures to improve traffic safety have significantly lowered Lithuania's highway fatalities in what is now serving as a model for safety advocates in neighboring Poland. Starting nearly a decade ago, after traffic deaths peaked, Lithuania began increasing penalties for violations, toughening enforcement, and improving roadways. Each phase was accompanied by public education. More lenient laws and enforcement are blamed for Poland's relatively high traffic-death rate.

    Read More

  • The Shared Spaces program: a crisis-driven experiment that could permanently change San Francisco's urban landscape

    The Shared Spaces program is a pandemic-driven initiative that increases outdoor dining space in commercial areas. The initiative made the permit process more user friendly and less expensive. Over 1,200 outdoor dining applications were approved in three months, which is more than the city approved in 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased capacity of outdoor dining seating takes away other public spaces, usually parking and driving space, but the program’s success has helped businesses survive pandemic-related restrictions and officials are assessing the program to maintain it moving forward.

    Read More

  • How Portland's mutual aid supports local Indigenous communities

    Indigenous communities in need of clean drinking water have turned to aid from a Black-led nonprofit in Portland. Don't Shoot Portland raised $16,000 dollars for water and other basic supplies for the Warm Springs Tribe, which is dealing with a high infection rate of coronavirus in addition to old and faulty infrastructure which has left much of the tribe without water. Mutual aid groups have temporarily come to the rescue of indigenous communities who have been unable to receive adequate government funding to repair old water pipes.

    Read More

  • Voting from Jail Is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago

    Chicago's Cook County Jail became the first jail in the nation in March to open a polling place behind bars, resulting in about 1,800 voters casting ballots, a sharp increase in voting by eligible voters in the jail. The polling place, combined with expanded voter-registration efforts, resulted from a new Illinois law requiring all counties to expand voting access. Outside of Chicago that means voting by mail. The Chicago experience provides a window into efforts nationwide to expand voting access to people incarcerated in jails and prisons, or with criminal records.

    Read More

  • No Problems Expected For Hawaii's New Vote-By-Mail System For The Nov. 3 Election

    Election officials in Hawaii made adjustments to their election regulations for the August 2020 primary that resulted in the highest voter turnout for a primary in two decades. The state offered multiple ways to return ballots and created a new system to help voters with special needs. They also implemented security measures, including unique bar codes and signature verification, to deter fraud. The state earned an “A” in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of states’ preparedness to vote during a pandemic and will use insights from the primary to increase access even more during the general election.

    Read More

  • Rapid rehousing strategy helps protect domestic violence victims during a pandemic

    A housing program known as REACH Rapid Rehousing program is providing relief for domestic violence survivors who are left without shelter and financial aid. Rent, utilities, and security deposits are provided for up to nine months. The program proved to be a lifeline, especially during COVID-19 lockdowns.

    Read More

  • How teachers are bringing lessons from the racial justice uprisings into the classroom

    Teachers across Massachusetts are finding ways to incorporate antiracist practices into their curriculum. An English teacher at Newton High School is replacing required reading materials produced by white male authors with texts from authors like Sandra Cisneros, Langston Hughes and other authors of color. A physics teacher at Brookline High School is sharing more stories about scientists of color and teaching students about "naming conventions in scientific laws and theorems rooted in European colonization."

    Read More

  • How a neighborhood collaborative transformed a small town

    Residents are using dollar-for-dollar matching grants to spruce up their homes in Fulton, NY, resulting in higher home values, higher morale and the formation of neighborhood collaborations. The grants are granted to entire neighborhoods with the condition that at least half the residents sign up for the challenge. The initiative strives to create a ripple effect that eventually revitalizes the city.

    Read More