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

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 273 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • Young Life at the Border

    For undocumented youth who commute between El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Mexico for school, finding a community to connect with and feel safe in is especially challenging. The Christian youth organization Young Life is there to fill that gap in immigrant students' lives by offering emotional and spiritual guidance as well as a support system that deals with any and all issues that arise, whether citizenship-related or not. The group has mentored hundreds of high school students whose lives straddle the border over the years, and many of those credit the group with helping them make sense of their "messy" lives.

    Read More

  • How Muslim Americans Are Fighting Mental Health Stigma

    By bringing mental health professionals and religious leaders together, faith communities can “flip the fear” of mental illness. Using grants from the American Psychiatric Association, organizations like Support Embrace Empower Mental Health Advocacy (SEEMA), the Muslim Mental Health Conference, and the Stanford Muslims and Mental Health lab, are all working to remove barriers to mental health treatment. Their initiatives focus on education to overcome stigma and cultural misunderstandings.

    Read More

  • Borussia Dortmund: The structures behind the club's fight against the far right

    A highly popular German sports club named Borussia Dortmund is taking advantage of its fanbase and following to promote anti-extremist messages, praise diversity, and celebrate inclusion. They do so in a variety of ways, including elevating and supporting independent fan initiatives like ballspiel.vereint!, requiring fan clubs and members to sign statues that reject far-right ideology, hosting educational field trips to former concentration camps for youth, and donating over a million dollars to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

    Read More

  • In Chicago, one mosque charts its own path

    Masjid al-Rabia, a small mosque on the third floor of in a co-working space in downtown Chicago, is making waves as an untraditional prayer space. Not only is it woman-centered (not led), but their services are made accessible to all genders, sexualities, abilities, classes, etc. The mosque also has a focus on prison outreach, sending care packages with prayer rugs, prayer caps, Qurans, newsletters, and other spiritual literature to over 500 Muslim detainees in jails, prisons, detention centers, and institutions across the country.

    Read More

  • Mourning the Demise of a Zen Place to Die

    Instead of simply prioritizing growth, nonprofits need to implement carefully sized solutions with consideration to the longevity of their model. The closure of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, California, demonstrates how issues stemming from rapid growth scaling can undermine the longevity of a nonprofit’s mission. As the hospices’ human- and mindfulness-centered approach faded in the face of expansion, the toll and tensions led to a loss of crucial human capital, leading the hospice to close.

    Read More

  • In Detroit, one organization is schooling Muslims on racial justice

    In a movement that started from a trending hashtag on Twitter - #BeingBlackandMuslim - scholars and activists around the country are working to reduce stereotypes about Black Muslims. Organizations that arose from the movement now compile toolkits, syllabi, and other educational materials about being Black and Muslim in America, and how stereotypes and racism is perpetuated both within and outside religious communities.

    Read More

  • Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal - Three African Countries Providing Solutions in Fight Against Genital Cutting of Girls

    This cross-border story, which takes place in Nigeria, Kenya, and Senegal, examines 3 different approaches to address the still-widespread practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). In Nigeria, a short film about FGM has prompted the passing of a new law and gathered a new wave of survivors speaking up. In Kenya, a group called Dayaa Women's Group actively involves the traditionalists (cutters) and religious/community institutions in the fight against FGM along with widespread trainings. In Sengal, women lead the fight with a radio program for girls and providing financial incentives to prior cutters.

    Read More

  • When public restrooms fail, rent them out as churches?

    On World Toilet Day in 2014, the Kenyan government promised to build 180 public toilets in an ambitious move to combat the issue of public sanitation. The program went well once the keys were handed off to the National Youth Service of Kenya as a means of income, but issues quickly arose that could not be resolved because of a lack of further funds. The youth has since transformed their toilets into a rental space for local churches, such as Christ Miracle Church for All Nations in Laini Saba.

    Read More

  • Nuns and Nones: A modern religious community

    The "Nuns and Nones" communities around the United States bring together Catholic nuns and millennial "nones," who don't affiliate with a particular religion, to foster a communal living environment. The program allows religious and non-religious individuals to share ideologies and living spaces, addressing the diminishing scope of religious communities in America.

    Read More

  • The Hijabi Monologues: The young Muslims in Britain using the arts to reclaim their culture

    Story-telling, poetry, and other performance art helps to bridge cultural divides and allows individuals to present more nuanced representations of their communities. Thanks to a grant from the Said Foundation, the Hijabi Monologues are working both to combat stereotypes and to increase access to the arts for Muslims. The Foundation partners with festivals and provides opportunities for Muslim artists and storytellers to reach new audiences and build bridges with other communities.

    Read More