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Get There Fast or Safe? A Crowdsourced Map Gives You the Option

Chandni Doulatramani

June 29, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Gurgaon

In 71 cities around the world, users of the My Safetipin mobile app can decide whether to visit a particular neighborhood or plan a travel route based on how safe others deem those places. While the 100,000 or so users, more than half in India, constitute too small a user base to make the mapping app truly universal, its crowdsourced data already have prompted the Delhi and Bogota governments to improve street lighting on streets deemed unsafe because they are not well lit. The app's primary goal is to make the streets safer for women.

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The career where it helps to have a criminal past

Jo Mathys

June 29, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

All people between the ages of 14 and 21 in Washington, D.C., who are placed on probation for criminal convictions get assigned a probation officer, social worker, and a "credible messenger" – a mentor, usually with his or her own criminal past, who is paid by the city Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to help ensure a successful probationary period. The cost is far lower than youth detention and is associated with a much lower rate of re-offending. The work is so intense that the highly trained messengers often need their own counseling to cope with the stress of turning lives around.

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20 million Americans still don't have enough to eat. A grass-roots movement of free fridges aims to help

Heather Long

June 28, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The pandemic economy has left more people without money for quality food, a need addressed in some communities by "freedges" – community-run refrigerators dispensing free food. The food gets donated by groceries, restaurants, and individuals. Volunteers maintain the fridges, which typically are placed outdoors on a sidewalk. This form of "mutual aid" has grown in popularity nationwide, despite food-safety concerns by city health officials.

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Post-Derek Chauvin, Police Are Training to Intervene When They Witness Misconduct

Zusha Elinson Denise Blostein Rob Alcaraz

June 28, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

After videos showed two Minneapolis police officers did nothing to stop Derek Chauvin from killing George Floyd, more than 130 police departments raced to sign up to train their officers on how to intervene to prevent fellow officers from using excessive force or committing other misconduct. A course called Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) trains officers who then take the training to the officers in their departments. The training seeks to overcome the insular culture of policing, teaching an escalating series of tactics to stop misconduct on the spot.

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How a Kansas City neighborhood is transforming its dangerous and abandoned buildings

Celisa Calacal

June 28, 2021 |

The Kansas City Beacon |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

A neighborhood association is renovating dilapidated and neglected houses into livable homes that have transformed the look and feel of neighborhoods in Kansas City. The Lykins Neighborhood Association is able to assume ownership over houses slated for demolition by using Missouri’s Abandoned Housing act. “The result: A neglected house becomes a livable home.”

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These farmers show that agriculture in the Amazon doesn't have to be destructive

Brian Barth Flávia Milhorance

June 28, 2021 |

National Geographic |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Nova Califórnia, Rondônia

Nearly a fifth of the Amazon has been cleared for cattle grazing and logging. However, a cooperative called RECA is making it economically sustainable for farmers to shift towards agroforestry. Agroforestry is the intentional planting of trees and shrubs in farms and forests among others. 11 tons of carbon per acre are sequestered through agroforestry systems. REFA farmers planted up to 40 species of trees then will process products from the species to be sold. The more than 300 families from the co-op made five times more per acre than local ranchers not practicing agroforestry.

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Food insecurity linked to gun violence. In St. Louis, Black farmers work on a solution

Hurubie Meko

June 27, 2021 |

The Kansas City Star |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Black, urban farmers have formed a grassroots "ecosystem" to grow and distribute fresh, affordable produce in St. Louis neighborhoods where food insecurity and gun violence go hand in hand. Heru Urban Farming is a startup businesses and CSA growing vegetables in vacant lots that it then sells by subscription and gives away to families in need. Along with a new farmers market and a mobile produce vendor, the "food justice" activists and entrepreneurs are meeting a nutritional need where quality supermarkets don't exist and corner stores typically sell packaged, processed foods.

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L'île grecque de Tilos est désormais autonome en énergie verte

A. Zisyadis

June 27, 2021 |

Radio Télévision Suisse |

Video |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: Greece

Tilos, une petite île grecque de 780 habitants, peut se targuer d’être quasi-autonome en énergie grâce à une centrale électrique combinant énergie éolienne et solaire. Grâce à cette transition énergétique, les besoins en électricité sont couvert à 100 % durant la saison basse et à 70 % durant la saison haute, le coût de l’électricité a été réduit et il y a moins de coupures électriques qu'avant.

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Heritage and Survival: two sides of the same coin for conflict-torn Iraq

Chen Wei Hannah

June 26, 2021 |

Pi Media |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Iraq

The Nahrein Network funds projects that strengthen Iraq’s cultural and heritage infrastructure. Many grantees have deep historical knowledge of cultural preservation but haven’t been able to access funding due to sanctions, international isolation, and civil war. The funded projects’ approach to cultural preservation must be rooted in local socio-economic interests and the Network provides mentoring and helps in other ways, like supporting visiting scholarships abroad. The Network’s solutions focus on a long-term relationship building as a way to push for an inclusive post-conflict cultural environments.

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For a fragile child care system, shared services and legislative activism show potential

Jack Rooney

June 26, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

The State Early Learning Alliance is a membership organization of about 30 independent child care centers that pools resources to save money on essential services and free up time to focus on providing high-quality care. The group harnesses shared purchasing power to negotiate better deals for a wide range of necessary goods and services, including building maintenance, insurance, payroll and administration, food, and classroom supplies. Providers save thousands of dollars a year, which can help with skyrocketing child care costs and staff shortages due to low pay.

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