The Solutions Story Tracker® is a curated database of rigorous reporting on responses to social problems. We collect and tag every story, providing you with the ability to find coverage of effective or promising ideas and approaches— by issue, location, journalist, and success factor (strategic insights that emerge as patterns).
https://www.beaconjournal.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.beaconjournal.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2F2021%2F11%2F29%2Fnew-summit-court-program-helps-parents-child-custody-cases%2F8585321002&utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Stephanie Warsmith
Akron Beacon Journal
29 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Summit County's juvenile court's Multidisciplinary Team Representation assigns a parent advocate and social worker to child-custody cases to help parents win back custody of their children much more quickly than the system typically processes cases. The program has just begun in the county, helping a handful of families reunite, but a study in New York City showed the same approach reunited families 43% more often than if just an attorney were helping the family. Parents whose troubles lead to the temporary loss of their children need supports that help them get on firmer ground.
https://hechingerreport.org/prisons-are-training-inmates-for-the-next-generation-of-high-tech-jobs?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Danielle Dreilinger
The Hechinger Report
26 November 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Idaho's nine prisons have more than 30 postsecondary educational programs geared to helping incarcerated people get hired in career-track, technical jobs after their release from prison. The prisons focus on jobs in demand and woo potential employers with tours of their well-equipped classrooms. They also focus on education that produces certifications that carry more weight in industry. Studies show those credentials produce better odds against people returning to prison. Such programs nationwide have suffered from inadequate funding, but more federal money is in the pipeline.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/columnists/inq2/gun-violence-trauma-kids-kalahari-resorts-waterpark-poconos-20211122.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Helen Ubiñas
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network)
22 November 2021
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
The group Moms Bonded By Grief went beyond the support-group work it has done for years for survivors of gun violence homicide victims to take 50 children and their mothers and grandmothers to a Poconos Mountains water park and resort. The long-weekend respite from Philadelphia's relentless gun violence included group therapy for children and adults, enabling them to talk about topics that often get buried or ignored. The excursion, funded by donations, is planned to be repeated next summer.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/climate/roundabouts-climate-emissions-driving.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Cara Buckley
The New York Times
20 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
America's capital of the traffic roundabout is Carmel, Indiana, a city of 102,000 people and 140 roundabouts. The city boasts exceptionally low rates of traffic deaths and injury crashes. Studies of roundabout use elsewhere show benefits as well in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and in cutting environmentally harmful emissions because traditional intersections cause much longer idling times. Not all drivers like them, but Carmel long ago overcame initial qualms when the longtime mayor put into practice the traffic idea he admired when he was a university student in England.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/prison-offers-little-to-ease-domestic-violence-trauma-this-program-tries-to-fill-the-gaps?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Amna Nawaz
Lena I. Jackson
PBS NewsHour
18 November 2021
Broadcast TV News / 5-15 Minutes
A New Way of Life gives formerly incarcerated women something that most did not get from prison: treatment for the trauma that so many incarcerated women suffered from domestic violence. As an antidote to a system geared to punishing wrongdoing without addressing its causes, New Way provides housing and supportive programs, many of which are taught by women with similar experiences. Some of the women tell their stories of lives repaired and families reunited thanks to New Way's interventions.
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/prison-training-green-collar-jobs?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ryan M. Moser
Reasons to be Cheerful
18 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
At Florida's Everglades Correctional Institution, incarcerated men teach a course offered through a college correspondence school that can lead to certification to work as a wastewater treatment plant operator, a well-paying green-industry job in high demand. An incarcerated journalist tells the story of how demanding lessons in chemistry, microbiology, and algebra prepare students for the state certification exam. Hundreds have taken the course and many have found jobs in the industry after prison, although many employers remain reluctant to hire people with felony records.
https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/and-out-darkness?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ted Alcorn
Think Global Health
16 November 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Several UK organizations sprang into action to combat COVID-19-related lockdown loneliness and isolation. The Cares Family connected tens of thousands of younger and older neighbors to spend time together, virtually now due to the pandemic, and Linking Lives also connected people through a telephone befriending model that has yielded deep connections. The government used “heat maps” to identify areas of need even before the pandemic and had a national strategy already in place, which facilitated a quick response as the pandemic highlighted the need for social connections.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gun-law-allowing-police-to-seize-weapons-from-potential-shooters-often-isnt-used-11636984981?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Zusha Elinson
Dan Frosch
Wall Street Journal
15 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have added red-flag laws in recent years. Also called extreme risk protection orders, or temporary risk protection orders, the laws give police and the public a way to seek a court order to confiscate the guns of a person deemed dangerous. San Diego County used available grant money from California to train police and prosecutors, and it now has used its state law more than any other county there. But many places in the U.S. use their laws rarely if ever, thanks to lack of interest or training among police and lack of awareness in the public.
https://immersives.pioneerspost.com/ice-stops-singing-snowchange/index.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sasha Gallick
Pioneers Post
14 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Snowchange is a co-operative formed by a network of villages across Finland. The co-op formed after fishermen found all the fish in the river dead due to pollution. They decided to take action. They began "rewilding," a process of restoring ecosystems to the point that they can take care of themselves. They did this by buying peat production sites and rewilding them to wetlands. A decade ago there was merely three to four bird species in the first rewilding site the co-op bought, now there's close to 200.
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2021/1112/Why-Albuquerque-s-latest-experiment-in-policing-doesn-t-involve-officers?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Henry Gass
Christian Science Monitor
12 November 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Albuquerque established a new city department, Albuquerque Community Safety, that handles some of the 200,000 calls to 911 every year for a range of low-level, non-violent problems that don't require a police response. Since its launch in August 2021, the department has fielded just two teams of behavioral health specialists on call during the day. The city plans to expand the team's hours and responsibilities, though some are uneasy about exposing the unarmed workers to the potential for violence. The city has a long history of police shootings of mentally ill people, and ACS is meant to curb that threat.
https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/on-the-bricks?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Angela K. Evans
Boulder Weekly
11 November 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
A big factor in the high costs of doing business in Boulder is a tight and expensive commercial real estate market. Some of the many initiatives the city is considering are beginning to work already in Portland. There, the city's economic development agency, Prosper Portland, has acted as an intermediary to open more affordable spaces to small, local businesses. With extras like marketing and accounting help, the program managed to retain all of its original tenants, although a big push to enlist private developers in creating new space has hit snags.
http://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-11-11/vermonts-key-to-high-covid-19-vaccination-rates?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Susan Milligan
USA Today
11 November 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
A centralized communication and record keeping system, along with ensuring convenience for the largely rural population, led Vermont to the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate nationwide. The centralized system keeps track of data and provides consistent guidance. Trusted messengers, like first responders, local pharmacists, and nonprofits like the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, provide culturally competent information that eases hesitancy. Along with mass-vaccination events, house calls and pop-up clinics at small businesses and local events made getting vaccinated convenient and comfortable.
Our issue area taxonomy was adapted from the PCS Taxonomy with definitions by the Foundation Center, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Photos are licensed under Attribution Non Commercial 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license / Desaturated from original, and are credited to the following photographers:
Fondriest Environmental, David De Wit / Community Eye Health, Linda Steil / Herald Post, John Amis / UGA College of Ag & Environmental Sciences – OCCS, Andy B, Peter Garnhum, Thomas Hawk, 7ty9, Isriya Paireepairit, David Berger, UnLtd The Foundation For Social Entrepreneurs, Michael Dunne, Burak Kebapci, and Forrest Berkshire / U.S. Army Cadet Command public affairs
Photos are licensed under Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license, and are credited to the following photographers:
Ra'ed Qutena, 段 文慶, Fabio Campo, City Clock Magazine, Justin Norman, scarlatti2004, Gary Simmons, Kathryn McCallum, and Nearsoft Inc
Photos are licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license / Desaturated from original, and are credited to the following photographers:
Burak Kebapci and SCY.
Photos are licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) and are credited to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Conference attendee listening to speaker, Jenifer Daniels / Colorstock getcolorstock.com.
Photo Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images
Photo Credit: Sonia Narang
