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  • Co-Op Owned by Formerly Incarcerated Women Embarks on Next Step, Thanks to Surprising Money Source

    A worker-owned cooperative in Chicago got the financial boost it needed to secure a commercial space for expansion through a city fund. The Chicago Community Trust allowed ChiFresh Kitchen to make their business plan a reality while simultaneously reducing the blight caused by vacant, dilapidated commercial buildings.

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

    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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  • The problem fueling the essential housing crisis and how to fix it

    Charlotte's tight housing market can prove unaffordable to young professionals, with high rents equal to half a person's income. The "essential housing" niche, a middle ground between luxury homes and lower-cost "affordable" housing, provides an opportunity to economize on construction costs and pass those savings on to renters. Fewer apartment floor plan options and fancy amenities can translate into rents up to $700 less, a marketing strategy that has given the developer a strong rental business – and its younger customers a relative bargain in an expensive market.

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  • Chocpocalypse Now! Quarantine and the Future of Food

    Off the coast of Australia, the energy company Chevron is experimenting with new quarantine management techniques to ensure that any plants and pests don’t hitchhike to new places, which can devastate the global food economy. They’ve redesigned shipping containers to make it harder for insects to tag along and they’ve created a video game to train workers on how to be better at finding these pests in their inspections. Some creatures and plants can slip through the process, but these tools have been successful and could be used in other ways.

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  • How Kitimat B.C. is catching its breath

    A new aluminum plant in British Columbia would have ended up putting more sulphur dioxide into the air, but the Kitimat Terrace Clean Air Coalition (KTCAC) helped bring this to light and encourage them to install air monitoring stations. They wrote letters to the government and took the company to court. As a result of their efforts, three air monitoring stations were installed to measure the particulate matter and alert residents if levels increased. “Industry and government are listening to people who are concerned in Kitimat,” says Steve Stannus, a founder of KTCAC.

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  • Local Platforms for Online Food Delivery Are Eating the Big Guys' Lunch

    Locally owned restaurant delivery platforms charge lower commissions than national giants like GrubHub, allow customers to order food on smart-phone apps, and have found ways to be profitable while also keeping money in local economies. While platforms differ by locale, cooperative models are increasingly popular. For example, Delivery Co-op in Lexington, KY provides customers with unlimited deliveries for a monthly fee, charges participating restaurants a flat monthly fee, and pays drivers a base salary plus tips, with benefits kicking after three months of full-time work and profit-sharing after one year.

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  • Minnesota Repurposes Transit Buses to Give COVID-19 Vaccines to Communities That Need Them Most

    With extra buses available due to lower ridership during the pandemic, Metro Transit worked with key partners to turn six buses into mobile vaccination clinics. Metro Transit provided drivers and retrofitted the buses by removing seats, relocating stanchions, and ensuring buses could draw power from electrical outlets. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota provided staff and licensed clinicians to administer the vaccines. The health department provided funding that made it all come together. The buses prioritized areas with gaps in vaccine access, including low-income areas and communities of color.

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  • Affordable housing expansion happening on Indy's west side

    With 2,300 people on a wait list for affordable housing, the city of Indianapolis pumped $3 million into a vouchers program for 2021 that has already housed 672 people. Some of the vouchers are set aside for military veterans and their families experiencing homelessness. The city contracted with a national affordable-housing developer and property manager. The housing market has priced many people out of affordable, safe options. A new 61-unit development is under construction, with more homes dedicated to reducing the numbers of unhoused veterans.

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  • Cities Are Boosting the Economy by Rewarding Those Who Shop Local

    Akron, Ohio, is “creating a circular economy” in hopes of helping small businesses and encouraging residents to shop locally. A city-sponsored app, Akronite, is used by consumers to make purchases and earn reward points which can be redeemed for discounts and other perks. The app’s success is clear in the high return on investment, which shows $9 generated for every dollar invested by the local government. Other cities across the country are also adopting the initiative, tweaking it to their own communities.

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  • The 40-Year-Old System: How an upgrade could help the VEC solve payment problems

    If Virginia taxpayers who lost their jobs in the pandemic want to understand why their unemployment insurance payments lagged for months and why they couldn't get the Virginia Employment Commission on the phone, they could look to South Carolina. In 2017 that state took advantage of a grant to upgrade its computer systems. It was able to process payments much more quickly, needed many fewer call-center staff, and could help South Carolinians take advantage of enhanced pandemic benefits much sooner. Virginia has struggled to upgrade is decades-old systems, which were overwhelmed with calls and claims.

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