Urban planning using gamification is a viable way of engaging diverse parts of the population and placing people and communities at the center of the process. “Block by Block” is a collaboration between UN Habitat and the game company Mojang that holds participatory workshops, where people design public spaces using the game Minecraft. Over 25,000 people from diverse backgrounds and age groups have participated. Professional advisers are present and they adjust the designs for implementation. The method has been used by the City of Stockholm and to create the first skatepark in Kosovo.

California communities are turning to “community choice aggregators,” which allows them to buy electricity from green providers and have more control over the energy grid. However, the financial pressure for these programs to offer competitive rates as public utilities can mean that the programs might increase their dependence on cheaper, less green energy sources. So far, 21 of these community-choice programs are in the Golden State, serving 10 million customers.

When the Public Iconographies project asked people in St. Louis "how would you map the monuments of St. Louis?", it got 750 hand-drawn maps telling stories of often-overlooked sites throughout the city. By letting people from the community determine what is important, the project ended up with a data-filled report channeling freeform responses. They included the spot where a Ferguson police officer killed Michael Brown, the site of a 1917 race riot, and Cahokia Mounds, a pre-Columbian site in the city. The project formed a counterpoint to efforts to remove problematic symbols, like a Columbus statue.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic limited access to health care facilities, health specialists across Africa were already beginning to turn to technology-based mental health services to offer care with fewer barriers for patients. Despite its growth in use during the pandemic, some doctors caution that it does not necessarily replace in-person consultations, but is still very useful.

A pilot energy retrofit project in Florida has shown that these upgrades for homeowners ultimately saves them money and energy, and can be made accessible to people from all types of socioeconomic backgrounds. This private-public partnership retrofitted 56 single-family homes, some with “shallow” retrofits like LED lightbulbs and smart plugs and some with “phased deep” retrofits like energy-efficient windows and air conditioners. The program showed that all participants saved energy and could be scaled to other states.

Wales’ One Planet Development Policy allows people to live a more sustainable lifestyle by using only the resources on the land where they reside. For one family, they get their electricity from their own solar array, heat from firewood, and food from their gardens and livestock. Each year, they must prove that they are using only their “global fair share” of resources. So far, 46 farms have signed on to the program and the lessons learned from the experiment are helping to inform the government’s actions on other policies like housing.

In Nigeria, nonprofit organizations are helping to organize and deliver virtual journalism-related training to university students who can't attend classes as normal due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although some students have said that the organizations aren't always transparent about the price of the webinars, many have reported that their writing has improved and they have made connections with others.

The Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool uses a formula to weigh the risk of releasing someone from jail while they await trial. While prosecutors say the tool is better than nothing, critics, backed by a study of the tool's effects, say it disproportionately harms people of color and people experiencing homelessness. Risk assessment algorithms consider a number of facts about a defendant's past and present to predict whether they can leave jail without committing new crimes or failing to make court appearances. But because they penalize already-overpoliced populations, they are not considered objective.

In Boulder, Colorado those working to address the increasing rate of homelessness are reallocating resources to support longterm housing options as opposed to the traditional temporary services – such as shelters. Although there are challenges to this approach and it's too early to gauge the longterm reality of this approach, early results from the method have shown that consolidating resources has reduced operational costs while housing over 450 people.

Co-ops that have historically brought electricity and telephone services to rural America are now providing internet service, which many consider essential for health care access, education and employment. Broadband companies don't make a profit when covering a large area with limited households per mile so co-ops have filled the need. Many co-ops are tapping into federal funds from the CARES Act to invest in the infrastructure needed to bring high-speed, affordable internet to rural areas.

“In 2015, nearly 21 million U.S. residents relied on water systems that violate the standards set by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.” Meena Sankaran is helping to reverse the trend. Her startup, KETOS, uses analytics and sensors that provide real-time data that can be sent through a mobile app. Instead of having to wait for people to monitor and process the data, or for people to get sick, data can be delivered instantaneously. “So far, the company has compiled 13 million data points from municipalities across all 50 states, spanning the last 18 years.”

In Paris, about 7,500 buildings are heated using geothermal energy, a cost-saving and carbon neutral energy source. Water is drawn from deep below ground at a central location and heated by the earth, and then sent via underground pipes to individual buildings. The Bagneux and Chatillon district has scaled up the system, providing heat to over 40,000 people. Districts created joint ventures to reduce construction costs and residents do not notice the energy source shift because when the temperature drops to a point where geothermal energy is not viable, gas boilers automatically keeps the heat flowing.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) identified 57 million voters who identify as LGBTQ or allies and used digital and print ads, direct mail, and text and phone outreaches to turnout these “equality voters” in the 2018 mid-term elections. The campaign registered 30,000 new voters and trained 1,600 local volunteers who logged more than 20,000 hours for HRC-endorsed candidates. The campaign effectively increased turnout in the group from 36% in 2016 to 56% in 2018. While there are many more LGBTQ and ally voters not included, the group worked with Catalist to identify voters who are motivated by LGBTQ equality.

Schools in Teton County are successfully addressing the achievement gap between English language learners, kids who don't have a strong grasp on English, and white students by taking a holistic approach. In order to improve graduation rates among ELL students, teachers, and administrators are focused on early interventions like additional lessons, and a funding model that offers more flexibility for the school's resource allocation. “If all of our students don’t feel connected to school culturally, it doesn’t matter what you do, they won’t do well.”

With the help of a program that enables churches to assess the needs of their community and create solutions, one reverend in North Carolina was able to provide a lifeline: internet access. Rural communities like his in North Carolina struggle with internet access and are unable to schedule vital telehealth visits, complete school work or work from home. The funds paid for internet as well as several old computers and 14 hotspots.

With stay-at-home orders in place for Coloradans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many hikers are encouraging people to participate in urban hiking. This growing movement asks people to “treat your neighborhood like a great hike,” says one urban hiker. And a new book on urban hiking highlights 22 different hikes people can take through some local cities and towns. With more people looking to participate in outdoor activities, however, some trails and natural resources have been damaged as people try to social distance and some neighborhood access points have been congested.

Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, North Carolina's health centers are relying on old methods to reach and educate uninsured and medically vulnerable patients, many of whom don't have access to the internet. Staff are posting fliers in commonly-trafficked locations, hanging signs at health centers, taking out television ads, and asking community leaders to relay hygiene guidelines by word of mouth.

In Nigeria, a methodology known as task-sharing is helping to lessen the burden on the country's mental health care system. The premise of this model is to train "other health personnel, such as community health workers, to identify mental health issues and provide basic interventions, thus reducing the number of cases that are brought to the very few specialists." Although some do not believe it to be a long-term solution, the model is credited with being a good option in resource-constricted regions.

Mental health agencies in North Carolina have partnered with a mobile phone carrier to provide data-enabled smartphones to individuals who lack access to technology during the pandemic. Because this doesn't provide a solution to all, however, mental health experts are also meeting with patients outside in social distanced settings.

The Sweetwater County school district in Southeastern Wyoming is distributing meals to students around the county, while addressing obstacles some families may face due to lack of transportation or conflicting work schedules. With the assistance of federal funding, the district developed bus routes and pick-up locations based on the degree of need in order to deliver more meals.

Collecting data about environmental risks and resiliency projects facilitates investment and funding. The Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Cities Program and Cities Vulnerability Assessment encourage participating cities to report actions they are taking to address climate risks. CDP then uses the data to help cities invest in socially equitable solutions, advising community level projects through its Matchmaker project. The project has led to results in cities such as Baltimore and Cleveland.

A veteran-run club in Kensington meets for coffee three times a week to re-establish social connections for ex-military in the community. The participating veterans, who often struggle with loneliness and lack of community after re-entering society, use the coffee hour as a time to talk about their experiences in the military and build friendships.

An app is offering reproductive healthcare help to women in Nigeria who don't always have access to reliable maternal and prenatal health information. While it does require the user to have access to technology, it has attracted 40,000 users so far, providing "pregnant women and mothers with access to life-saving maternal and child health information, as well as access to doctors with the touch of a button."

Stranded overseas for more than half a year by border closings because of the pandemic, Australians flocked to a new mapping tool that tells the story of their plight. Remove the Cap website attracted more than 600 users in more than 30 countries in just its first week online, all of whom posted their photo and the story of their inability to return home. It’s too soon to tell if the site can succeed in easing the government’s cap on the number of returnees, but in the meantime it provides a platform for frustrated citizens who want their stories told.

A group of women, known as the Yarang Women’s Movement, from villages in Brazil collect and sell seeds to nurseries, landowners, and other organizations to replant degraded land by the Xingu River. While this effort has helped reforest the area, a significant amount of land is still degraded and climate change threatens the availability of seeds throughout the year. Yet, “they have found creative ways to survive and adapt to climate change. The Yarang Women’s Movement is an example of resilience,” said someone who has worked with the group.

A new initiative at St. John’s Health in Wyoming aimed at bettering people's health while saving the hospital money by combining wellness services with behavioral programs has shown promise but was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of pausing the program in entirety, however, program administrators have instead adapted it for St. John's employees as a means of keeping staff healthy.

People in Jackson, Wyoming with access to 3D printers are teaming up and building face shields for the local hospital to help protect the frontline workers from contracting Covid-19. Although the shields aren't the same as medically-graded N-95 masks, hospital personnel say they are still helpful for protecting healthcare workers and help to guard medical equipment.

Unused prescription drugs can often end up in landfills or in "the hands of those who may be vulnerable to misuse and addiction," so Wyoming has introduced a program to decrease those likelihoods from happening. This program, like that of other programs in 38 other states, collects unused medications and redistributes them to uninsured residents.

The Young Leaders of Staten Island (YSLI) was created in Staten Island to fight for social justice after young residents of the borough felt the local response to George Floyd's murder was not enough. YSLI mobilized hundreds of protesters to march in Staten Island's largest public protest of 1,800 people. The group has demanded justice through police reform and beyond, hosting voter registration and census completion drives. Their efforts have resulted in 125 people registering for the census and 85 people to vote.

Colorado’s Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) helps survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse keep their physical addresses private. Registering to vote requires an address, which is part of the public record. The ACP program can also be used to enroll children in schools, on their driver’s licenses, and in court. ACP works with the postal service to create ghost addresses for survivors and it serves as the only place where the addresses are known. Four thousand people are currently using the service and up to 9,000 have used it since it began.

In North Carolina, it can be difficult to attract health care workers to rural areas, but a few counties have seen signs of success from various efforts. Tactics such as using financial incentives, creating a pipeline from medical school to job placement, and fostering strong community ties have worked in some instances. However, health officials in many rural areas say that it has not yet been enough to fill the shortage of providers that they're facing.

In order to keep local farms and businesses afloat, the Metuchen Farmers Market in North Jersey went virtual. Volunteers for the market enlisted the help of the Canada-based Local Line to build the market's platform, which allows customers to place orders online for a weekend pickup.

As a response to hospital bed shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea developed a strategy that divides individuals who tested positive into four categories – mild, moderate, severe, and extremely severe – and placed those on the low end of the spectrum in self-quarantine or Living Treatment Centers (residential buildings requiring few medical personnel). As Nigeria grapples with the same issue, they look to South Korea as a model, but hesitate on making it work in different cultural contexts.

To better address the necessary adaptions made to the health care system during the coronavirus pandemic, such as utilizing telemedince to abide by social distancing regulations, health insurance companies in North Carolina have altered their billing rules and increased reimbursement rates for virtual appointments. Realizing that telemedicine isn't ideal for all patients due to connectivity inequities, medical centers are also trying to offer WiFi hotspots and outdoor visits in parking lots.

The NYC-based campaign, Dumplings Against Hate, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Asian Americans for Equality’s Emergency Small Business Relief Fund by bringing together a virtual community of support. As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up in early 2020, Chinatown restaurants and businesses saw a decrease in revenue because of xenophobia and racism, inspiring the group’s creation. Since then, it’s acted as a model for similar groups across the country, and is creating a toolkit for cities to create their own campaigns.

For many activists, gathering in mass protest is their most powerful tool in their toolbox, but social distancing threatens this ability. But activists in Boulder County, Colorado are not letting the pandemic stop their mission. To stay compliant with social distancing, they are taking to Zoom to organize during the crisis.

The Covid-19 pandemic complicated health care for women living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Nigeria who already lacked access to family planning services and education, but collaborative efforts are working to change this. Through collective action, a group of non-profits worked together to create a one-day outreach event that provided education and trained community members to carry on the work.

With grocery stores at capacity with delivery services, and people not wanting to leave their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, local farms like Honey Brook Organic Farm are seeing huge increases in business. The New Jersey farm had already started shifting from a CSA model to delivery, so they used that infrastructure to easily pivot. Collaboration with other local farms has been key, so beyond their produce, they’re partnering with their network to deliver meat, eggs, and even prepared meals from local restaurants.

When the coronavirus pandemic forced a local bookstore in Texas to shut its doors for safety concerns, the owner launched a hotline for readers to call into for book recommendations. Although the instant success has seen a slight decrease in callers as the pandemic has continued, it's still retaining a steady number with many callers turning into patrons.

Monitoring spikes in ethylene allows produce distributors to reduce food waste. The Philadelphia based company, Strella Biotech, uses sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) to track when produce begins to emit ethylene and ripen. By paying closer attention to the status of their produce, distributors partnering with Stella Biotech have reduced food waste and saved money in the process.

While Veterans Affairs offers healthcare and other benefits to veterans of the United States, these benefits are often difficult to access due to confusing requirements and bureaucracy. Community organizations and the department itself have had to learn from the failures of the benefits system to try to give veterans the healthcare and services they need to thrive after military service.

At the Motus Theater, formerly incarcerated individuals participate in JustUs – a performative program that gives them the space to share their stories. The Boulder-based program aims to complicate the narrative of those that commit crimes, surfacing the systemic, punitive nature of criminal justice. For those that participate, it provides them a literal platform to share their pain, trauma, and growth.

The people in a neighborhood in Mexico City are coming up with innovative solutions to handle climate-related disasters like flood. They use an early warning system that uses a radio signal and WhatsApp to warn residents of environmental dangers. However, the app does not always work. And a mobile classroom offers simulations about how government decisions are made when deciding danger levels of disasters. While thousands of residents had been trained, the classroom is usually only in the neighborhood for a day. Yet, these solutions based on education and communication could be applied to other communities.

Teton County’s St. John’s Health medical center worked proactively to make sure they had the resilience needed in staffing to accommodate a potential surge in COVID-19 patients. Working quickly, they identified current nursing staff that had critical care backgrounds, developed an online training program, and within weeks had nearly doubled the number of staff needed if an outbreak hit the area.

Design-build coops are employee-owned businesses operated under a democratic business model that "considers people, planet, then profit." These coops have steadily increased in New England resulting in workplaces that have a smaller pay-gap between the highest and lowest paid employees of a company, motivates employees who are invested in the long-term success of a company, result in companies better equipped to weather recessions and in turn, allow for more focus on green design models.

The Beloved Community Village, a tiny-home community in Denver, Colorado, serves as an example of a successful housing model for people in insecure housing situations. The community takes a shared living approach and requires residents to participate in community events without violence, drugs, or other harmful behaviors. Now, Charlotte officials look to the Beloved Community Village as an example that can help as they work to combat homelessness in their own community.

Mahoning Matters formed as a news site with laid-off veterans of the Youngstown Vindicator, filling part of a void in local accountability journalism in what is now the largest U.S. city without a seven-day print newspaper. Its funder, The Compass Experiment, set the startup on a three-year trajectory toward self-sustainability, an experiment that has yet to play out. Meantime, Compass successfully recruited a tiny band of Vindicator alumni, whose first stories have included unmasking the public official whose sexual misconduct compromised the management of a local police department.

Teams of recyclers in Nigeria gather plastic bottles from the streets and landfills and brings them to recycling plants where they can exchange the waste for money. HISL Recyclers collects this waste — which usually contains polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, a dangerous chemical — as a way to remove the waste from the environment. However, more work needs to be done to get more people to participate in the program and to scale the operations. So far, they’ve been able to recycle up to 20 tonnes of plastic waste a month.

When an eviction moratorium expired and the government's pandemic aid spigot closed, Boulder County nonprofits and public agencies mounted a coordinated response to address a looming homelessness crisis. A gusher of donations created an eviction legal defense fund, a rental assistance program, and other aid to people struggling to pay utility and food bills. In just three months, 800 households received help in forestalling evictions while thousands more received legal and humanitarian services. Despite the community support, housing risks remain without a resumption of emergency government aid.

There's Still Hope provides temporary housing for members of the LGBTQ community - focusing especially on transgender women. Participants in the outreach program are given housing, a grocery stipend, transportation passes, and skills training that will help obtain employment. They are also expected to do their part by avoiding sex work and substance abuse and are connected with services that help them towards those goals.

Almost half of U.S. states guarantee citizens’ rights to petition for ballot measures, but the coronavirus made gathering signatures in person infeasible. Massachusetts courts allowed electronic signatures, but other states have not approved virtual citizen initiative campaigns. Ballot initiatives allow citizens to advance solutions and enact structural changes without relying on support from elected officials. MA groups used DocuSign to gather 30,000 signatures to get a proposal for ranked choice voting on the ballot. Not all MA groups were able to quickly or successfully pivot to the e-signature process.

Running Tide Technologies, a shellfish hatchery in Maine, is betting on kelp forests as a way to store carbon deep in the ocean and sell that carbon to corporations looking to combat climate change and offset their own emissions. The startup is growing mini-farms of kelp on biodegradable floats and after a few months, they sink to the seafloor. More research is needed to see if it works, but they already have about 1,600 floats adrift in the ocean and the e-commerce company Shopify is the first to buy carbon offsets from them.

In Mexico, the Mesoamerican Reef, a 100-mile long coral reef system, the second largest in the word, is insured. The insurance policy is the result of a collaboration between the local government, hotel owners, an international NGO, and an insurance company who saw the value of protecting the reef. After Hurricane Delta, the insurance first kicked in, the insurance paid out $850,000. The money was used to uproot 2,152 coral colonies and close to 14,000 coral fragments. The model could be an example of future moves to insure the environment.

A mobile app called App-Elles was used 5,400 times during the early months of the pandemic by either the survivors of gender-based violence or witnesses and helpers trying to connect the survivors to assistance. Created by French singer Diariata N'Diaye, the app lets users designate three "protectors" chosen in advance to receive alerts. Once alerted, they can summon help via text message or other discreet means of contacting women who are trapped at home with their abusers. The app is among other examples of digital survivor-aid services developed for women during the pandemic.

Germany is unusual amongst countries in its attitude towards religion—it considers faith to be "sociologically and psychologically important and part of both individuals and society." In these advances, it has begun to teach the religion of Islam in its German-speaking public schools, within state-supervised curriculum that also covers Catholicism and Protestantism. This helps the German people to get to know their large Muslim population better and helps weed out radicalism with education. This is part of a larger strategy to better integrate their Muslim residents, which has a lot of public support.

Housing First, an approach that has helped many cities address homelessness, has failed to make much impact in Boulder thanks to a shortage of permanent housing and complaints that the program suffers from a lack of coordination and ignorance of the views of the community it's trying to serve. Boulder County housing authorities and non-profits teamed up in 2017 to shift toward permanent housing and other services for people experiencing homelessness, rather than the previous policy of providing temporary shelter beds. But most people remain unserved by both temporary and permanent solutions.

The coronavirus pandemic has invigorated organizations working in the Baltics to counter disinformation, particularly from Russia, by flagging suspicious accounts, fake news, and hate speech. For example, Covid-19 led hundreds of Lithuanian medics to a group called the Elves to flag disinformation about the virus and related government responses. The groups partner with and receive funding from local and international sources, including Facebook and the Google News Innovation Fund. Some question whether highlighting stories, websites, and user accounts as fake might actually help to disseminate them further.

In Poland, a volunteer helpline connects elderly residents who call in with volunteers to engage in compassionate conversation during the coronavirus pandemic. While other hotlines exist that help provide aid services to the isolated elderly citizens, this helpline only focuses on offering conversation or, when the situation calls for it, connection to a trained therapist.

Europe’s hardcore football fans, deprived of the communal experience of watching their sport in raucous stadium crowds during the pandemic, redirected their energies toward public service projects to help communities cope with the virus. The oft-maligned “ultra” movement, blamed for the COVID-19 outbreak that became the epicenter of Europe’s virus crisis, has made hospital donations, collected food bank donations and delivered food to shut-ins, and made personal protective equipment. The philanthropy has spread across the continent to demonstrate the movement's ability to act responsibly.

Icelandic parents each get three months leave, paid at 80% of their salary, to be used within 18 months of a child’s birth. Parents also get an additional three months leave that they can split up as they choose. The “use it or lose it” leave is used by about 80% of fathers. Shared caregiving responsibilities deepen fathers’ bonds with their children and, along with other generous family benefits, has helped Iceland achieve the world’s smallest gender gap by enabling mothers to remain and advance in the workforce. It also shapes children’s experience of gender norms. Colorado recently passed a similar law.

Funding from a professional coaching, therapy, and counseling academy has helped a certified life coach and non-clinical psychotherapist offer free sessions to people in Nigeria who are struggling to cope with setbacks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which utilizes video calls and WhatsApp messaging, has broadened access for those who may not be able to seek help due to financial constraints.

By building scientifically accurate virtual tress, NatureXR is providing an opportunity for scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders to use virtual reality to understand ecosystems and model conservation impacts. Creating an authentic 3D-version of a tree can be challenging, but by developing a “procedural” tree, the software can generate a forest of trees that are unique, accurate, and realistic. VR nature can also make the environment accessible for people who might not be able to experience it due to disabilities, distance, or even fear.

The capital city of San José in Costa Rica is taking steps to become greener and less dependent on cars. By focusing on public transportation initiatives like city bikes and bike lanes, a green esplanade, and an electric passenger train, the city is hoping to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and help the country reach net zero-carbon by 2050. While the cost of these projects can be pricey, many residents are strong advocates for making the city more sustainable.

By using an agricultural technique that doesn’t use soil to grow crops, a farmer is upending the traditional farming practices in Nigeria and offering job opportunities to those who might otherwise be unemployed. Hydroponics farming is a type of horticulture that grows plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions. BIC Farms utilizes the method, which can reduce crop water consumption, and has trained more than 12,000 people on the soilless farming technique. Hydroponics can also help farmers reduce food waste and post-harvest losses.

As a way to combat climate change, scientists are experimenting with genetically modified trees as a way to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to store in its leaves, roots, and trunk. The startup Living Carbon has genetically modified poplar and pine seeds in the ground and expect them to be ready by the end of the year. Some scientists are worried about how these trees can impact forest ecosystems, but they grow faster than normal trees, allowing them to study and assess the risks quicker.

The Staten Island African American Heritage Tour is a website and mobile app that offers virtual tours of Staten Island’s Black History, which was oftentimes intentionally erased from the city's historical accounts. The tours are based on genealogical and historical investigations and the app was tested by local students for user-friendliness. The students were empowered to learn about their own histories and reported that their knowledge of local histories expanded. Five days after the website launched, before the app was public, there were already hundreds of local and international unique users.

Data collected from a handful of states where the idea of mask wearing has spread and been adopted, shows that after three weeks' time, the average daily growth rate of COVID-19 cases decreases. Although experts say that mask-wearing is not a solution on its own, the benefits of government mandates to wear a mask do still make an impact and the effectiveness only increases over time.

Snowsheds are just one tool in Canada’s arsenal to combat the impacts avalanches can have on their complex road systems. Snowsheds are aboveground tunnels where snow can travel over it and into the river, thereby reducing the number of road closures to cleanup the aftermath and allowing thousands of drivers to continue on their journeys. This idea is being explored by state officials in Wyoming as a way to improve their avalanche-mitigation tactics.

To make their restaurant more energy efficient and to cut its carbon footprint, The Publyk House utilized the services of Efficiency Vermont, a publicly funded energy efficiency utility. As part of their Deep Energy Retrofit program, the utility helped install insulation, LED lighting, and high-efficiency appliances at the restaurant, allowing them to save 50 percent on energy in two years. Since the start of the program, 10 businesses have been able to cut their energy consumption in half.

Tourists can travel to remote destinations in the Himalayas and help install solar technology in villages where residents live without electricity. GHE has used funds from the tourism component to electrify 100 villages which increased the quality of life for residents and resulted in an opportunity for tourism where one did not exist before. As a result of the electrification, a community tourism initiative allowed for tourists to stay with villagers and provided an addition source of income. The economic stimulus from tourism gave native youth a reason to stay in their villages instead of migrating.

In New York, restaurateurs who have struggled to stay open amid the coronavirus pandemic are partnering with drag performers who have lost work due to the pandemic to offer patrons a new dining experience while also trying to increase business. The dining performances are offered outdoors and some restaurant owners are hoping to continue the partnership even after COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

A housing initiative in Wales is combining affordable housing with ecological sustainability. The One Planet Development policy (OPD) gives residents an exemption to stringent countryside planning laws if they commit to a sustainable lifestyle. “There can be tension between affordable living and sustainability, but in the OPD we have an exemplar of low-impact, low-cost development.”

A failed bridge construction project in the 1960s in Wyoming to mitigate the impacts of avalanches inspired Washington state to complete a similar project fifty years later. The project included an elevated bridge that allows snow from slide paths to pass beneath the roadway, which ends up saving losses of economic activity due to road closures. While the construction can be expensive, Wyoming is looking to see if a similar solution can be applied to their own mountain passes.

First responders who face devastating emergency response outcomes in Wyoming are finding support through the Teton Interagency Peer Support group. The group anonymously connects the first responders with trauma-informed counselors – so far, 135 people have utilized the service.

Teton County in Wyoming is implementing a new "fine free" system at community libraries, and anecdotal results show it's been successful. Eliminating fines is a way for the library to address the root cause of people not accessing the resources they often need the most due to accrued fines. Instead, the library will simply freeze patrons' accounts if they have an overdue book, and have longer grace period for returns.

In Cleveland, Ohio, several small businesses have joined a co-op of companies using an employee-owned model to help with the financial constraints brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Although the process of joining the cooperative can be complicated, it has shown promise for increased business stability and, already, employees have reported it has helped with personal finances.

In order to develop the next generation of school administrative leaders, the Teton County School District created a leadership development program. The aim of the program is to create a pool of candidates who will become the next principals, curriculum exports and mentors. A sort of pipeline. The two year program includes a capstone, internships, and lessons. Five years since its inception, 36 people have graduated, half of those entered leadership roles in the district.

The Feyisayo Sobowale Initiative (TFSI) works to address Period poverty, the lack of access to menstrual products by people who cannot afford them. In the four-hour training, TFSI distributes free sanitary products and teaches girls in schools how to make reusable pads so as to avoid the dangers of using old rags or paper. The girls receive a pattern and pamphlet with the steps to turn locally sourced cotton fabric into a sanitary pad that can be washed and reused for up to a year. The pad consists of two pieces of the cotton fabric sewn together with a pre-cut towel material inserted between them.

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.

Food trucks alleviate food insecurity in food deserts and contribute to economic mobility in the Black community. A variety of local vendors benefit from the success of food trucks while consumers have easy access to high-quality food.

Black members of the LGBTQ community have benefitted from the wraparound services provided by Metro Inclusive Health. The nonprofit provides a model to nonprofits in Charlotte that are looking for a roadmap to provide economic mobility to this demographic. Services offered by Metro include both health and wellness outreach.