Social Sciences

The Free Hotline That's Saving Women's Lives by Disarming Dangerous Men

https://level.medium.com/the-free-hotline-thats-saving-women-s-lives-by-disarming-dangerous-men-f8da49f3b31f?gi=sd&utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Christina Noriega

Medium

22 January 2021

Text / 800-1500 Words

The Calm Hotline takes calls from men in Bogotá, Colombia, in an effort to address the root causes of domestic violence: a culture of machismo. Four psychologists take emergency calls – about 700 calls came in the service's first month – and works to refer the callers to an eight-week "gender transformation program" that will attempt to change men's toxic attitudes that can lead to violence. The program is patterned on a counseling hotline in the Colombian city of Barrancabermeja that was associated with a steep decline in domestic violence.

In South Bend, Pete Buttigieg challenged a decades-old assumption that streets are for cars above all else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pete-buttigieg-south-bend/2021/01/15/6bb014b2-55d5-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Ian Duncan

The Washington Post

16 January 2021

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Reconfiguring streets to slow automobile traffic through its downtown business district and encourage pedestrians and bicycling enlivened South Bend's street life and proved a boon to its restaurants and other businesses. Then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg pushed for the $25 million plan to make the streets safer and encourage people to spend more time and money in the area. The "smart streets" plan, like other cities' "complete streets" approaches, faced drivers' complaints about increased driving time. But Buttigieg and his supporters hope to push the concept when he runs the federal Transportation Department.

'We Don't Feel Forgotten At All': Alaska Fires Up COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/11/954881785/we-dont-feel-forgotten-at-all-alaska-fires-up-covid-19-vaccine-rollout?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Nat Herz

NPR

11 January 2021

Radio / 3-5 Minutes

Alaska has achieved one of the highest vaccination rates in the country due to prioritizing access to the vaccine for rural and Indigenous residents. Using a myriad of transportation efforts – including a fleet of chartered plans, a water taxi drove, and sleds pulled behind snow machines – clinicians have been able to deliver thousands of doses to these remote communities.

This App Aims to Help SNAP Users Make the Most of Their Benefits

https://civileats.com/2021/01/11/this-app-aims-to-help-snap-users-make-the-most-of-their-benefits?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Bailey Berg

Civil Eats

11 January 2021

Text / 1500-3000 Words

A new app is helping communities facing food insecurity in California. Forage Grocery finds the best bargains for SNAP recipients in their local grocery stores. Users upload their grocery list, select the stores they would typically visit in person, and the app compares prices to provide shoppers with a grocery list that makes the most of their SNAP benefits. The app also includes links and ads to local food banks and other resources for food insecurity.

How a Danish trade union is empowering migrant construction workers to demand equal rights

http://www.thelocal.com/20210111/how-a-danish-trade-union-is-empowering-migrant-construction-workers-to-demand-equal-rights?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Snigdha Bansal

The Local

11 January 2021

Text / 1500-3000 Words

A Danish trade union has integrated migrant construction workers by overcoming language and cultural barriers. The move has led to better working conditions, equal pay, healthcare, and housing for migrant workers - all of which also helps them integrate better into Danish society. Accommodating migrant workers on Danish construction sites has also solved the problem of surplus labor which was negatively impacting the union’s ability to negotiate with company bosses.

Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/07/943938352/outside-in-everybody-knows-somebody?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Laine Kaplan-Levenson

NPR

7 January 2021

Podcast / Over 15 Minutes

The story of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act starts with a young legal aide to Sen. Joe Biden who did not identify as a feminist and knew little about the issues, but whose methodical building of a coalition and a set of arguments led to the historic passage of the law in 1994. VAWA was the first U.S. federal law to address comprehensively the ancient problem of gender-based violence. A key provision, authorizing federal civil lawsuits by victims, helped many women for six years until the Supreme Court struck it down. The law's other effects, still ongoing, include funding victim-aid groups.