What Do the Poor Need? Try Asking Them

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/david-l-kirp-what-do-the-poor-need-try-asking-them.html

David L. Kirp

The New York Times

8 August 2015

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Neighborhood Centers, a Houston anti-poverty program has a simple philosophy: “The people are the asset, the source of potential solutions, not the problem.” The non-profit has scaled nationally, employing its bottom-up approach to disburse funds in poor communities.

Could adorable tiny tech backpacks save the honeybees?

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0825/Could-adorable-tiny-tech-backpacks-save-the-honeybees

Jessica Mendoza

Christian Science Monitor

25 August 2015

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Concerned with colony collapse syndrome in honey bees worldwide, scientists, farmers and tech companies teamed up in Australia to create a micro-sensor that collects data on the bee's environment.

NASA and USAID pioneer the use of space technologies for development efforts

https://www.devex.com/news/nasa-and-usaid-pioneer-the-use-of-space-technologies-for-development-efforts-88365

Catherine Cheney

Devex

1 July 2016

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SERVIR, a joint development initiative of the United States Agency for International Development and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, leverages data from space to improve environmental decision-making in 30 developing countries.

How cities are searching for solutions among massive mounds of data

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-cities-are-searching-for-solutions-among-massive-mounds-of-data/article23131733

John Lorinc

The Globe and Mail

20 February 2015

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New York City suffered from fires that erupted in overcrowded, run-down apartments. Then the city sleuthed through residential records and found that landlords who foreclosed let their properties fall apart and ignored safety-code violations. Greater Toronto wants to expand upon New York City’s method by using transportation surveys, census data and computer data to build transit lines.

In Aleppo, cell phones are helping some desperate Syrians find clean water

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-08-26/aleppo-cell-phones-are-helping-some-desperate-syrians-find-clean-water

Joyce Hackel

Public Radio International (PRI)

26 August 2015

Radio / 5-15 Minutes

In war zones, people have a difficult time finding clean water and safe areas to inhabit. Social media, smart phones, and technology applications are aiding in people’s survival. In Aleppo, Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross posted a map on Facebook to show alternative sources of clean drinking water that reached approximately 140,000 people.

How Online Mapmakers Are Helping the Red Cross Save Lives in the Philippines

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/how-online-mapmakers-are-helping-the-red-cross-save-lives-in-the-philippines/281366

Robinson Meyer

The Atlantic

13 November 2013

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After typhoon Haiyan, the devastation to the Philippines was hard to locate and track. The Red Cross staffed volunteers to sort through crowd-sourced data to create maps. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap software application has helped the Red Cross better organize search and rescue operations.

Curing Violence Like an Infectious Disease

http://www.tinyspark.org/podcasts/curing-violence-like-an-infectious-disease

Amy Costello

Tiny Spark

30 July 2015

Podcast / 5-15 Minutes

Neighborhoods in Chicago suffer from gang violence and gun-related deaths. A church leader and a physician trained in infectious diseases created Cure Violence, a program that sends teams of local residents to meet with gang leaders as a means of producing positive behavioral change by re-setting social norms. Their approach has reduced violence between 40% and 70%.

Teaching citizens how to shoot better video when they witness brutality

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/teaching-citizens-shoot-better-video-witness-brutality

Hari Sreenivasan

Judy Woodruff

PBS NewsHour

10 April 2015

Multi-Media / 5-15 Minutes

With human injustices affecting people on the streets around the world, camera phones have become important tools to document crimes. However, the video may not adequately capture the crime to be persuasive in court. The global organization WITNESS has formed as Video As Evidence Program to instruct citizens how to best document crimes with their cameras so that the evidence will stand in court.

What Will it Take to Get Plastics out of the Ocean?

http://ensia.com/features/what-will-it-take-to-get-plastics-out-of-the-ocean

Anja Krieger

Ensia

1 February 2016

Text / Over 3000 Words

The amount of plastic debris in our oceans and water sources - especially nanoplastics that are increasingly prevalent in our food chain - is so enormous it's often beyond comprehension, and immensely difficult to address. As countries continue to industrialize and single-use products become more commonplace, the flow of harmful plastics into the environment seems insurmountable. But a number of clever inventions and dedicated individuals are working to help get plastics out of our water - and more importantly - encourage practices to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Mumbai slum dwellers say 'I have to help' stop violence against women

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-15/mumbai-slum-dwellers-say-i-have-help-stop-violence-against-women

Marco Werman

Rhitu Chatterjee

Public Radio International (PRI)

15 September 2015

Radio / 5-15 Minutes

In the Mumbai slum of Dharavi, an NGO called Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action (SNEHA) is working to make life safer by teaching men the importance of not being violent towards women. Through an app called Eyewatch, community members are able to document acts of domestic violence, which helps SNEHA team members locate victims and their abusers.