How football moved the goalposts for girls in rural India

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the program Sisters United Resilient and Empowered, also called SURE Moms, offers counseling to mothers in an effort to address their trauma, and thus have an effect on their entire families. With research showing the connection between home life and criminal behavior, SURE Moms gives women the opportunity to provide their children with emotional support by giving them that same emotional support. What started as an informal bible study group is now funded by the city and offers regular, twice per week classes.

RVA League For Safer Streets uses a basketball league as "bait" to change young men's lives by teaching critical thinking and better ways to resolve conflicts. The Richmond, Virginia, program was co-founded in prison by a former drug dealer convicted of murder who learned the methods of cognitive behavioral therapy behind bars. Paroled after 23 years, he began counseling youth with an approach that police say contributed to a significant drop in Richmond's gang violence and other crime.

Using a daily soccer practice as a structure, a nonprofit in a remote village in India is teaching girls about gender equality and health and life skills.

Obesity has become a health crisis for many women in the African-American community, but a group known as GirlTrek is working to change this by making exercise a social norm and creating supportive connections between women with shared goals. This new organization, which works to identify barriers that many in this community face, channels African-American history to encourage black women to walk their way toward better health.

FeelNHeal is a safe space where women who were displaced due to conflict can prioritize their mental health. The Nigerian initiative helps young girls and women heal using outreach, education, connections with professional therapists, and group sessions that include art and games.

Students at two local high schools with mental health awareness clubs collaborated to host a Mental Health Awareness Fun Run to bring the community together and support local mental health organizations following the COVID-19 pandemic, when several students experienced strong feelings of isolation.

A youth rodeo in Dodge City, Kansas, is growing in popularity while working to interest kids in ranch life and keep them interested in staying in their rural towns.

In New Hampshire, a healing and bonding program is offering veterans and first responders experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder ways to cope with their stressors. From social interactions to equine therapy, participants have reported that the program has had a positive impact on their wellbeing.

A Belarus women’s-empowerment support group using the Wen-Do method ends each session with the students breaking a piece of wood with a chop of their hand, a literal show of strength that communicates how defending against men’s harassment and physical attacks may require physical force as well as assertiveness. In Canada, where the method began, the training -- a mix of martial arts lessons and support-group dialog -- is associated with a 46% reduction in rape and 64% drop in attempted sexual assault.

The Fulton Community Supervision Center in Missouri provides trauma-informed, gender-specific care and services to women who face the risk of recidivism. Participants live at the center, where they receive services like cognitive behavioral therapy and classes that teach coping mechanisms and personal and professional development. Core to much of the programming is helping women find their self worth.