Recife is tackling violence by making life better for its youngest residents

While the passage of the Arkansas River through downtown Wichita is a natural place for activity, it took attractions to get people to come. The ArkArt project developed art installations along the river beautifying the location and providing a hook to drive pedestrian traffic.

Dorchester, the Boston neighborhood with the highest poverty levels, struggles to keep kids in school from engaging with gangs and crime. But College Bound Dorchester (CBD) is fast rewriting the solution to high drop out and recidivism rates, paying ex-offenders a weekly stipend to enroll in and complete a diploma program and proceed to (and through) college. With "core influencers" -- ex-gang members who have "left behind their troubled pasts" -- as role models in the community, CBD emulates similar programs in Chicago and Baltimore, and studies show the initiative is working.

Alleys in Seattle were once places of illicit, illegal, and unsanitary activity. The International Sustainability Institute in Seattle began organizing music and art events to bring in people, which, in turn, cleaned-up the crime and garbage. As an urban development strategy, adjacent vacant storefronts re-opened for business and beautification could be seen in new gardens.

Through programs across the country, nurses, social workers, or trained mentors offer support to new or expectant parents, imparting skills to help them become better teachers for their children. Through regular home visits with the families, these programs are working to close an achievement gap between rich and poor children that starts as early as just nine months into a child's life.

As a way to raise funds and awareness for stormwater education, some cities are turning rain barrels into an art exhibit. Rain barrels catch water as it runs off rooftops, which can be used later for watering plants. It also reduces the amount of water that picks up pollutants and is carried into waterways. The Ashland Soil and Water Conservancy District in Ohio featured 10 rain barrels painted by local artists, allowing residents to vote and bid on their favorite design. Their efforts were inspired by a similar event in Indiana where they’ve auctioned 100 barrels for residents to use at home.

The City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency is providing funding for businesses closed by COVID-19 to board up their windows with public art. Offering up to $2,000 per business, its purpose is to help support local artists who have become unemployed, and bolster public safety by discouraging break-ins. So far, more than 30 businesses have participated, with no mention of ending the program soon.

The small Southern city of Newnan, GA considered themselves to be a fairly open and accepting place. This attitude was shattered when 17 huge portraits of ordinary people who make up Newnan were hung across the city and prompted a racially-tinged backlash. The purpose of the portraits was to open up a dialogue around the diversity in the city, but it also exposed new and hidden racial tensions. The portraits were ultimately allowed to stay up, but the conversations surrounding the issue are ongoing.

A novel way to help young men growing up in communities in which concentrated poverty, violence and unemployment are well-documented barriers to health and longevity: male youth of color are trained to be the emergency response team to help stabilize street victims before doctors or nurses begin procedures.

Baltimore has dramatically reduced homicides through a multi-pronged approach involving a data-driven Group Violence Reduction Strategy, credible-messenger intervention programs, and aggressive prosecution of illegal gun possession. This has resulted in a record-low murder rate in 2026, with 60 killings recorded through August compared to roughly 220 at the same point four years prior.

The SHARE program, a food recovery initiative created by Toward Zero Waste and Wake County Public Schools, redirects unopened cafeteria items onto accessible carts and fridges for any student to take throughout the school day. SHARE has grown from 8 to 37 schools since the spring of 2025 and recovers roughly 41 food items per school per day, reducing landfill waste and de-stigmatizing food support.