Rohingya turn to blockchain to solve identity crisis

In the 1980s the Mexican economy falls and a surge of undocumented immigrants begin crossing the Rio Grande river into El Paso, TX. Border Patrol agents begin stopping and questioning high school students near the border in Bowie High School. After one of the high school teachers finds out, the students began to organize, eventually suing border patrol for infringing on their constitutional rights. Ultimately, the high school students win a landmark civil rights case. “We couldn’t believe we took on the federal government and won.”

As tensions over race and education continue to be compounded by growing economic inequality and political rhetoric, one school in Connecticut bridges an otherwise widening divide. Schools like R.J. Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts - once the poorest and one of the most racially segregated schools in the state - are inspiring voluntary desegregation by offering successful magnet programs and busing students safely and efficiently across neighborhoods. The successful demonstration of integration in Kinsella is serving as a positive model for other schools around the nation.

Artificial-intelligence-powered software, called JusticeText, helps public defenders analyze case evidence, saving them hours of time and addressing an imbalance of resources between prosecutors and public defense attorneys in Kentucky.

The Predatory Loan Prevention Act caps loan interest rates at 36%, including all fees. Before the Act passed, rates were extremely high, including 297% for payday loans and 178% for auto-title loans. The Illinois Legislative Black Caucus pushed for the Act to pass in an effort to close the racial wealth gap and address socioeconomic disparities, as these high-interest rates historically affected minority groups.

Software like Imagetwin and Proofig AI scan images in scientific studies to flag problematic, manipulated, and duplicated images. This is a difficult task that could take up to an hour to do manually, leading to studies passing peer review that should not have.

The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women is piloting an AP African American Studies course to broaden the scope of how Black history is taught and discussed in schools. At the Institute of Math and Science, 32 students are taking the course, but nationwide it has expanded to 700 high schools.

Bloom Innovations or Bloom4STEM aims to inspire youth — particularly girls aged six to 15 — to pursue STEM education and careers to combat the shortage of female tech professionals in the area. Bloom4STEM visits local schools to introduce coding to students and teach them about web development, robotics and mobile app creation and also hosts mentoring sessions to help foster collaboration and personal and educational growth.

BitLab Innovation Hub offers a STEM program geared at out-of-school children, which provides hands-on training to prepare them for careers in technology. The school has trained 105 children so far.

Data Lead Africa offers a training program specifically designed to help prepare Deaf people for careers in technology and data analysis. Students are provided laptops with assistive technology and sign language interpreters who facilitate the training.

Teach For Nigeria works to eliminate educational inequity in Nigeria and recruits young graduates and education enthusiasts to teach in rural schools. With the help of the Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative, Teach for Nigeria recruits can bring innovative, digital tools — like talking, audio books — to help enhance learning in and out of the classroom.