Customizing and tailoring solutions to meet a person or a community’s needs. In developing solutions, changemakers employ human-centered design, meeting people where they are at, employing behavioral economics, and identifying cases of positive deviance. Sometimes they even employ humor, exemplifying a technique that takes into account existing and natural behavior.
Providing services without the requirement of previous behavior change or that fit the way people behave.
Using behavioral economics nudgesUsing strategies that acknowledge and take advantage of natural human behavior.
Using humorDefusing tension, winning friends and engaging people with humor. Can be used to cut fear.
2191
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-coronavirus-pandemic-7b1d14f25ab717c2a29ceafd40364b6e?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Christine Fernando
Associated Press
21 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Although many mutual aid networks have formed to serve a need during the coronavirus pandemic, the concept has been in practice for centuries and has "deep roots in communities of color." While these grassroots community efforts aren't always referred to as mutual aid, they have nonetheless come into existence to provide economic stability for communities and individuals when governmental structures have failed to do so.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/19/simple-change-to-fishing-gear-saves-thousands-of-birds-in-namibia?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Chris Baraniuk
The Guardian
19 January 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
Tens of thousands of vulnerable bird species have been saved over the last decade thanks to new equipment that has been installed by Namibian fishing boats. By fitting colorful hosepipe to lines towed behind boats, a study has shown that birds are scared away and don’t end up getting tangled in the lines. The material is also fairly cheap to implement, which allowed the solution to be widely implemented.
https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/cleveland-learning-pods-help-esl-learners-during-remote-learning-but-space-funding-are-limited?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Conor Morris
The Land
19 January 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Learning pods are helping students in Cleveland access a safe and supportive space to complete their virtual school lessons during the coronavirus pandemic. Although space is limited at the centers and they can't replace the social benefits of in-person schooling, the students who have attended are able to catch up on the assignments they had difficulty completing at home.
https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/more-dayton-residents-have-conflict-during-covid-19-mediation-comes-to-the-rescue/KGQQBGLZAJGPDKMFJSJ6ZY4QPU?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Cornelius Frolik
Dayton Daily News
18 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
In Dayton, neighbor disputes and other conflicts ended up in mediation far more often in 2020, thanks to the Dayton Mediation Center's online services at a time when local court operations were limited by the pandemic. A 23% increase in cases can be seen as both bad news and good: more conflicts among people frustrated by social distancing, but more willingness to address conflicts constructively through dialogue mediated by trained volunteers. Dayton police, who are often called to intervene in neighborhood and domestic spats, will be trained to refer cases to the free mediation center in 2021.
https://hechingerreport.org/trying-to-improve-remote-learning-a-refugee-camp-offers-some-surprising-lessons?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Javeria Salman
The Hechinger Report
14 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Hello Future is a non-profit teaching digital literacy at a refugee camp in Iraq. The program aims to teach refugees aged 13-18 marketable skills, and does so through "mobile-first" initiatives, where "90% of the program is taught on a phone," coupled with in-person classes, where students learn how to use search engines, and Google Docs. The organization has now expanded its program to students in the U.S., while adapting it to fit into remote learning due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2021/01/14/give-housing-save-money?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jade Yamazaki Stewart
Eugene Weekly
14 January 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Providing people with housing and then giving them the services they need to stay housed is also a very effective way to save tax-payer money. Reducing chronic homeless through programs like The Madrone Project helps keep the unhoused healthier, reducing their trips to the ER, and also saves tax dollars that go into policing those living on the streets. Spending money on housing and services can be considered an investment that helps get people housed and healthy again, as well as a financial strategy to reduce government and hospital costs.
https://www.dw.com/en/world-in-progress-colombian-women-access-tele-abortions-during-pandemic/av-56212425?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Victoria Stunt
Deutsche Welle (DW)
13 January 2021
Radio / 5-15 Minutes
In Colombia – where having an abortion can be stigmatizing, in some cases illegal, and now even more difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic – a clinic has set up a national hotline to help women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant aaccess to safe abortions at home. So far, the clinic has connected with 700 women.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/a-tiny-public-housing-authority-offered-residents-the-vaccine?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jared Brey
Next City
12 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
A small public housing authority in Rhode Island took the initiative to develop a methodology to administer the COVID-19 vaccine once the city began to offer the vaccine publicly. While a significant number of the residents had signed up to receive the vaccine, this number increased after the mayor and mayor-elect were publicly vaccinated at the site.
https://khn.org/news/article/peer-respites-provide-an-alternative-to-psychiatric-wards-during-pandemic?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sarah Kwon
Kaiser Health News
11 January 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
As the coronavirus pandemic forces people into isolation and social distancing, places known as "peer respites" are providing a space for those "experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis" to seek help. While the peer respites don't offer clinical care by licensed mental healthcare professionals, they are free for those who stay and "offer people in distress short-term (usually up to two weeks), round-the-clock emotional support from peers."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/world/asia/singapore-coronavirus-universities.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Sui-Lee Wee
The New York Times
9 January 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Singapore's aggressive pandemic response in conjunction with strict university rules has helped keep campuses free of COVID-19 cases so far. As a country, free testing and medical care has ensured that positive cases can be isolated quickly, while at the university level, the use of technology, zoning rules, and penalties for those who do not comply have worked to safeguard public health.
Our issue area taxonomy was adapted from the PCS Taxonomy with definitions by the Foundation Center, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
Photos are licensed under Attribution Non Commercial 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license / Desaturated from original, and are credited to the following photographers:
Fondriest Environmental, David De Wit / Community Eye Health, Linda Steil / Herald Post, John Amis / UGA College of Ag & Environmental Sciences – OCCS, Andy B, Peter Garnhum, Thomas Hawk, 7ty9, Isriya Paireepairit, David Berger, UnLtd The Foundation For Social Entrepreneurs, Michael Dunne, Burak Kebapci, and Forrest Berkshire / U.S. Army Cadet Command public affairs
Photos are licensed under Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license, and are credited to the following photographers:
Ra'ed Qutena, 段 文慶, Fabio Campo, City Clock Magazine, Justin Norman, scarlatti2004, Gary Simmons, Kathryn McCallum, and Nearsoft Inc
Photos are licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license / Desaturated from original, and are credited to the following photographers:
Burak Kebapci and SCY.
Photos are licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) and are credited to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Conference attendee listening to speaker, Jenifer Daniels / Colorstock getcolorstock.com.
Photo Credit: Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images
Photo Credit: Sonia Narang