Practicing Human Centered Design

How a neighborhood collaborative transformed a small town

https://www.richlandsource.com/solutions/how-a-neighborhood-collaborative-transformed-a-small-town/article_5d61ed4e-f3a2-11ea-b74e-67f1af5b5a12.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Katie Ellington

Richland Source

21 September 2020

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Residents are using dollar-for-dollar matching grants to spruce up their homes in Fulton, NY, resulting in higher home values, higher morale and the formation of neighborhood collaborations. The grants are granted to entire neighborhoods with the condition that at least half the residents sign up for the challenge. The initiative strives to create a ripple effect that eventually revitalizes the city.

In Place of Police: The Oregon Experiment

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/09/18/who-comes-when-it-shouldnt-be-police-the-oregon-experiment?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Krithika Varagur

New York Review of Books

18 September 2020

Text / Over 3000 Words

CAHOOTS fields teams of mental-health first responders as a cost-effective and more humane alternative to sending the police to 911 calls for crises and even mundane problems concerning mental health, drugs and alcohol, domestic disputes, homelessness, and potential suicides. Weeks of observing their work illustrates the carefully circumscribed role they play in defusing the immediate crisis without necessarily solving the underlying problem entirely. Responding repeatedly to the same people's problems builds trust, but its ultimate success depends on a broader network of health and social services.

How schools are finding thousands of students they couldn't reach when the pandemic began

https://www.kxan.com/pass-or-fail/how-schools-are-finding-thousands-of-students-they-couldnt-reach-when-the-pandemic-began?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Jennifer Sanders

KXAN-TV

18 September 2020

Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes

For one school district in Texas, using personal relationships established before the pandemic, proved the best way to reach bilingual students in rural parts of the district who weren't showing up to remote classes. One librarian and a parent “went door-to-door there to track down students and find out how they could help families transition to virtual learning. They also had parents fill out note cards showing how many children lived in the home to make sure no child was left behind.” Other Texas districts are similarly relying on home visits to check on students. Data shows those methods work.

The LEAD Program Faces a Reckoning for Centering Police

http://filtermag.org/lead-program-police?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Helen Redmond

Filter

17 September 2020

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The LEAD program (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion), which was launched in Seattle in 2011 and is used in such cities as Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, provides intensive case management and services to people who come in contact with police and qualify to have their low-level cases bypass the criminal justice system. LEAD has been shown to lower recidivism by half and to make it more likely that people with drug and mental health, and other problems can find housing and jobs more easily. But this critical analysis argues that the police should not serve as gatekeepers.

In a career born in her own grief, violence recovery specialist works at a Chicago hospital in a city under siege

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-chicago-violence-hospital-responder-20200916-ruutbxhob5b27fermnb52blui4-story.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Annie Sweeney

Chicago Tribune

16 September 2020

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Since the 2018 opening of a trauma-care center near the neighborhoods most affected by Chicago's gun violence, the University of Chicago Medical Center's Violence Recovery Program has helped survivors and victims' families to address the emotional harm that can go untreated when only physical harm is treated. Part of a growing field nationwide, hospital-based violence intervention, the program's nine specialists counsel people through the immediate shock of a gun injury or death. Then they address longer-term needs for services. The goals are both humanitarian and pragmatic, to head off more violence.

Jersey City's Composting Program Expands During a Pandemic

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/jersey-citys-composting-program-expands-during-a-pandemic?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Emily Nonko

Next City

16 September 2020

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Since the Jersey City composting program, over 50,000 pounds of disposable waste has been used to fertilize home gardens, parks, and community gardens, instead of going into landfills. While scaling the program is a challenge due to the lack of infrastructure for integrating composting as part of the city’s waste removal, residents were eager to participate.

The Mississippi Program That's Showing How Effective Direct Cash Transfers Can Be

https://theappeal.org/the-mississippi-program-thats-showing-how-effective-direct-cash-transfers-can-be?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Lauren Gill

The Appeal

14 September 2020

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Low-income families, which are disproportionately black, have been given $1,000 each month in an effort to address the racial wealth gap through the Magnolia Mother's Trust program. The cash payments yield an increase of recipients who were able to earn their GEDs, cook fresh meals for their families, and meet all their basic needs. The payments began prior to the onset of the pandemic but have proven to be a crucial safety net.

You can get a robot to keep your lonely grandparents company. Should you?

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/9/9/21418390/robots-pandemic-loneliness-isolation-elderly-seniors?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Sigal Samuel

Vox

9 September 2020

Text / Over 3000 Words

Robotic pets have been helping to keep senior citizens from feeling isolated and lonely even before the pandemic, but are now growing in popularity due to the positive benefits they reportedly offer. While some health experts believe the benefits outweigh any concerns, others caution that nursing homes and families should not use the robots as a replacement for human caretakers.

Seniors Struggle With Isolation In The Pandemic. Here's How Some Organizations Are Trying To Help.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/seniors-struggle-with-isolation-in-the-pandemic-heres-how-some-organizations-are-trying-to-help/0b9e5131-12ad-4186-b296-504f623d276d?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Edie Rubinowitz

WBEZ

7 September 2020

Radio / 5-15 Minutes

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated how seniors are able to come together for companionship, but groups in Illinois are trying to utilize technology to address the problem. While the digital divide is a significant limitation to this approach, some seniors say "they are having new experiences, meeting new people and that their world has actually expanded since COVID-19."

Call police for a woman who is changing clothes in an alley? A new program in Denver sends mental health professionals instead.

https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/06/denver-star-program-mental-health-police?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker

Elise Schmelzer

The Denver Post

6 September 2020

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To avoid unnecessary arrests and reduce police-public friction, Denver's STAR program (Support Team Assistance Response) sends a mental health professional and a paramedic to some mental-health-related 911 calls instead of sending police. In the first three months of the pilot program, the STAR team – covering only certain areas of the city during weekdays – handled 350 calls without needing police backup. STAR builds on a 4-year-old program pairing Denver police with mental health professionals. That program handled 2,223 calls in 2019 and is expanding.