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.
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https://www.hcn.org/issues/52.2/what-works-can-new-bus-lines-chart-a-course-to-better-travel-options-in-the-west?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Carl Segerstrom
High Country News
9 January 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Private bus companies are beginning to offer an alternative method of transportation in the American West. As younger travelers seek to reduce their carbon footprint, companies like Flixbus are stepping in where rail connections are still lacking. Especially when compared to flying or owning a car, buses offer a carbon-efficient form of travel over long distances. Companies like Flixbus also offer convenience, meeting travelers on university campuses.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/08/794063152/reduce-health-costs-by-nurturing-the-sickest-a-much-touted-idea-disappoints?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Dan Gorenstein
Leslie Walker
NPR
8 January 2020
Radio / 3-5 Minutes
Researchers in New Jersey have been testing the idea that an increased specialized care model directed towards the sickest and most expensive patients would help reduce costs and improve health, but the trials have been less than promising. However, it was in the failures of the approach, that researchers learned that creating broader partnerships and addressing underlying issues for the patients may have been the missing key.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2020/01/08/more-charter-operators-are-offering-a-plan-b-to-alumni-who-drop-out-of-traditional-college-will-it-work?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Kalyn Belsha
Chalkbeat
8 January 2020
Text / 1500-3000 Words
In addition to encouraging students to pursue higher education, charter school networks have started to follow up with alumni who end up dropping out of college, offering them alternative paths to a degree, such as online classes.
https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/wellbeing/art-theatre-and-clowns-creative-cures-for-dementia-1.960772?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Priti Salian
The National
7 January 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Connecting with art enriches the lives of patients struggling with dementia and Alzheimers. Across Germany, several programs are using art to stimulate the minds of an aging population. At the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, seniors meet to discuss art pieces that affect them. Elsewhere, in Bonn, the Demezionen theater ensemble performs for retirement homes. And even clowns can bring a positive atmosphere to seniors struggling with dementia!
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/01/02/telework-program-is-game?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Becky Jacobs
The Salt Lake Tribune
2 January 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
Training rural residents to work from home eases the struggle with unemployment. Utah’s Rural Online Initiative program provides rural residents with an online work certificate and training in online tools such as video-conferencing software. The one-month course is run by the Utah State University Extension and funded by Utah’s state legislature.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2019/12/29/meet-father-son-duo-out?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Taylor Stevens
The Salt Lake Tribune
2 January 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
In Salt Lake City, Utah, a father-son duo started Project Empathy, which gives people experiencing homelessness a space to tell their stories and build community. Over meals, the father and son team build connections with people in the homeless community, and these connections often lead to other forms of help, such as transportation to housing and Social Security applications.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/us/white-supremacy-moonshot-google-ads.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Neil MacFarquhar
The New York Times
30 December 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
London-based company, Moonshot CVE buys ads on Google to target radical, white extremist searches. The company’s ads are often funded by private companies, foundations, or governments and route people to anti-extremist and anti-radicalization videos and playlists. While an innovative idea, the company’s ability to raise funding has been hard because assessing its impact remains a challenge.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/29/adaptive-surfing-the-wave-bristol-its-my-happy-place-disability-sport?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Jonny Weeks
The Guardian
29 December 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
The UK is home to an artificial surfing lagoon that aims to help those with disabilities have access to water sports they otherwise may not be able to participate in. Acting as both a physical and mental rehabilitation methodology, The Wave was designed "to make sure the space was accessible physically and in terms of culture, to make sure that all people have the same opportunities on site as each other and to normalise being around people who have got physical or mental health issues."
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-27/community-college-program-helps-student-parents?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nina Agrawal
Los Angeles Times
27 December 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
In the United States, community colleges are increasingly offering child care opportunities for student parents.
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2019/12/27/riverside-county-forgives-warrants-fines-help-homeless/2624646001?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nicole Hayden
Desert Sun
27 December 2019
Text / Over 3000 Words
In Indio, California, the Community Outreach Resource Program (CORP) partners law enforcement with social supportive services as a way of holistically working with people experiencing homelessness, mental health issues, or drug abuse. The collaboration partners select officers, mental health professionals, transition and homeless shelters, detox centers, affordable housing, caseworks, amongst other services, to make sure that those enrolling in the program have the highest probability of sustained success. One of the key factors to this program is that upon completion, individuals have the opportunity to hav
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