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.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/us/schools-laundry-rooms.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Emily S. Rueb
The New York Times
13 March 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Schools have found that, among other deterrents, dirty clothes are one reason students skip school. Some, serving predominantly low-income populations, have now installed washing machines within their buildings, offering students free laundry services during the school day.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2019/03/12/as-tennessees-turnaround-district-tries-to-reduce-suspensions-heres-how-one-school-is-rethinking-discipline?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Caroline Bauman
Chalkbeat
12 March 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
A Memphis charter middle school requires teachers to complete professional development courses on restorative justice practices and the impact of trauma and poverty on student behavior. This year, the school has halved the number of suspensions.
https://tucson.com/news/local/oregon-s-unique-title-ix-reporting-policy-gives-autonomy-to/article_e47e582a-4058-11e9-9489-23f17e7dd88b.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Caitlin Schmidt
Arizona Daily Star
8 March 2019
Multi-Media / 1500-3000 Words
Confidential points of contact allow victims to reach out about Title IX violations and sexual assault on their own terms. Following multiple incidents involving members of its basketball team, the University of Oregon has reconfigured the way its Title IX programs function. New policies that allow victims to control when an incident is reported. The broader Title IX program strives to define expectations and set norms surrounding sexuality and consent through educational programs, digital resources, a hotline, and designated confidential points of contacts.
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/solutions-journalism/2019/03/07/how-miami-judge-pioneered-new-way-handling-minor-human-trafficking/3054674002?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Rikha Sharma Rani
The Montgomery Advertiser
7 March 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Human trafficking has become an increasingly prevalent problem, especially in states such as Florida that host a large tourist population. To better serve the victims, Miami-Dade County has created a trauma-focused court that directs adolescents to support services rather than prostitution charges.
http://milwaukeenns.org/2019/03/01/we-believe-that-they-can-come-home-and-be-a-positive-force-for-change-how-one-program-helps-people-transition-out-of-incarceration?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Allison Dikanovic
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
1 March 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
In Wisconsin, the Alma Brothers Smart Reentry program works to reduce the rate of recidivism by building relationships with those being released from jail and reentering society. By providing each man in the program with a guide during the last year of his sentence and first year out of prison, the program is able to offer support, resources and opportunities that the former inmates may not otherwise have.
http://ohiovalleyresource.org/2019/03/01/serving-survivors-in-rural-states-telemedicine-brings-treatment-for-sexual-abuse?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Mary Meehan
Ohio Valley Resource
1 March 2019
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Gillette, Wyoming is a small rural town that isn't connected to many resources, so that help for people who have experienced traumas can be difficult to access. With the implementation of the Gillette Abuse Refuge Foundation, however, that isolation is decreasing. Through digital connections dubbed as telemedicine, trauma survivors are able to connect with therapists to receive support and counseling sessions.
https://hechingerreport.org/pedsacademy-gives-kids-fun-learning-opportunities-in-the-hospital?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Tara Garcia Mathewson
The Hechinger Report
28 February 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
PedsAcdaemy offers personalized learning to school-age kids who are in a hospital for extended stays. Lessons, which are up to three hours a day, are designed around any physical impediments students might be facing and help to ensure there is no lost time while students are away from their normal classroom.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/what-denver-can-learn-from-homelessness-policies-in-other-states/73-cb077eb2-160d-4e86-bddd-49fb940bd6ce?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Steve Staeger
KUSA
27 February 2019
Broadcast TV News / Under 5 Minutes
In Denver, residents and city officials are learning about how to better strategize to reduce chronic homelessness by following Utah's example - and learning from its failures. Utah's inability to sustain the investments in Housing First approaches that helped them to dramatically reduce the numbers of people experiencing chronically homelessness in the first place has caused those numbers to almost double, a warning to cities like Denver searching for solutions.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90310797/how-the-robin-hood-foundation-is-fighting-a-hunger-disaster-in-new-york-caused-by-the-shutdown?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ben Paynter
FastCompany
22 February 2019
Under 800 Words
In response to the government shutdown in December 2018, the Robin Hood Foundation pieced together a food-aid puzzle to provide food for low-income families that weren't receiving their monthly SNAP benefits. By re-stocking food pantries around the city, donating to food delivery services, and working to extend food-aid protections, the organization helped keep thousands across the city fed during the shutdown.
https://www.cpr.org/news/story/interested-in-biking-more-but-scared-by-busy-streets-theres-a-new-kind-of-map-for-you?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Ryan Warner
Colorado Public Radio
22 February 2019
Text / Under 800 Words
With community support from a network of neighborhood volunteers and financial support from a local business, the Bike Streets Project makes biking more accessible for those “interested, but concerned” about road safety. The Bike Streets Project maps bicycle routes in Denver with less congestion, specifically avoiding areas of high congestion or dangerous roads marked by “sharrows.”
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