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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http://milwaukeenns.org/2019/07/11/exclusive-im-not-the-only-one-who-has-a-mom-in-jail-camp-reunites-locked-up-mothers-with-their-kids?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Allison Dikanovic
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
11 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Wisconsin’s Camp Reunite is bringing together women experiencing incarceration with their children. The camp was hosted at Taycheedah, a correctional facility in Fond du Lac, WI, and while the kids were there had less security and more carnival games. Parental incarceration has a strong effect on children and on the parent/child bond, something Camp Reunite hopes to help repair.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/07/737618560/with-rural-health-care-stretched-thin-more-patients-turn-to-telehealth?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Patti Neighmond
NPR
7 July 2019
Radio / 5-15 Minutes
Almost a quarter of rural Americans surveyed by NPR had used a telehealth service in the past few years. While new technologies are allowing remote patients to gain new access to healthcare, lack of broadband service and outdated insurance policies are making it hard for more widespread adoption.
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/how-grassroots-partnerships-are-working-toward-long-term-food-security/article_12f9654a-8d26-11e9-9e21-cb01002d8a71.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Alexis Allison
Columbia Missourian
3 July 2019
Text / Over 3000 Words
Overcoming the causes of social isolation plays a crucial role in combating food insecurity. From faith-based community meals paired with job programs in Branson, to food recycling initiatives that tap into local markets in Kansas, multiple organizations across Missouri and the United States are developing solutions oriented toward local needs. In some cases, such as the work of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard in Bloomington, IN, building community leads to political advocacy and civic engagement.
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/ideas-we-should-steal-campus-thrift-stores?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Nick Fiorellini
The Philadelphia Citizen
3 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Recycling and repurposing second hand items helps to reduce a community’s carbon footprint. At Bard College in New York, the FreeUse Store collects second hand items from students and redistributes them free of charge to members of the community. Run by the university’s Office of Sustainably, the program provides a model for using campus bins to recycle textiles and other items to reduce landfill use.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/books/kids-books-barbershops-laundromats.html?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Christine Hauser
The New York Times
2 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Across the United States, barbershops, laundromats, libraries, and other civic institutions are collaborating to provide more "informal" spaces for kids to practice their reading skills. The initiatives are often located in community gathering spots in economically distressed areas, and help children not only practice their reading, but also grow their confidence.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07fp90n?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Tom Colls
BBC
2 July 2019
Podcast / Over 15 Minutes
A U.S. company, Flock Safety, has developed a security and surveillance system that allows residents to monitor the color, model, and license plate of every car entering their neighborhood. The system uses car license plate cameras that aren’t monitored by the local police or governments, rather, by residents themselves, to help deter crime. While the system has shown success to the tune of an average of two crimes solved every day, it also raises questions around the problematic nature of surveillance culture, privacy, and profiting off of safety and fear.
https://www.civicstory.org/video-archive/2019/7/2/camden-powercorps-recruits-youth-to-green-the-city?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Donna Liu
CivicStory
2 July 2019
Video / 5-15 Minutes
PowerCorps is a program that provides job training for young adults in Camden, New Jersey. It matches participants with opportunities to improve the green infrastructure in the community and is supported by the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. The ultimate goal is to connect PowerCorps graduates to full-time employment.
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2019/0701/Car-but-no-home-Safe-parking-lots-spread-across-West-Coast?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Francine Kiefer
The Christian Science Monitor
1 July 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
In California and other western states, where the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased dramatically, some nonprofits are offering up parking lots as a place for those who live in their cars to stay safely overnight. While the programs are clearly a temporary measure, they offer more than just a lot for people to stay the night - there are also caseworkers available to help people navigate the complicated bureaucracy and get the supports they need.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-48696454/crossing-divides-the-schoolchildren-confronting-speeding-motorists?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Dougal Shaw
BBC
28 June 2019
Broadcast TV News / Under 3 Minutes
In London, a new initiative called Junior Roadwatch is engaging children as traffic safety enforcers. Around one particularly busy and dangerous section of road, drivers who are caught speeding have two options: get a ticket or be questioned by a group of school-aged children. While newly developed, the initiative, devised by The Met Police and Transport for London, has stopped over 90 individuals for speeding, all of whom chose to answer questions from children about the consequences of their actions.
https://bhekisisa.org/features/2019-06-26-doctor-smartphone-and-other-tales-from-the-bedroom?utm_source=Solutions+Story+Tracker
Innocent Eteng
Bhekisisa
26 June 2019
Text / 800-1500 Words
Teenagers and young adults across Africa are using myPaddi, an app that allows the user to ask medical questions from the privacy of their own home. Eliminating stigma as well as information that is often derived from a religious or cultural angle, the app is helping bridge the gap between patient and doctor.
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