Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 1125 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Ervin Staub: A Holocaust survivor's mission to train ‘heroic bystanders'

Daniel Gordon Joshua Nevett

October 05, 2020 |

BBC |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

By training police officers to intervene when fellow officers engage in brutality or other misconduct, the New Orleans police department has reduced officers' use of force and increased public trust. After the killing of George Floyd by a police officer whose colleagues did not intervene, the ethical-policing model called EPIC (Ethical Policing Is Courageous) is expanding to dozens more cities as ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement). It is based on the violence-psychology research of Ervin Staub, whose family was saved by "active bystanders" in Nazi Hungary.

Read More
Go to Original Story
What a City-Sized Sharing Economy Looks Like

Lauren Kaljur

October 05, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada

The First Nation–Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative is a nationwide initiative to foster positive relationships, empowering First Nation and municipal leaders to talk as equals. There have been hundreds of requests and 15 pairs completed the program. The goal is to foster joint economic development, but it also initiated discussions about the impact of colonization and ensures First Nations are represented in decision-making. Pairs have cooperated on infrastructure projects, such as highway expansions and solar farms, and have a renewed sense of being connected.

Read More
Go to Original Story
After 7 years of voting by mail, Colorado voters aren't taken in by absentee ballot drama

Kevin Duggan

October 01, 2020 |

Coloradoan |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Colorado's mandatory, all-mail balloting system encounters very few cases of fraud or mistake while making voting easier and more accessible to all voters. Everyone who applies for a driver's license or Medicaid gets registered. Since 2013, ballots are mailed to all registered voters. The state eased into that system by first fulfilling mail-in ballots by request – something 70% of voters already were doing by the time the system became mandatory. One former secretary of state cautions that voter list maintenance is a daunting challenge. But the state's system is often called the most secure in the country.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Here's How Chicago Police Spent 4 Million Hours Of Anti-Violence Overtime

Elliott Ramos

September 29, 2020 |

WBEZ |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

As Chicago touts the latest in a series of anti-violence police units, a look back at the Violence Reduction Initiative launched in 2012 teaches lessons about how a program that claims credit for falling violence still might be termed a failure for its lack of focus and for the collateral damage it inflicts on a suffering community. VRI spent $4 million on police overtime to saturate 20 South and West Side areas, targeting not only illegal gun possession but a host of minor offenses, burdening mostly Black residents with parking fines and frequent police stops, alienating them from their protectors.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Obama Justice Department Had a Plan to Hold Police Accountable for Abuses. The Trump DOJ Has Undermined It.

Robert Faturechi

September 29, 2020 |

ProPublica |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

One of the most powerful tools used to reform policing practices, widely credited with restoring public faith in such troubled departments as the Los Angeles Police Department, is called a consent decree. The U.S. Justice Department sues cities where police abuses are seen as rampant. Then, under the watchful eye of a judge and independent monitor, the department agrees to a package of reforms. Under the Trump Justice Department, though, the tool has gone unused in new cases. In existing cases, the government has become passive, allowing cities to flout their agreements without consequence.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Low-key cops and a white shaggy dog: How Marathon County transformed its response to residents in crisis

Peter Cameron

September 28, 2020 |

Wausau Pilot and Review |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wausau, Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, plain-clothes law enforcement officers are teaming up with mental health experts to handle calls related to crisis intervention. The goal of the Marathon County Crisis Assessment Response Team is to reduce unnecessary detentions of people experiencing mental health crises, while also increasing trust with the community. In the two years since the program launched, the "rate of hospitalizing or jailing people in crisis" has dropped in both consecutive years, which has consequently saved the county a great deal of expenses.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Big Dance: Saving the Great Bear Rainforest

Andrew MacLeod

September 24, 2020 |

The Tyee |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, British Columbia

Finding common ground between environmentalists, logging companies, and indigenous communities to protect the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada took years of discussion and even a dance at an Elton John concert. But these groups were able to negotiate an agreement to make 3.1 million hectares of rainforest off limits to logging, allow 500,000 hectares available for forestry, and strengthen First Nations rights. The process could be a model for what reconciliation can look like among competing interests.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Heroes of the pandemic: “When the world is burning, I feel I must help put out the fire”

Victoria Bouloubasis Andrea Patiño Contreras

September 24, 2020 |

Enlace Latino NC |

Multi-Media |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

A group of health professionals known as Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19, or LATIN-19, is helping to bring coronavirus-specific health care access to North Carolina's Latino community. Because the group operates across county lines, they have become well-known amongst the local communities, helping to not only provide much-needed health care services, but also increase awareness around the dangers of the virus.

Read More
Go to Original Story
In New Zealand, Police Work and Social Work Can Go Together

Serena Solomon

September 22, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: New Zealand, South Auckland

In South Auckland, epicenter of New Zealand's high rates of domestic violence, police respond to calls for help but instantly call in Te Taanga Manawa, a Māori-led team of multiple, culturally appropriate social-services agencies to guide families toward fixing the root of their problems. In the past, police may have made referrals to services agencies. But the Māori's distrust and the time lag in getting offers of help meant that families often rejected it, having papered over their conflict for a time. Now, nearly all accept the help offered while the crisis is still hot.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Old school still rules: Lee-Harvard's high census response rate could teach other neighborhoods a few tricks

Lee Chilcote Conor Morris

September 22, 2020 |

The Land |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

The high census completion rate in Lee-Harvard, as high as 70%, compared to Cleveland’s 50% as a whole, is the result of regular meetings, pre-pandemic, to educate residents of the benefits of the census and dispel common myths. After the pandemic, volunteers at the community center’s monthly food distribution provided census-related information. A group of retired women, called the Ward 1 Volunteer Navigators, also went door-to-door to make sure everyone got counted. Because many of the residents are long time homeowners, neighbor-to-neighbor relationships also led more residents to complete the census.

Read More
Go to Original Story