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  • From Felon to Fighter: The Redemption of Jose Santana

    October 14, 2021 |

    Santa Barbara Independent |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Santa Barbara, California

    When California adopted a new law in 2020 allowing formerly incarcerated firefighters to petition to have their criminal records expunged and parole waived, the law excluded people with the most serious, violent offenses. But it left others with violent offenses in a gray area, subject to objections that could deny them a chance to become professional firefighters, using the skills they learned at one of the state's 43 prison fire camps. This story profiles the first man from Santa Barbara County to win this right, and the obstacles he faced in the process.

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  • Dallas PD Expands Controversial, Though Successful, Mental Health Response Program

    October 06, 2021 |

    Next City |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

    Dallas' Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team dispatches clinicians and social workers with police to 911 calls for mental health crises. Within two days, the team follows up to make sure people received the services they need. In its first three years, the area of the city using the program saw 60% fewer arrests and 20% fewer emergency-room visits among people in mental health crises. Critics argue that the presence of police can needlessly escalate such crises, but the city is sticking with the co-responder model and spending millions to expand the program.

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  • Tucson police chief says mental health workers in 911 center would ensure callers get the right response

    October 05, 2021 |

    Arizona Daily Star |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Mesa, Arizona

    In 2019, Mesa police began diverting calls about suicide threats to a crisis line, where trained mental health professionals could provide counseling or dispatch a mobile crisis unit. Then they placed mental health professionals side by side with police dispatchers to triage 911 calls on the spot. Police now handle many fewer suicide-related crises, saving the city money and giving people more appropriate care. In Tucson, a mobile crisis team operates more independently from police. After two social workers were abducted at gunpoint by a man in crisis, the police chief argued to adopt the Mesa model.

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  • Is Denver's Psilocybin Decriminalization Having An Impact?

    October 04, 2021 |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Since Denver voters approved the decriminalization of the natural psychedelic drug psilocybin, the small number of arrests grew even smaller and one supporter of the policy sees growing interest in the therapeutic use of the drug. Even though supporters admit the policy has not made a big impact, it has influenced other cities and states to move in the same direction. Denver's policy was at the vanguard of what appears to be a pro-psychedlic movement in both legal and health policy.

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  • Progress amid the opioid epidemic: New Fall River fire station program seeing results

    October 02, 2021 |

    The Herald News |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Fall River, Massachusetts

    Safe Stations, which operate out of local fire stations, provide a place for people struggling with opioid addiction to walk in and request help. They can be assessed for immediate health concerns, connected to a trained recovery coach and other mental health resources, and get help finding a bed in a detox facility or an inpatient treatment program.

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  • ‘I Don't Want to Hit My Children. I Don't Want to Hit Anybody.'

    October 01, 2021 |

    The New York Times |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: England

    The Respect Phoneline started in the UK in 2004 to give anonymous callers, usually men, a way to seek help for their violent impulses. Rather than putting the burden for resolving domestic violence on survivors and on the punitive tools of the criminal justice system, the hotline approach recognizes that people prone to abusing others are frustrated and unhappy and want to change but need help to figure out how. While the aftermath of anonymous phone counseling can't be tracked, the author observed the process helping many men change their thinking. Similar hotlines have started in multiple places.

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  • Planting a Life—and a Future—After Prison at Benevolence Farm

    September 30, 2021 |

    Civil Eats |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Graham, North Carolina

    Benevolence Farm hosts a small number of formerly incarcerated women as live-in laborers growing herbs that end up in body-care products. The farming experience teaches marketable skills, as the women learn the finer points of horticulture. It also provides outdoor, hands-on experiences that are therapeutic to women after they spent months or years locked up in a sterile prison. The rural location poses some challenges, but the dozens of women who have spent 12-18 months living and working there have shown much lower-than-average rates of recidivism.

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  • Learning when to be hands-off

    September 30, 2021 |

    Boulder Weekly |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Boulder County, Colorado

    Although several Colorado law enforcement agencies have trained officers on how to de-escalate interactions with people in a crisis, including people with disabilities, the state in 2022 will become the latest to mandate such training for all law enforcement officers. The training is backed by a study that suggests it helps police better recognize and understand the reactions that people with disabilities might have under stress in a confrontation with police. Trained officers in Boulder last year successfully ended one potentially violent incident without serious inury.

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  • Paris shows how to make public housing greener and more habitable at the same time

    September 29, 2021 |

    Grist |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: France, Paris

    Old and neglected housing contributes to climate change because it runs on fossil fuels. In New York, outdated heating systems waste two-thirds of energy. The New York City Housing Authority is not only trying to create better, safer, livable affordable housing, but also cleaner and more sustainable housing. While the city is just beginning to explore how to do that, other cities, like Paris, have already begun the work of updating old buildings that are used for affordable housing and can offer a model for American cities.

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  • In Arizona, a radical change in juvenile detention

    September 20, 2021 |

    High Country News |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, St. Johns, Arizona

    Unrealistic fears of a wave of youth violence left rural Apache County, Colorado, with an unused, costly youth detention facility. So the local courts decided to refashion the empty jail into the Loft Legacy Teen Center, an after-school hangout offering a "care-first" approach to teen problems. Mentors and a truancy prevention program help youth avoid trouble and get educations. Youth arrests have dropped, though that might also be credited to the state's risk-assessment tool that is meant to guard against overuse of punishment.

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