Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Social Workers Instead of Police? Denver's 911 Experiment Is a Promising Start

    Four years after pairing social workers with police officers on certain nonemergency calls, Denver's STAR program began dispatching a mental-health clinician and paramedic as sole first responders when health and social services are needed rather than arrests, jail, and the risk of police violence. The program in its first six months, though limited by geography and hours, handled 748 calls without any police involvement. Police, in fact, are relaying many of the calls that STAR takes. STAR teaches other large cities useful lessons, but it's only as good as the local mental-health infrastructure.

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  • Mindfulness training is helping Philly students – and teachers – thrive Audio icon

    Amy Edelstein thought that if high school students knew how to meditate they could learn how to focus, stay on track, and regulate negative self-talk. They could become better. So, in 2014 she started the Inner Strength Foundation to provide public schools with research-backed mindfulness curriculum. The curriculum has become a 12-week program, with instructors visiting classrooms in 19 schools across the city once a week.

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  • How One School Is Using House Calls to Keep Kids Learning During the Pandemic

    Every Wednesday, the Culture Team at Achievement Preparatory Academy in Washington, D.C. makes house calls to help battle chronic absenteeism. The team celebrates some students for improvements and perfect attendance, helps motivate others who are falling behind, and maintains contact with others who just need a little push.

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  • Using Tech, California Counties Have Cleared 140,000 Marijuana-Related Convictions

    After California legalized marijuana, it offered people a way to erase their marijuana-related criminal records. But few tried, in part because the process was difficult. Code for America's Clear My Record initiative automated the process by creating lists of cases eligible for expungement and notifying counties that they could easily take the next step. As a result, 140,000 convictions have been reduced or dismissed, relieving those people of the burden of a criminal record when applying for a job. CFA is working to expand the program nationwide.

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  • Will New York allow incarcerated people to access treatment for drug addiction?

    Medically assisted treatment is proven to reduce fatal opioid overdoses, particularly among formerly incarcerated people. When people are denied treatment in jail or prison and then resume their previous doses once they're released, they are up to 40 times more likely to die of an overdose. Only 18 of New York's county jails and fewer than one in five of its prisons provide access to such treatment drugs as Suboxone and methadone. When Rhode Island became the first state to make MAT available throughout its prisons, its overdose deaths among people recently released from incarceration dropped 60%.

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  • Human trafficking operations surrounding the Super Bowl result in dozens of arrests for prostitution

    Law enforcement and a private organization, Rahab's Daughters, attacked human sex trafficking at the 2021 Super Bowl in Tampa by tracing leads from tens of thousands of advertisements for sexual services. While the private group says it provided housing, food, and clothing to 40 women, and the police said they identified six trafficking victims and connected them with needed protection and services, far more women were arrested on prostitution charges, along with a handful of men on trafficking charges. Critics say the harm from those arrests can overshadow the benefits from looking for actual victims.

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  • Experiences elsewhere seek to quell abuse, providing lessons for Malheur County

    The Duluth Model is one of multiple successful responses to domestic violence that focus on prevention through counseling and education, rather than relying only on punishment after a crime has been committed. The often-copied Duluth approach uses an intense, multi-agency response that includes putting men who abuse their partners through a lengthy treatment program. That program leads men to examine their lives and attitudes toward women, and has been credited with keeping 70% of its graduates out of trouble.

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  • Early intervention program to stem domestic violence in Poughkeepsie faces resistance

    An early-intervention program targets people suspected of domestic violence with services meant to end the abuse through deterrence and counseling rather than after-the-fact punishment. In Kingston, New York, the Intimate Partners Violence Intervention program has contributed to a 36% drop in reported abuse and a low recidivism rate. Multiple agencies provide services aimed at prevention of abuse, while police arrest threats escalate depending on the severity and frequency of the abuse. In nearby Poughkeepsie, the program's development has been stalled by objections from criminal defense lawyers.

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  • In San Antonio, teachers hit the streets in search of students disappearing from online learning

    Middle school teachers in San Antonio, Texas, have resorted to home visits and "nudging," meaning they leave notices for parents at the door with information about consequences, at the first sign of students disengaging from classes or schoolwork. Two teachers go door-to-door to interact with students, and their parents or guardians, to find out why students are not logging on to their remote classes or completing their homework. They also help deliver groceries, or other essential supplies depending on the student's need. The approach has paid off and the teacher has averaged 99% attendance in class.

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  • The 'Hidden Punishment' of Prison Food

    Mountain View Correctional Facility in Maine has turned its food service into a farm-to-table experience, sourcing healthier, more appetizing meals from its own apple orchard and vegetable garden and from local farmers. Prison food is traditionally a "hidden punishment" of bland or inedible fare that has poor nutritional value. By eating locally, cooking from scratch, and training incarcerated people in horticulture and cooking skills, the prison is fostering an atmosphere that's healthier physiologically and psychologically.

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