Advanced filters

Search Results

You searched for:  -

There are 1244 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • An oft-tried plan to curb violent crime in Baltimore resurfaces. City leaders say better leadership will bring better results.

    December 01, 2020 |

    The Baltimore Sun |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    In the 1990s and again in 2014, when Baltimore used a strategy called focused deterrence to reduce street violence, it showed initial promise but then failed. Those failures can be tied to how the program was managed, and to changes in leadership, not to the approach itself. The strategy offers help to people at risk of shooting others or being shot, but threatens them with prosecution if they reject the help and commit violence. The revived Group Violence Reduction Strategy has worked well in many cities, including New Orleans, where Baltimore's current police chief came from.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • How Snail Mail Connected This San Gabriel Valley School District To Its Youngest Students  Audio icon

    November 30, 2020 |

    LAist |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Rowland Heights, California

    One school district is taking a creative approach to increase student attendance during the pandemic— care packages. In Rowland Unified School District, kindergarten teachers came up with the idea of sending care packages via the postal services to students twice a month. They hope that by doing so it will increase attendance among kindergarten students, a grade that has nationally seen plummeting enrollment. The packages include paper, pens, and books. “"It's really an opportunity for us as kindergarten teachers to help kids feel seen, and from the start, tell kids that they belong in school."

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Seattle Public Utilities' waste-pumping program has cut sewage spills from homeless people's RVs in half

    November 28, 2020 |

    The Seattle Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    To help those experiencing homelessness, Seattle Public Utilities workers travel around the city knocking on RV doors and asking occupants if they need their sewage tank pumped. Some RVs are broken down and occupants can’t get to a public dump site to dispose of their waste, so wastewater spills have increased over the years. However, since the pilot program was introduced in 2020, the spills from RVs have been cut in half.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • How the Criminal Justice System Fails People With Mental Illness

    November 26, 2020 |

    The Intercept |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tyler, Texas

    Crisis-intervention and de-escalation trainings for police were meant to reform the criminal justice system's handling of people suffering from mental illness. But a lack of rigorous standards in the training and use of these approaches means that they routinely fail as a means of diverting people from arrest and incarceration toward treatment. That failure, combined with a lack of adequate mental-health-care resources, maintains jails' and prisons' role as the nation's de facto mental health care hospitals, even though they lack the will and the means to help people heal.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • ‘It's a conversation': Philly's alternative to landlord-tenant court is preventing eviction

    November 24, 2020 |

    WHYY |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Philadelphia's mandatory Eviction Diversion program, started as a way to help landlords and tenants to cope with pandemic-related economic struggles, requires landlords to enter mediation with tenants who are behind on their rent. By skipping eviction court, the parties can work out repayment plans and tenants can gain access to rental-assistance programs. Mediated agreements avoid a legal judgment that would hurt a tenant's credit and make it difficult to find another place to live, while preventing evictions during the pandemic reduces homelessness.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Alternative sentencing program offers resources for recovery rather than jail time

    November 23, 2020 |

    Richland Source |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Mansfield, Ohio

    The Richland County Community Alternative Center provides court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment in lieu of jail for people facing criminal charges related to their addiction. In 60-, 90-, or 120-day treatment terms, patients from across Ohio receive addiction counseling, therapy, work training, and other skills classes. Case managers help prepare people for re-entry when their sentence has been served. The center is run by the courts, which pay for treatment services, which makes it unusual.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • How College Students Are Helping Each Other Survive

    November 23, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Students across the country are dealing with food and housing insecurity, and financial loss, conditions that have been exacerbated because since the pandemic. In response, students in some colleges and universities created mutual-aid networks, raising and distribution thousands of dollars to their peers. “Students continue to lead the fight to address their basic needs.”

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • In Denver, Unarmed Mental Health Workers Respond To Hundreds Of 911 Calls Instead Of Police

    November 17, 2020 |

    KUNC |

    Radio |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    Since Denver launched its Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program in June, it has handled more than 600 calls for help with a mental health clinician and a paramedic instead of sending police officers. Modeled on Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS program, STAR is based on the notion that low-level emergencies involving mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse do not require police responses, and in fact can more often end peacefully by removing police from the equation. STAR started small, with one van on duty during weekday hours. Police support the move, and often call in STAR for assistance.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Program in Montrose County Helps Homeless Families Pursue Self-Sufficiency

    November 17, 2020 |

    Mountain Grown Community Radio (KVNF) |

    Radio |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Olathe, Colorado

    Haven House, a faith-based provider of transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness, offers a safe place to live while working to reunite families that face possible loss of child custody over their housing or substance-use status. Required classes in parenting and budgeting, plus job-search services and other classes, have helped more than 370 families over the past decade. Families, who often are referred to the program from the county's Child Protective Services agency, can remain at the house for up to two years if they comply with the rules.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • From prison to star employee

    November 17, 2020 |

    BBC |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

Solutions In Focus

Discover curated content about themes that matter to you, exclusively from the Solutions Story Tracker. Explore collections, resources and more.


Go to All Solutions in Focus