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

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  • Denver Becomes the Latest City to Take Mental Healthcare Into Its Own Hands

    Colorado has recently adopted a new .25 percent sales tax to create a pool of funding for mental health and addiction services. The initial funds are earmarked to create a new mental health center, while the overall vision for the funds is to create services to move addiction to a public health rather than a criminal issue.

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  • Why Raj Jayadev is helping Philly's criminal justice system adopt participatory defense

    Participatory defense, is a model that integrates the family into the legal defense of someone being prosecuted for a crime. Loved ones can bring in evidence like photos and records that speak to the character of the accused person. In Philadelphia, the model is being implemented and already helped reduce someone’s bail from $500,000 to $0. Nationally, the method has been proven to be highly effective. “Over 10 years, participatory defense hubs have popped up in 20 other cities and reduced people’s sentences by 4,218 years.”

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  • How 'fixing rooms' are saving the lives of drug addicts

    In Denmark, drugs users can safely get high inside “drug consumption rooms.” One of those is Skyken, users have access to clean needles, are allowed 24 hour access, and nurses can treat overdoses with antidotes. Evidence shows these types of rooms reduce deaths. “Drug consumption rooms reduce the risk of fatal overdose, reduce public injecting, and increase access to health and treatment services.”

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  • Rhode Island Prisons Push To Get Inmates The Best Treatment For Opioid Addiction

    In order to reduce opioid related deaths, Rhode Island has taken a rare step among state prisons: offer medication and drug counseling to opioid addicts. The Rhode Island Department of Corrections gives small doses of either methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone to inmates, as well as drug counseling. "I still have to fight the other drugs… But at least I have something to help with one of the ones that's brought me closer to death than anything else." Evidence show the program is working. There was "a significant drop in overdose deaths among people recently released from prison."

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  • Colorado anti-bullying program, fueled by pot tax dollars, considered one of the best in the country

    In Colorado voters approved spending money from marijuana tax sales on education. As much as $2 million is distributed to Colorado schools to spend on evidence-based anti-bullying programs. “Usually it means getting students, teachers and parents and the community involved.” The effort is working, “the percentage of students that reported being bullied dropped from 59 percent to 25 percent last school year, and the state was ranked third in the country for best bullying practices.

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  • Where Cop Cars Double as Ambulances for Shooting Victims

    Scoop and Run is a police practice that has saved lives. During a “scoop and run” police take gunshot or stab wound victims to the emergency room instead of waiting for an ambulance. Philadelphia is the only city, among cities with high rates of homicides, that has implemented “scoop and run” into policy. "Last year, a third of Philadelphia’s 1,223 shooting victims were delivered to a city trauma center.”

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  • North Dakota may hold key to Wyoming's prison woes

    Criminal justice reform succeeds when states prioritize rehabilitation and over punishment. In North Dakota, the Free Through Recovery program increases the number of stakeholders in a parolee’s success, creating multiple levels of behavioral health support. The program is part of a criminal justice legislation package that included sentencing reforms and alternatives to incarceration. The state has been successful in beginning to reduce its overcrowded prison populations and serves as a model for other states.

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  • Michigan Cities Face Eviction Crisis — Here Are Some Solutions

    As Michigan cities struggle with high eviction rates, Cleveland is trying out some creative ways to mitigate the difficult effects of eviction. One effort, mediation between tenants and landlords, might lead to eviction being erased from someone’s record - a huge win. Another program connects social workers to tenants facing eviction. Finally, legal aid advocates support legal representation for anyone facing eviction. It’s a long road ahead, but other cities are definitely learning from Cleveland.

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  • In Sacramento, trying to stop a killing before it happens

    Sacramento is implementing a program developed in 2011 in Richmond, Calif., that showed success curtailing gun violence among young men caught up in gangs or potential shootings. They get numerous social services and mentoring from men previously incarcerated. Stipends are a controversial part of the program, but a review of the Richmond program in 2015 found most participants were still alive and had not suffered a gun related injury, or been arrested for gun-related activity.

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  • Can people be saved from a terrible childhood?

    As more research has found links between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and negative health outcomes, a growing number of organizations and sectors are incorporating trauma-informed screening and training into their work. Police officers, primary care pediatricians, parents, and school counselors are moving away from the question "what's wrong with you?" to ask "what happened to you?"

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