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Waiting for a New Deal job program? These US parks are already hiring

Jodi Helmer

August 14, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Asheville, North Carolina

With many people out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some cities and nonprofits are creating outdoorsy job programs to relieve unemployment. Inspired by the conservation corps programs created during the Great Depression, North Carolina, Alaska, and Texas have these initiatives. The reliance on fundraising to pay workers can be a challenge, but these programs are providing jobs for nearly 250 people and are making some conservation progress. For example, the Carolina Climbers Coalition crew has already completed projects at state parks in the Southeast.

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Mental health training for cops is working in Tucson. Can we bring it to Philly?

Jessica Blatt Press

August 10, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

Tuscon police use a combination of training and expanded resources to resolve mental health crises by putting people in the hands of mental health professionals, an approach that in 2019 diverted nearly 4,400 cases away from arrests and jail. All police officers take a required 12-hour mental health first aid class, and most go through another 40-hour crisis intervention training. A specialized team gets more extensive training to handle court-ordered interventions, emphasizing patience and humane treatment. A 24/7 Crisis Response Center serves as an intake desk to decide what help people in crisis need.

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Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

Jazzlyn Johnson

August 07, 2020 |

The Community Voice |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

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Welcome Back to Germany. Now Take Your Free Virus Test.

Melissa Eddy

August 05, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Germany

Since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany emerged as "one of the highest testers per capita in the world," due to decentralizing the creation and distribution of testing kits, requiring that tests be fully covered by insurance, and prioritizing the processing of coronavirus tests above all other lab work. Combined with other efforts – such as mandatory quarantine protocols, contact tracing, and new testing stations for travelers – the country has been able to better prepare for a second wave of cases while also recording fewer deaths than other countries.

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How the Queensbridge Cure Violence Team Is Changing Community Norms

Clodagh McGowan

August 03, 2020 |

Spectrum News 1 New York |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

In the nation's largest public housing development, 696 Build Queensbridge uses the Cure Violence approach to mediating disputes before they turn violent. In 2017, its first year, there were no shootings in the development where the group does its violence interruption work. In the first 7 months of 2020, there were six shootings, up 2 from the same period in 2019 but far better than the rise in violence seen citywide. "Credible messengers" gain the trust of the community to prevent violence and counsel people to use "tools to communicate with other than violence," and without police involvement.

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How Europe's Greenest Capital Is Saving City Trees

Edward Belleville

August 03, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Germany, Berlin

Cities around the world are using apps and interactive platforms to encourage resident volunteers to care for their urban forests. For example, in Berlin, Gieß den Kiez (Water the Neighborhood) is an app that allows users to watch their local trees and water them in times of need. When the app launched, there were 1,000 unique users and over 7,000 individual tree waterings in the first six weeks. However, the cost of planting and maintaining trees can be expensive and where the trees are located in cities and who benefits from them is not always equitable.

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Kentucky town hires social workers instead of more officers - and the results are surprising

David Mattingly

July 28, 2020 |

WAVE-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Alexandria, Kentucky

Alexandria, Kentucky's 17-officer police department avoided the expense of hiring more police officers by adding two social workers to assist police in responding to the types of calls that can often turn into repeat calls to 911. By working with people in domestic disturbances, mental health crises, or with substance abuse issues, the social workers connect families to services immediately, rather than awaiting a referral from the police after the crisis has passed. Repeat calls to 911 are down and the city saves up to $50,000 for each position where a social worker substitutes for a police hire.

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Meeting the Mental Health Need

Dan Gorenstein

July 28, 2020 |

Tradeoffs |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Tennessee

Mental and physical health are often intertwined, so why shouldn't the same be true for their care providers? Cherokee Health Systems in eastern Tennessee pioneered integrated care, putting behavioral health and mental health professionals on the fast-paced front lines of primary medical care, making mental health care more accessible. While the two professions are often housed together, true integration – the practice that has solid evidence of its effectiveness – is still fairly rare. But helping people with dual problems, in one sitting, can make people healthier in mind and body.

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Baltimore's Violence Interrupters Confront Shootings, the Coronavirus, and Corrupt Cops

Brandon Soderberg Baynard Woods

July 26, 2020 |

The Intercept |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore’s Safe Streets program, which uses a public-health approach to stopping the spread of community gun violence, mediated more than 1,800 conflicts in 2019 and is credited with preventing homicides altogether in one neighborhood, despite the city’s overall violent year. Since the program’s launch in 2007, studies have shown it to be effective in its use of “credible messengers” whose street savvy can be deployed to “interrupt” retaliatory violence. But the Baltimore program also illustrates tensions between such community-based programs and the police, especially when the police are corrupt.

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How This N.Y. Island Went From Tourist Hot Spot to Emergency Garden

Rachel Wharton

July 23, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

For environmental organization GrowNYC, their one-acre teaching farm on Governor’s Island became a victory garden for New Yorkers who aren’t having their basic needs met during the COVID-19 pandemic. While future land development on the island could impact their work, the farm is on track to produce about 20,000 pounds of food that is distributed by other groups like the Black Feminist Project as free or low-cost coronavirus relief food boxes.

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