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Create A New Collection

Collections are versatile, powerful and simple to create. From a customized course reader to an action-guide for an upcoming service-learning trip, collections illuminate themes, guide inquiry, and provide context for how people around the worls are responding to social challenges.

  • Name and describe your collection

  • Add Stories

  • Add external links at any time

  • Add to your collection over time and share!

1. Name your collection

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2. Add Stories

Add stories to your collection from your list of Favorites below, or add stories directly to a collection from Search or Discovery. Anytime you see the collection icon you can add a story. Just click the icon and follow the instructions on your screen.

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Solutions Story Tracker®

Welcome to a curated database of rigorous reporting on responses to social problems.

15,700 stories produced by 8,900 journalists and 2,000 news outlets from 89 countries. The stories cover responses in 192 countries, in 17 languages. This resource is made possible because of a growing movement of journalists who use solutions journalism to illuminate both problems and evidence-based responses to them.

Learn more about the Solutions Story Tracker.


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  • Barber pays kids to read a book during haircut to boost literacy, confidence

    Megan Yoder
    2019-08-05 18:56:19 UTC
    2

    April 22, 2019 |

    KUSA-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Kutztown, Pennsylvania

    City Cuts is a special barbershop in Kutztown, PA that, in addition to being a barbershop, is simultaneously running an internationally-acclaimed literacy program for kids. Barber Jon Escueta gives young clients $3 to read a book aloud to him during their haircut for a program he calls Books for Kids, which boosts confidence in public speaking and literacy. When a video of a client reading to a City Cuts barber went viral, Books for Kids starting receiving hundreds of donations of money and books from around the world, and the kids themselves love and respect the program as well.

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  • Independence police finding new ways to tackle homelessness

    Kevin Holmes
    2019-04-27 17:25:41 UTC
    2

    April 16, 2019 |

    KSHB-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Independence, Missouri

    The Independence, Missouri police department is taking an empathy-first approach to homelessness in the city. Instead of making arrests for trespassing or other crimes associated with homelessness, police officers work with the individuals to provide them with the resources they need to get back on their feet.

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    • 6728

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  • Woman's Co-op in Battle Creek's Post-Franklin Neighborhood provides a support system for women

    Jane Simons
    2019-09-06 15:03:08 UTC
    0

    April 04, 2019 |

    Second Wave Michigan |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Battle Creek, Michigan

    The Woman's Co-op in Battle Creek, Michigan addresses a wide array of needs for women in the community, including food, clothing, transportation, housing, and childcare. The co-op offers free services, including assistance with utility payments; advocacy in the court system; and better parenting technique.

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    • 7900

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  • How a laundry room revolutionized a New Jersey high school

    Jeff Glor
    2019-08-02 17:57:45 UTC
    1

    March 26, 2019 |

    CBS News |

    Broadcast TV News |

    Under 3 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

    After high school principle Akbar Cook realized that students weren't coming to school because they were embarrassed about wearing dirty clothing, he created a school laundry room with 5 commercial-grade washers and dryers. He also started a program called Lights On that leaves the school open in the evenings on Friday's to offer a recreational space with warm meals for students who have working parents or have to take care of siblings. Grateful students say that Mr. Cook had a big impact on the school and the neighborhood.

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    • 7554

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  • “The Price on Everything Is Love”: How a Detroit Community Overcomes a Lack of City Services

    Kevon Paynter
    2018-08-09 21:32:03 UTC
    0

    July 19, 2018 |

    Yes! Magazine |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

    In response to a decline in city services, local Detroiters have begun providing for neighbors out of a sense of goodwill. Detroiters Helping Each Other distributes donated items, ranging from school supplies to beds and winter clothing. The Detroit Mowers Gang is another local group that cleans up the city by caring for vacant lawns. There are other similar organizations that rely on community buy-in and a sense of care to succeed, and recipients of donations pay it forward by volunteering on other community projects.

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    • 4744

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  • From pump factory to Pump House Ministries

    Courtney McNaull
    2018-12-19 14:14:58 UTC
    0

    March 13, 2018 |

    Richland Source |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Ashland, Ohio

    After a manufacturing plant closed and ownership shifted hands, the F.E.Meyers building was transformed into Pump House Ministries, a non-profit that expanded internationally. In its heyday, it served free meals, built transitional housing, distributed shoes abroad, and supported micro-lending and water purification in Africa. Beyond the initial donation of property, most of these efforts were supported by revenue generation through its social enterprise arm: by its catering business, craft shows, and book sales. (This is the first article in a four part series.)

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  • Abandoned at Burning Man, bicycles now head for Houston and the Caribbean

    Jessica Lussenhop
    2017-09-27 17:24:33 UTC
    3

    September 25, 2017 |

    BBC |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Black Rock City, Nevada

    Many argue that the Burning Man festival has become an exclusive and wasteful indulgence for the wealthy - an opinion that was exacerbated this year when thousands of perfectly good bicycles were left among the debris in the desert. But a few enterprising individuals and organizations saw an opportunity to aid the victims of hurricanes Irma and Maria by rescuing, fixing, and transporting the abandoned bikes to communities where many people had lost all other forms of transportation, stifling their recovery efforts. Now hope is being restored for some, two wheels at a time.

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    • 2785

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  • Virginia parents to receive free ‘baby boxes,' part of campaign to promote safe sleep

    Michael Alison Chandler
    2017-12-09 00:55:49 UTC
    0

    August 23, 2017 |

    The Washington Post |

    Multi-Media |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Virginia

    The USA wants to reduce its infant mortality rate by educating parents about how to keep their child safe while they sleep. Baby Box Co has put together boxes for new parents with tutorials, baby supplies and a mattress, to help prevent infant death.

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    • 3083

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  • How Cleveland has become a leader in trying to eradicate human trafficking

    Christopher Johnston
    2017-07-14 15:54:03 UTC
    2

    July 09, 2017 |

    The Christian Science Monitor |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

    Largely unbeknownst to the public eye, Cleveland has been battling human trafficking in various forms for many years. Recently, the city has become a leader in trying to eradicate this longstanding problem. Thanks to a small group of activists and nonprofits, using billboards and gift bags as well as other creative methods, these groups are raising awareness, conducting strip club outreach, and creating a victim support network to help make human trafficking an issue of the past.

    Read More

    • 2602

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  • School nurse's supplies include food, toothbrushes and coats

    Diane D'Amico
    2017-04-20 17:02:31 UTC
    1

    February 26, 2017 |

    The Press of Atlantic City |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Wildwood, New Jersey

    In low-income districts, the school nurse is often a family’s first health care provider, and the role at places like Wildwood High School and Glenwood Avenue School has expanded to provide everything from warm coats and food donations for children and their families living in hunger.

    Read More

    • 2267

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Please sign in via My Profile before submitting a story. This will allow you to view the status of your submission and get notified if the story is added to the Solutions Story Tracker®.
Filter your search by the language of the story. As the Solutions Story Tracker grows, we are working to include more stories in more languages. Your story submissions can help! Submit stories here.
These factors identify the ways communities overcome the big challenges and help you see the insights. Learn more about the Success Factors here.

Solutions Journalism Around the World

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Solutions In Focus

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

  • Climate Solutions

  • Advancing Democracy

  • Youth Mental Health


Go to All Solutions in Focus

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    Video Tutorials

    Learn how to find what you need in the Solutions Story Tracker in español and in français.

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    Submission Guidelines

    This database is powered by user submissions. Submit a story.

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    Custom Story Alerts

    Get notified when new stories match your interests by setting up custom story alerts in My Profile.

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Solutions Story Tracker® FAQ

  • Solutions journalism…
    • Describes a response to a problem and how it works.
    • Seeks to draw out insights that explain success or failure.
    • Presents the available evidence about the effectiveness of a response.
    • Explains the shortcomings or limitations of the response.
    Learn more.
  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is a curated, searchable database of solutions journalism stories — rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. We vet and tag every story in the Story Tracker, which offers an inspiring and useful collection of the thousands of ways people are working to solve problems around the world.

  • You can learn more about how we source, vet, and tag stories here, as well as how we share them. We also have video tutorials in Spanish and French that show how to use the Solutions Story Tracker to find what you need.

  • Story collections are curated by our staff or other partners to explore a theme, pattern, or trend via selected solutions stories and external resources. Some story collections focus on an in-depth exploration of a topic with solutions journalism; others highlight journalists and how they report on topics. Certain story collections include discussion questions and notes, so that educators and community discussion leaders can lead learners to fully engage with the stories.

  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is powered by user submissions. We encourage submissions from journalists, as well as from anyone who has an eye for solutions journalism. Click here to submit. (Why submit? So many reasons!)

  • You can submit a story directly on the Solutions Story Tracker®. You will be prompted to register or log into the Solutions Journalism Network website, if you are already logged in. (It is free to register!) Logging in allows you to track the status of your submissions under My Profile, as well as save your favorite stories, create story collections and story alerts, and access other helpful features of our website.

  • After you submit a story to us and assign it a topic, it is sent to one of our Solutions Story Tracker team members. Our team member evaluates the story for the four qualities of solutions journalism, and on the basics: The story must come from a news outlet and have a date and a byline. If the story meets our criteria, our team tags it accordingly and adds it to the database. If the story falls short of the mark, our team will include the reason why. We include stories in the Story Tracker that meet our standards of solutions journalism. Inclusion does not mean we support the initiatives, policies, organizations or approaches featured in those stories.

    Discover common reasons why a story may miss the mark for inclusion in the Solutions Story Tracker®.

    Learn more about the history of the database.

  • Solutions Journalism Network features these stories in the searchable database making them publicly accessible to anyone who wants to search for rigorous reporting on solutions to social problems. Any story that is added has the potential to make more impact than its original purpose. Added stories are used in journalism trainings, school curricula, research projects, and independent analysis on issue area trends. This now includes artificial intelligence tools, which are applied for educational value to find stories and support story vetting, as well as to extract insights from the stories. SJN has digital products and newsletters that give new life and exposure to the stories meeting people where they are at. Story data also is used to develop innovative tools to reach the general public with solutions journalism as well as some specific research projects requested by researchers. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of story data or added stories, please contact Lita Tirak.

  • News outlets determine whether all users can access their stories — and some limit the number of stories that anyone can view, or require a subscription. The majority of stories in the database can be accessed for free.

  • We work with journalists, academic researchers and others who feel that our database will support their research. We are especially interested in research that seeks to develop new insights about solutions journalism and its spread and its impact on social problems. Please complete all sections of the Data Request Form, and we will contact you to discuss your request in greater detail.

  • We do not fact-check the stories in the Solutions Story Tracker®. We do ensure that each story comes from a credible news source that has its own editorial infrastructure.

  • We worked with Tara Pixley and Jovelle Tamayo of the Authority Collective, who developed a guide for using equitable visuals. We follow this guide when choosing images for our website.

  • We welcome your feedback and additional questions. Please use this form to get in touch.

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