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Reimagining failure: ‘Last-chance' schools are the future of American high schools

Natalie Gross

July 05, 2017 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

An alternative approach to education has long existed, but in the last decade, collaborations between non-profit student-support organizations and public schools have fostered a model called "Last-Chance Schools" with remarkable success. The program targets root causes for dropping out, including economic disadvantages, mental health challenges, violence, and unstable home lives. As several Boston charter schools demonstrate, use of social-emotional learning, conflict-mediation instead of zero-tolerance discipline, and flexible curricula has helped boost graduation and college acceptance rates while lowering suspensions.

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Taking On Recidivism: Larry Platt speaks with Attorney General Josh Shapiro

Larry Platt

June 26, 2017 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's attorney general may sound more like a defense attorney as he lays out plans to focus more resources on helping people returning from incarceration integrate into society. But Josh Shapiro insists his approach is pragmatic and he helped launch a statewide re-entry council that coordinates efforts among 21 local coalitions and also brings in services providers and state agencies. The effort is using a comprehensive approach to address crime, including addiction treatment, housing and education.

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Empowering Women to Break the Jihadi Cycle

Krithika Varagur

June 20, 2017 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Indonesia

In order to counter terrorism and reduce recidivism of incarcerated male jihadists', the Entrepreneurship and Proselytization Empowerment Program helps the wives of jailed extremists through counseling and lessons about entrepreneurship. The program can help these families stay afloat and decrease the appeal of extremism for their husbands upon release.

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How Prisoners' Family Members Can Assist Overworked Public Defenders

Maura Ewing

June 05, 2017 |

The Atlantic |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Norristown, Pennsylvania

Public defenders' caseloads are too large for them to be able to provide the details that a loved one of an offender can provide in court. Participatory Defense programs train loved ones of the offender to be able to provide a testimony, often resulting in less severe sentences.

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Just 20% of kids got 4-year degrees, so Chehalis schools changed everything

Katherine Long

June 02, 2017 |

The Seattle Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chehalis, Washington

The Chehalis school district has teamed up with the Chehalis Foundation to support students pursue higher education after high school. Only 15% of adults in the area have a bachelor's degree, and only 20% of graduating high school seniors earn a four-year degree. Now, the district is working to transform itself by retraining teachers to provide more rigorous lessons, placing emphasis on college preparation, and demystifying the college application and financial process for students and their families.

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Why Boston Is Paying Ex-Gang Members To Go To College

Andrew Zaleski

June 02, 2017 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Dorchester, the Boston neighborhood with the highest poverty levels, struggles to keep kids in school from engaging with gangs and crime. But College Bound Dorchester (CBD) is fast rewriting the solution to high drop out and recidivism rates, paying ex-offenders a weekly stipend to enroll in and complete a diploma program and proceed to (and through) college. With "core influencers" -- ex-gang members who have "left behind their troubled pasts" -- as role models in the community, CBD emulates similar programs in Chicago and Baltimore, and studies show the initiative is working.

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Oklahoma City-Based International Development NGO Focuses On Women

Jacob McCleland

May 23, 2017 |

WMOT |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: India, Madhubani, Bihar

In many rural villages in Northern India and Nepal, long-standing cultural norms have relegated women to subordinate positions in marriage and minimal educational opportunities, stifling the social, agricultural and economic development of entire communities. But with the NGO World Neighbors' work to increase female literacy and help initiate locally-controlled savings and credit groups, these areas' female residents have become a more empowered component of local development and progressive change.

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After 36 Years in Prison, This Philadelphian Has a Model for Criminal Justice Reform

Tom Dallessio

March 31, 2017 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Lack of education was the downfall of one Philadelphia man who spent 36 years in prison, and education proved to be his redemption when he discovered he could do well in coursework. He got a college degree and helped bring the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program to the prison where he was incarcerated. He continues to work with the program, which matches prisoners with college students and professors to help them gain the skills they need, and also fosters more compassion and understanding for those incarcerated.

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Philabundance Community Kitchen Turns Former Prisoners Into Chefs

Quinn O'Callaghan

February 09, 2017 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Facing social stigma as well as other effects of being incarcerated, Philabundance Community Kitchen is using culinary education to provide much needed services to those formerly incarcerated. Via cooking classes and other life skills classes, this program has helped over 600 previously incarcerated Philadelphians attain employment in the culinary field.

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The Salvadoran Ex-Guerrilla Who Learned to Read to Stop Corporate Mining

Priyanka Borpujari

January 18, 2017 |

News Deeply |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: El Salvador, Canton Las Limas, Chalatenango

When Maria Lidia Guardado learned that a Canadian mining company was drilling on her land, she educated herself. Through her new found knowledge she learned her rights, and led her community in a nonviolent effort to legally fight for their land.

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