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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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  • Can a fake court help high-risk Pennsylvania parolees?

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-06-15 17:15:52 UTC
    0

    August 10, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Close supervision and support during parole lowers recidivism among medium- and high-risk offenders with substance-abuse issues in Philadelphia. However, the impact seems to fade after parolees graduate from the yearlong Re-entry Program, often referred to as “Philadelphia re-entry court.”

    Read More

    • 4124

    Go to Original Story
  • In Philly courts, whether they'll die in prison comes down to their birthday

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-05-02 23:13:14 UTC
    0

    July 06, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    A 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows those sentenced to life for crimes committed as juveniles to seek parole. These people make up more than half of lifers in Pennsylvania, which is considering numerous appeals, but now those sentenced when they were slightly older are arguing the impulsivity and immaturity that makes juveniles less culpable are also present in the brains of those in their 20s. They are seeking to ensure the same legal rulings also apply to them and the legal system is trying to reconcile legal definitions of adulthood with evolving brain science.

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    • 3899

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  • Pennsylvania's top court just made it way harder to sentence kids to life in prison

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-04-09 02:02:35 UTC
    1

    June 26, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    To sentence a minor to life in prison without parole, prosecutors in Pennsylvania must now prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the minor is incapable of rehabilitation. The state supreme court ruling is meant to recognize most children’s impulsivity and their ability to change. The ruling is a significant step in Pennsylvania, which is home to the largest population of juvenile lifers in the nation.

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    • 3723

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  • Pennsylvania offers a new 'smart on crime' approach. But does it actually work?

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-04-08 04:53:08 UTC
    0

    June 26, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    In an effort to reduce prison populations, some U.S. cities are enacting reforms that emphasize short, swift, and certain punishments for minor violations. Despite the hype, such reforms may be no better than existing practices.

    Read More

    • 3713

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  • Can this group of former offenders swing the Philly DA race?

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-03-25 04:16:39 UTC
    0

    May 10, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Multi-Media |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    How does an organization go about reducing incarceration rates, and eliminate racial bias? Hiring the people affected by the prison system: former inmates. That’s the strategy that ACLU is taking in Philadelphia.

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    • 3603

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  • Has a bold reform plan helped to shrink Philly's prison population?

    David Gambacorta, Samantha Melamed
    2018-02-14 00:39:52 UTC
    0

    April 12, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Philadelphia has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, but with a $3.5 million McArthur Foundation grant the city has used several initiatives to change that. The efforts appear to be working, with the number of inmates falling by 12 percent over one year. Programs include getting addicts treatment instead of more jail time, working to release those who cannot afford bail ahead of a trial and making attorneys more available for those who want to seek early parole.

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    • 3374

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  • Could this one simple idea stop the revolving door to prison?

    Samantha Melamed
    2018-04-16 19:46:08 UTC
    0

    February 14, 2017 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    In Pennsylvania, “500 men and about 10 women juvenile lifers who have been locked away for decades” will be released due to a recent Supreme Court decision that said it was unconstitutional for judges to strike automatic life-without-parole sentence for juveniles. Unfortunately, recidivism rates show that “ 60 percent of people are locked up again within three years of being released.” However, pairing a former prisoner with a mentor is an old school solution that has been proven to be successful. Studies show “participants who had mentors were twice as likely to find jobs and 39 percent less likely to reci

    Read More

    • 3777

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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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