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

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  • To fix homelessness, let's treat it as a health issue like they do in Denver

    Philadelphia can look to places such as Denver and New Jersey for examples of how to alleviate homelessness by treating it as a health problem. Many people experiencing homelessness struggle with alcohol, opiate and drug addictions as well as mental and physical disabilities. Hospitals are often obligated to treat and keep anyone who may not have a safe place to go after release therefore the healthcare industry has an incentive to mitigate the homelessness crisis by providing wraparound services as well as transitional housing for people who have no where to go after a hospital release.

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  • How Your Local Election Clerk Is Fighting Global Disinformation

    Many entities are working with social media companies to flag election-related disinformation. The California Secretary of State emails voters about how to report false information so the state can flag it and the Arizona Secretary of State verifies official accounts with social media companies. In the private sector, the startup VineSite uses artificial intelligence to identify and flag false information and the nonprofit Mitre has an app used by 160 election officials to report social media disinformation. Officials have a good relationship with social media companies, but there is room for improvement.

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  • The hidden hand that uses money to reform troubled police departments

    Smaller cities that cannot afford costly payouts for civil settlements in police misconduct cases rely on liability insurance, which can act as a regulator when insurers demand reforms up to and including disbanding troubled departments. While police killings have decreased in large cities over the past six years, they have increased in the suburban and rural areas served by the vast majority of police departments. “Loss prevention” measures that require policy and personnel changes have been proven to work, but insurance that fails to police the police can also shield cities from accountability.

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  • How the ‘15-Minute City' Could Help Post-Pandemic Recovery Audio icon

    Some cities are using coronavirus shutdowns as opportunities to start infrastructure projects that support car-free living and encourage walking or biking to jobs, shopping, and city services. Car-free urban development benefits the environment, revitalizes cities by keeping resources local, and has become more appealing because of fears of virus spread. Paris, Milan, Tallinn, Ottawa, and Portland are among the cities using coronavirus-related lockdowns to kickstart bike lane and pedestrian zone projects. As the pandemic has decimated city budgets, it is a challenging time to begin infrastructure projects.

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  • The Promising Results of a Citywide Basic-Income Experiment

    Universal basic income, or UBI, was implemented in Stockton, California through a pilot program known as SEED. Each participant was given $500 with no conditions on how to spend it. The data shows that the largest expense was food, especially as the pandemic began. Participants report being able to quit second jobs and third jobs, pay off debts, and cover medical bills. A key feature of the UBI was the absence of the requirement to be employed in order to receive the money. The basic-income pilot has caught the attention of programs across the country who reached out for advice.

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  • How to Get Contact Tracing Right

    During the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, early efforts at contact tracing by different states in the U.S. proved successful when they relied on people instead of applications or software, which showed high rates of failure since people didn't seem to want to participate or download the applications. New York state relied on human contact tracers, specifically those who lived in the neighborhoods they track. "The city’s initiative has shown early success: As of June 16, it had reached 94% of all new positive cases."

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  • The coronavirus effect on Pakistan's digital divide

    The Pakistani government uses technology, like a state-owned TV channel that broadcasts content for grades 1-12 and apps sourced for free by ed-tech companies, to help the over 50 million school children without broadband internet or digital device access. The TV channel has over 54 million subscribers and there is a text-messaging service that allows its 250,000 subscribers to talk to professional teachers. Despite the digital divide, the use of educational apps has also skyrocketed since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, technology is not a silver bullet to solve the country’s deep education inequalities.

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  • Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need

    Finland, the only EU country with declining homelessness, uses a “Housing First” program to provide homes for people living on the streets with no preconditions. Nonprofits manage long-term housing and, once in homes, individuals receive a rental agreement and pay rent and expenses. Social workers provide services from offices in residential buildings and the state helps financially. The program provided 4,600 homes in the past decade and costs less than accepting the status quo of homelessness. About 20% drop out and around 1,900 people still live on the streets, but emergency shelters can accommodate them.

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  • Why Haven't Sexual-Assault Statistics Improved?

    Colleges and universities, required to educate students and staff about sexual assault prevention, use thousands of courses and programs, hardly any of which have been shown to be effective. Campus sexual assaults have continued to rise while the education industry flourishes. While there is no single gold-standard program, one with the best evidence of effectiveness is Flip the Script, or Enhanced Assess Acknowledge Act. It is based on teaching women to overcome mental barriers to recognizing risk posed by acquaintances. High costs and time commitments have kept enrollment low, despite proof it works.

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  • How Teacher Looping Can Ease the Learning Disruptions Caused by Coronavirus Audio icon

    Educators in California are exploring "looping" as a way to offer students and families some semblance of stability and continuity as schools prepare for what's to come amid the pandemic. Looping means a teacher, or a set of teachers, stays with the same group of students from one grade to the next. This method helps teachers "dive-in deeper", and explore their students' strengths, allows students to create stronger bonds with teachers and other students, as well as foster a larger sense of community.

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