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There's a nationwide shortage of poll workers. Cities are relying on teens for help

Rory Linnane

January 23, 2020 |

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Many cities are turning to 16- and 17-year-olds to address poll worker shortages. Election officials say the students are also more tech savvy, racially and ethnically diverse, and enthusiastic. 400 students in Minneapolis, which has the highest turnout in midterm elections, made up 16% of all poll workers and were at 131 of its 132 polling places. Milwaukee has had less success recruiting students. In 2016, the last year they reported this data, students made up just 1% of poll workers. Structural barriers caused by high poverty rates and much lower compensation than other cities likely limit success.

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How 17 Outsize Portraits Rattled a Small Southern Town

Audra Burch

January 21, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Newnan, Georgia

The small Southern city of Newnan, GA considered themselves to be a fairly open and accepting place. This attitude was shattered when 17 huge portraits of ordinary people who make up Newnan were hung across the city and prompted a racially-tinged backlash. The purpose of the portraits was to open up a dialogue around the diversity in the city, but it also exposed new and hidden racial tensions. The portraits were ultimately allowed to stay up, but the conversations surrounding the issue are ongoing.

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Meet ‘Firefighter' in Middle of New York Hospital's War Against Gun Violence

Rachel Rippetoe

January 21, 2020 |

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Guns Down Life Up intervenes immediately after incidents of gun violence to prevent retaliation, but then goes further to counsel at-risk youth and to provide victim counseling to help families in the wake of violence. Part of a growing movement of hospital-based violence intervention, the group’s “credible messengers” work in Harlem and South Bronx hospitals to interrupt the cycles of violence that often result in repeat victimization, which anecdotally at least it can show has worked. Then its counseling gives youth safe activities off the streets and teaches better conflict mediation tactics.

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Students in the U.S. and Iraq Discover Common Ground

Olivia Cuthbert

January 20, 2020 |

Al-Fanar Media |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Iraq, Mosul

A program that was inspired by rising racial tensions is helping students from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Mosul in Iraq erase misconceptions about each other’s cultures. Participants of the “World in Conversation Program,” gather for virtual conversations and talk about their issues, concerns, and daily life. The program is helping them dismantle stereotypes they might have of Arabs and Americans. “I want to show them who we really are, beyond the stereotypes in the media.”

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This strategy helped stop murders, prosecutors say. But Kansas City police killed it

Glenn E. Rice Luke Nozicka

January 19, 2020 |

The Kansas City Star |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

Within a year of its creation, a state-federal collaboration to reduce gun violence in Kansas City seemed to result in a deep decline in killings. But the program, called Kansas City No Violence Alliance, collapsed by 2019 after police pulled their support. The program's approach, called focused deterrence, has been proven effective in multiple studies in other cities. But an analysis of the program in Kansas City found multiple failures in consistently getting targeted people to attend call-ins, where they are threatened with arrest if they commit violence but offered social services to choose another path.

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Privilege for the poor: Farming giant gives back — to its workers' children

Alfonso Serrano

January 18, 2020 |

The Hechinger Report |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Lost Hills, California

Owners of the Wonderful Company food conglomerate honed their philanthropic efforts on the community they saw had the most need—their own workers' families—by establishing charter schools to improve the quality of life and education in Lost Hills, California. The K-8 school, one of two, has adopted a "cradle to career'' approach, incentivizing college education through in-school college pathways and renewable college scholarships after completing high school, and integrating parents into its mission through tailored educational sessions aimed at bridging cultural divides.

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Can You Cure a Domestic Abuser?

Matthew Wolfe

January 17, 2020 |

The Atlantic |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Duluth, Iowa

Duluth’s Domestic Abuse Intervention Project has served for decades as a model for men’s counseling groups that courts often mandate in lieu of incarceration after abuse leads to criminal charges. But a deep look at its methods, which are rooted in challenging men’s patriarchal views and pushing them to take responsibility for their behavior, shows that its rejection of other behavioral influences calls into question its entire approach to truly solving the problem. A solid body of research finds the approach minimally effective, at best, and that other forms of group therapy can be more effective.

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Biometric opioid dispensing machine first of its kind to address demand for safer drug supply

Andrea Woo

January 17, 2020 |

The Globe and Mail |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

In the face of an overdosing crisis, a physician in Vancouver created an ATM-like machine that allows people to pick up pharmaceutical-grade opioids to reduce the chances of people using contaminated drugs. Although this methodology is not a means of addiction treatment, it does eliminate an autonomy barrier for safe injections, requires an initial assessment by a physician, and limits the amount of pills one can request per day which means fewer overdoses.

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Rewriting the narrative

Angela K. Evans

January 16, 2020 |

Boulder Weekly |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boulder, Colorado

At the Motus Theater, formerly incarcerated individuals participate in JustUs – a performative program that gives them the space to share their stories. The Boulder-based program aims to complicate the narrative of those that commit crimes, surfacing the systemic, punitive nature of criminal justice. For those that participate, it provides them a literal platform to share their pain, trauma, and growth.

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Reducing Fire, and Cutting Carbon Emissions, the Aboriginal Way

Thomas Fuller

January 16, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Australia, Cooinda, Northern Territory

With the dramatic increase in wildfire danger in Australia causing international distress, officials look to an ancient Indigenous fire-prevention technique that reduces the risk of large wild-fires. This Aboriginal technique - which involves lighting small, controlled fires throughout the year - eliminates excess debris that can easily catch fire in a wildfire, and it reduces greenhouse gas emissions from wildfires in the Northern region of the country by 40%.

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