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

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  • In Chicago, one mosque charts its own path

    Masjid al-Rabia, a small mosque on the third floor of in a co-working space in downtown Chicago, is making waves as an untraditional prayer space. Not only is it woman-centered (not led), but their services are made accessible to all genders, sexualities, abilities, classes, etc. The mosque also has a focus on prison outreach, sending care packages with prayer rugs, prayer caps, Qurans, newsletters, and other spiritual literature to over 500 Muslim detainees in jails, prisons, detention centers, and institutions across the country.

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  • For Red Hook, Justice Center is Much More than a Court

    The Red Hook Community Justice Center is a community center that also functions as a court hearing family, housing, and criminal cases. Defendants get on-site social services, like support groups and counseling, with an approach called procedural justice: cultivating public respect for the system by giving people a voice in it and by showing respect and transparency. A 2016 survey found 80% of local residents held positive feelings about the court, which was founded in 2000. People in the neighborhood can use the center's services even if they are not in a court case.

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  • To catch sex traffickers and protect kids, Colorado is using a new screening tool statewide

    In Colorado, a state law requiring the use of a screening tool is being used to combat sex trafficking at the individual level. The screening tool identifies and offers support and protection to victims of sex trafficking – many of whom are runaways from the foster care system – and has led to multiple prosecutions of sex traffickers.

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  • Faced with voting obstacles in North Dakota: 'We'll find a way'

    When it became clear that legal challenges to North Dakota's new voter I.D. law would fail, organizers set up shop near Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to get out the vote. By helping voters on the reservation update their I.D.s with permanent physical addresses and filling out absentee ballots, the group managed to secure the voting rights of many who would have been disenfranchised by the new law just weeks before the midterm elections.

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  • Oregon's unique Title IX reporting policy gives autonomy to students

    Confidential points of contact allow victims to reach out about Title IX violations and sexual assault on their own terms. Following multiple incidents involving members of its basketball team, the University of Oregon has reconfigured its approach to Title IX with new policies that give victims control over when an incident is reported. The broader Title IX program defines expectations and sets norms surrounding sexual harassment and consent through educational programs, digital resources, a student hotline, and the designation of individuals as confidential points of contact.

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  • Youth Villages Helping Families In Crisis

    In Oregon, there’s about 8,000 children in the Foster Care System. “Oregon takes children away from their homes at a rate two times higher than the national average.” Youth Villages is hoping their intervention programs will help bring down that rate. In other states it’s done just that. One of their programs, pairs children at risk of being removed from their family with counselors. The counselors visit the families 2 to 3 times a week. “It literally did save our adoption.” Youth Villages serves more than 250 families a year across various states.

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  • Med students learn empathy and skills in Detroit street care programs

    Two medical school initiatives in Detroit allow students to gain a sense of empathy while treating at-risk populations in a city known for harsh environments for homeless individuals. The programs, run through Michigan State University and Wayne State University, build trust between the medical community and people who live on the streets. This type of meaningful connection is often lacking in emergency rooms or doctors' offices.

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  • Banned: 'We are doing the president's work: cleansing the community of gays”

    The Access to Health and Rights Development Initiative (AHRDI) in Lagos, Nigeria has offered health services to over 2,000 LGBTI men since 2013 despite the nation's widespread homophobia. Because it is still dangerous to identify as or ally with homosexuality following the 2014 passage of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, all AHRDI's clients come from word-of-mouth referrals to receive condoms, lube, HIV testing, and more.

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  • The midwives at the forefront of the birthing crisis in Cox's Bazar

    Making the services of midwives accessible to displaced mothers living in refugee camps requires training and trust. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the government of Bangladesh are working to support clinics and train individuals who wish to work as midwives in the midst of the Rohingya refugee crisis. Providing women in camps with quality reproductive health requires not only the mentorship of international experts, but also personal efforts to gain the trust of women by local professionals.

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  • Many Washington foster kids become homeless. Tennessee may have found a solution.

    Washington State looks to an innovative program in Tennessee that centers around developing strong relationships between homeless youth and their case workers. The Tennessee program, which offers youth in foster care a sense of stability and family, has helped many of its participants stay off the streets; now, King County, Washington is looking to copy the program to reduce youth homelessness in the area.

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