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

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  • These gardens ask visitors to reconsider solitary confinement

    Solitary Gardens is an art project that protests prisons' solitary confinement conditions. Incarcerated people connect with volunteers on the outside who plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs in beds matching the tiny dimensions of the prison cell that confined Herman Wallace for a record 41 years in Louisiana. The people inside prison imagine their garden, often with memory triggers of what they have lost, and their gardener carries out their plan. The idea is to make a place for grief, healing, public service, and public education, as the gardens in four cities teach about solitary confinement.

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  • Halls of game: Bingo centers are unheralded pillars of the Corpus Christi community

    In Texas, bingo is considered a charitable operation and can act as a revenue source, offering a significant contribution to the funding of many 501c(3) nonprofits, but it also "nourishes the community in other, less obvious ways." Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the bingo operations around the state often provided scholarships and food distribution and offered a reprieve from social isolation. Although the pandemic has altered how many players can be a in a room together, the bingo halls are still attracting regulars.

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  • Small size, big impact: Baltimore nonprofit Next One Up wraps teen boys in supports and watches them fly

    In Baltimore, a non-profit known as the Next One Up program is helping young men who are struggling in school by supporting and advancing their academic, athletic, and social development through small group activities. Although small, the highly-individualized program – which "focuses on students who have attendance issues, have experienced trauma, or need food, clothing, or parental support" – meets every Sunday for class and homework help, followed by a sport of their choice. All who have participated so far have graduated high school on time.

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  • Are 'villages' the future of elder care?

    Since 2002, aging neighbors in Boston have been creating networks, known as villages, of supportive services that allow them to remain in their homes rather than leave to live in a senior center or nursing home. Now, there are 350 villages throughout the U.S., including one in Buffalo, NY known as Canopy. Staffed with volunteers, the program has not always been the most financially viable, but it has grown to serve senior citizens in seven zip codes.

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  • How a 1980s AIDS Support Group Changed The Internet Forever

    In the 1980s, a virtual messaging network, then known as bulletin board systems (BBSs), acted as a support group for many who were in search of peer support and reliable information as the AIDS epidemic spread. Although the site was a grassroots effort with little to no financial stability, it grew to 500 daily users and 100 messages posted per day.

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  • I've experienced racism all my life. But a course called 'Unlearning Racism' opened my eyes to new information and ideas.

    Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the country. Nationally, a Gallup poll found that 55% of Americans believe “race relations between Blacks and whites to be either "very or somewhat bad." To improve race relations, the YMCA in Milwaukee created a course called, “Unlearning Racism.” Participants ranged in race, occupation, and age. The class covered topics like white privilege and how to address racism. It also required students to engage in discussions about racism.

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  • Refugees Hold the Line Against a Pandemic

    When the coronavirus pandemic threatened to spread to the Matamoros tent camp where thousands of asylum-seekers lived, local health officials and aid workers proactively launched a public health campaign to boost education around the virus and leveraged ongoing relationships to distribute tests. Although there was a notable resistance from some, the tent camp has "avoided the devastation predicted in the early days of the pandemic, with only a few dozen mild cases reported since June."

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  • ‘Backpacks full of boulders': How one district is addressing the trauma undocumented children bring to school

    Prince George's County in Maryland ranks fourth in the country for the number of unaccompanied students with sponsors. Often, these students have experienced a lot of trauma by the time they arrive at school. School officials are using their budget to spend it on resources to help educators and undocumented students succeed academically by hiring trauma specialists, bilingual liaisons, and teacher aides. “The most important reason is it is morally, really spiritually, inappropriate to mistreat the children who come from these families and not give them equal opportunity.”

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  • ‘The Poetry Project': How young refugees in Germany are bridging the cultural gap with their voices

    The Poetry Project provides a platform for young refugees to create poetry, share their stories, and learn about German culture. The initiative started with weekly meetings for 7 young refugees to workshop poetry about the refugee experience, including leaving loved ones, why they left, and how they feel in their new home country. Their live performances have won prizes and their audiences respond emotionally. The group’s success allowed it to expand to more participants and reach a wider audience. The experience helped some participants integrate more smoothly into German society, where they have thrived.

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  • How a new approach to fighting domestic violence is changing lives in Burundi

    A grassroots movement in Burundi has resulted in more familial bliss for households who suffered from domestic abuse. Through CARE International, a group of Burundian men are taking on toxic masculinity, entrenched cultural misogyny, and "destructive gender roles" through community meetings. Previously abusive men speak to their communities about how and why they were able to break the cycle and how their families have benefitted from a better home environment, better relationships, and even the benefit of being able to make and save more money as a result of helping their wives, instead of abusing them.

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