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

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  • From Foreigner to Family Member

    Volunteers with the Embassy Church visit detainees once a week upon request, with about 15 to 20 volunteers spending time with people during four one-hour shifts. As they built relationships with the detainees, volunteers fundraised to hire immigration lawyers and help people through the asylum process.

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  • Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops

    Two officers with the San Antonio Police Department's Mental Health Unit show how they respond to mental health crises with empathetic listening and de-escalation tactics rather than the traditional police tactics of command and control. The small unit can only handle a tiny percentage of the city's crisis calls. But the officers also run the training of all incoming police cadets, who now get 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team training. This policing tactic works only because it exists within a well-developed system of mental health care in the city.

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  • Healing a Divided Nation Begins Face to Face

    Personal connections contribute to more productive discourse, reducing polarization and divisiveness. Outreach projects such as those led by the Better Angels nonprofit and KUOW-FM in Seattle encourage conversations between individuals with differing political points of view. KUOW has run several “Ask A…” programs, including “Ask a Muslim” and “Ask a police officer,” which focus on building conservations. The Better Angels program, which includes workshops centered on discourse, has spread nationwide.

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  • How four dioceses are actually doing something about the climate crisis

    Some Catholic churches and dioceses are turning green and are making strides to be environmentally friendly. This article gives examples of churches and dioceses across the country that have done a number of things to be more eco friendly, from converting solar, to planting over 200 trees, to conducting energy audits. Some are doing more theological work, like connecting the environment to Catholic values. "We are beginning to see a change."

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  • Building resiliency an elementary school goal

    Elementary schools in New Hampshire are implementing several programs to help build resiliency in their students and reduce the risk of suicide. One program includes introducing trauma care coordinators, while another encourages students to write letters about their concerns. Both tactics have had positive results, evident through fewer recorded cases of problematic behavioral issues.

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  • Restorative Justice: Healing Instead of Incarceration

    Prosecutors in Brooklyn and Bronx divert some violent crime cases away from traditional courts to a program called Common Justice, which gives victims a greater say in the outcome – an outcome chosen by 9 out of 10 victims served by the agency because it provides a more healing alternative to the incarceration that has caused so many social problems in their neighborhoods. Through restorative justice dialog between victims and those who harmed them, agreements are forged whereby the responsible party will atone for his crime through restitution, community service, or other means.

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  • A Police Department's Difficult Assignment: Atonement

    The city of Stockton police department has embarked on a number of initiatives in the hopes of building trust between them and the communities they work for. With initial funding from the Department of Justice, the department began truth-and-reconciliation processes, including workshops, departmental reforms, public apologies, and community conversations. Actual reconciliation is hard to measure, and yet their efforts to atone for their part in historic and systemic racism have shown positive results.

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  • Youth suicide prevention that works

    New Hampshire K-12 schools are trying a variety of different initiatives to try to reduce the rates of suicide amongst youth. So far, two school-based prevention programs – one used in New Hampshire and one used in Sweden – have shown evidence of success. Both teach students how to recognize signs of depression and suicide risk and have reduced the rate of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

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  • Mental health a daily lesson in schools

    A middle school in New Hampshire has piloted a program that focuses on dividing the school into different wings and offering classes on "mental wellness, conflict resolution, and healthy ways to communicate" with the goal of better addressing the emotional wellbeing of students. The outcomes have been promising thus far, with students reporting improved effects on their mental health.

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  • Sacred Conversations: This Battle Creek book group tackles race and healing through words and action

    A very special 15-person book club in Battle Creek, Michigan is using the book club format to discuss hard topics like race. The conversations steer profound, intimate, and personal, and many members testify to how much it has changed them. In addition to having read 68 books, the group also performs social justice work such as donating to the Equal Justice Initiative, rolling bandages for doctors in the DRC, and donating food and goods to local pantries.

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