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To Fight Rising Murder Rate, More Cities Find, Mentor and Pay Likely Shooters

Zusha Elinson

October 27, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Fresno, California

Advance Peace Fresno tries to turn youth away from violence through mentoring, job training, and by paying them a monthly stipend of up to $1,000 if they hit certain benchmarks in their rehabilitation. The program has recruited 19 young people for its fellowships, following a model that is associated with violence declines in Richmond and Sacramento, and is spreading to multiple other cities. Opponents of the stipends say the agency should not pay people to obey the law. But Advance Peace's strategy is based on using the promise of legitimate income to keep people engaged.

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Sedgwick County looks to San Antonio for mental health solutions

Mark Wiebe Hunter Funk

October 27, 2021 |

The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal) |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Antonio, Texas

Since the early 2000s, when its overcrowded jail led to a decision to jail fewer people instead of adding more cells, Bexar County, Texas, has provided comprehensive help to people likely to end up jailed if social and health services are lacking: people experiencing homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. A crisis center gives police and residents a place to bring people needing help other than an emergency room or jail. The Haven for Hope is a campus offering an array of services and shelter. Homelessness and the jail population are both way down.

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The Bronx tries new way to cure violence as US shootings surge

Joshua Chaffin

October 23, 2021 |

Financial Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence is a city-funded crew of "violence interrupters," former gang members or the formerly incarcerated who have enough street credibility to de-escalate disputes in ways the police often cannot. Founded in 2014, BRAG works in three "hot" zones, two of which have gone murder-free for more than five years. Such groups, using the Cure Violence public-health approach to gun-violence reduction, occupy an "uneasy niche in public safety" between the streets and police.

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Home was a nightmare, then home was prison. Finally home is now a refuge.

Marisa Endicott

October 21, 2021 |

Mother Jones |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Home Free is a small, transitional-housing program for women who served long prison sentences for crimes against or on behalf of their abusers. A population long neglected, the women are part of a community recovering from the trauma of prison and the trauma that put them there. Giving them autonomy, in ways typical re-entry programs do not, is key to their recovery. “Home Free is the culmination of a decades-long struggle by women to be seen and supported by a system that has condemned and ignored them.”

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Iowa foster care system changes prove positive and effective

Libby Dowsett

October 20, 2021 |

Street Roots |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Iowa

Iowa in 2017 imposed new rules for the agencies that run group homes for children in foster care. The rules have greatly reduced the frequency with which children are moved from place to place far from their families, a common practice that can deepen the trauma they suffer. By paying differently for such care, the state reduced the incentive agencies had to keep their facilities full. Instead, they're working more closely with families to heal them and get children back to a healthier home life.

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Sanitation Solutions: When the city let them down, Philly rose up — with orange trash cans

Meir Rinde

October 18, 2021 |

WHYY |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Philadelphia-based program called I Love Thy Hood's stepped up to help attack the city's dirty streets problem. Fueled entirely by volunteer efforts, the program has placed more than 106 cans on blocks around the city and collected over 100,000 pounds of trash.

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In Venezuela, a Rum Maker Offers Gangsters a Life Outside of Crime

Isayen Herrera Anatoly Kurmanaev

October 16, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Venezuela, Sabaneta

Rather than fleeing or fighting the twin threats to its business from criminal gangs and an aggressively anti-business government, the managers of Venezuelan rum-maker Ron Santa Teresa chose to make peace with both through social programs that have calmed what once was one of the violent country's most troubled towns. The company's Proyecto Alcatraz creates economic opportunity for gang members, providing them with job training and psychological counseling. It also courted favor with the socialist government with a housing initiative for the poor. Both programs have proved a boon for business.

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The Radical Shift in Drug Treatment Happening Inside California Prisons

Juan Moreno Haines

October 15, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Quentin, California

To combat opioid overdose deaths among incarcerated people, the California prison system in January 2020 launched a treatment program that combines medication-assisted treatment with professional and peer counseling. The program uses the three most effective medications to reduce opioid dependency. The one-year program features intense counseling, individual and group, based on a workbook that takes gender and trauma-related causes for drug abuse into account. Preliminary data show a decrease in deaths at San Quentin prison. More than 15,000 people have enrolled in the program.

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From Felon to Fighter: The Redemption of Jose Santana

Tyler Hayden

October 14, 2021 |

Santa Barbara Independent |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Barbara, California

When California adopted a new law in 2020 allowing formerly incarcerated firefighters to petition to have their criminal records expunged and parole waived, the law excluded people with the most serious, violent offenses. But it left others with violent offenses in a gray area, subject to objections that could deny them a chance to become professional firefighters, using the skills they learned at one of the state's 43 prison fire camps. This story profiles the first man from Santa Barbara County to win this right, and the obstacles he faced in the process.

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Dallas PD Expands Controversial, Though Successful, Mental Health Response Program

Hayley Zhao

October 06, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

Dallas' Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team dispatches clinicians and social workers with police to 911 calls for mental health crises. Within two days, the team follows up to make sure people received the services they need. In its first three years, the area of the city using the program saw 60% fewer arrests and 20% fewer emergency-room visits among people in mental health crises. Critics argue that the presence of police can needlessly escalate such crises, but the city is sticking with the co-responder model and spending millions to expand the program.

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