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These local nonprofits bring books to incarcerated individuals in North Carolina

Bethany Lee

February 02, 2021 |

The Daily Tar Heel |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

Prison Books Collective and a partner organization, N.C. Women's Prison Book Project, for 15 years have collected donated books and then distributed them inside North Carolina prisons to incarcerated people who crave new reading material. Answering requests, which sometimes can be quite specific as to genre, the groups fulfill orders from their revolving supply. Combined, the groups make up to 75 shipments per week and in return hear from people inside about how meaningful the donated books are to them.

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The "Secret Handshake"—A Program Gifting Cannabis to Unhoused People

Doug Johnson

February 01, 2021 |

Filter |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

In Los Angeles, the Sidewalk Project gives unhoused people gifts of marijuana to ease their anxiety and to show kindness. Since its start in the spring of 2020, the group has gifted gram-sized portions of weed nearly 1,000 times. The harm-reduction group gets its supply from growers who donate weed that isn't up to commercial-grade snuff. Evidence is mixed on whether marijuana is an effective antidote to opioid withdrawal symptoms, but Sidewalk says it has helped some by making them more relaxed. Personal use of marijuana is legal in California, with restrictions on quantities that can be transferred.

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St. Louis comedian shares story of redemption, reentry following prison sentence

Christine Byers

January 28, 2021 |

KSDK-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

When people emerge from long prison sentences, they can be in a hurry to put their lives back on track. But, when enrolled in a voluntary re-entry program called the Concordance Academy of Leadership, they first must go through intense mental health counseling that begins while they're incarcerated before they launch a search for a job or permanent housing. The St. Louis-based program boasts much lower-than-average recidivism rates, in part because it responds to post-release mistakes with more counseling rather than automatic punishment.

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Cops, crisis calls and conflict over who should help

David Kroman Sara Bernard

January 28, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Seattle Police Department's crisis response team answers some of the city's many 911 calls for people in distress, pairing police trained in handling such calls with mental health professionals. The aim is to counter the default policing approach to problems that usually involve mental illness or substance abuse, which is to control people. It doesn't always work, due to the complexity of the calls, the nature of policing, and the department's limited resources devoted to the program. But, when it works, it can help rather than escalate situations, and avoid the ultimate failure, the use of excessive force.

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How a Water Bill Can Help Cities Help Their Most Vulnerable Residents

Cinnamon Janzer

January 28, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A pilot program may be able to alleviate the utility debts incurred by struggling customers who were affected by the pandemic-induced economic slowdown. A pre-pandemic program used missed utility payments as an opportunity to provide people with “financial empowerment services like individualized repayment plans and financial counseling.” The program not only cut down on municipal costs but also benefited residents in all five cities. Participants were less likely to experience water shutoffs and paid significantly fewer late fees.

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An Oregon city's decades-old alternative to police

David Kroman Sara Bernard

January 28, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

Like many cities, Seattle is looking to Eugene, Oregon, for a model to shift resources from police to unarmed crisis responders handling 911 calls about mental health, addiction, family conflict, and other non-criminal problems. Eugene's CAHOOTS program has been doing such work for half a century, and since 1989 sending medic-and-counselor teams on calls. In 2019 it saved $8 million in police costs and $14 million for ambulances and emergency room visits. But, while taking police out of situations where they might cause more problems than they solve, it's only as good as its region's social services.

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More Than 1,000 Open Prostitution Cases In Brooklyn Are Going To Be Wiped From The Files

Otillia Steadman

January 28, 2021 |

Buzzfeed |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The Brooklyn district attorney is prosecuting few prostitution cases and has dismissed 262 cases that he and sex worker advocates say are a byproduct of law enforcement unfairly targeting trans women and women of color. The DA is working toward dismissing more than 1,000 cases and declining to prosecute all new cases. While legislative action is needed to achieve full decriminalization and to void the 25,000 criminal records that date to 1975 in Brooklyn, the DA exercised his discretion based on the harm done by arresting women for sex work and on related loitering charges.

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Almost a year after opening, Compass House provides direction amid safe surroundings

Roberta Baker

January 25, 2021 |

The Laconia Daily Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Laconia, New Hampshire

Compass House provides safety and support for women, many of them newly released from incarceration, who struggle with substance misuse issues or mental illness. The transitional housing program is the first of its kind in a state that is sorely lacking in such services. Peer support and professional counseling and treatment can last a year or more. The women in the program, who are at high risk of homelessness without a refuge like Compass House, pay 30% of their income for rent, with the rest of the costs covered by a state agency.

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Inmates are learning to be their own bosses after they leave jail behind

Chase DiBenedetto

January 24, 2021 |

Mashable |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

Inmates to Entrepreneurs has graduated 1 million people from its eight-week program that teaches incarcerated people how to start their own low-capital businesses. An extension of a free online entrepreneurship course, Starter U, the program offered in-person workshops until COVID forced it to go virtual. One study shows the unemployment rate in December 2020 for formerly incarcerated people was more than 27%, more than four times higher than the general public. Inmates to Entrepreneurs was started 28 years ago in North Carolina's prison system.

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The Free Hotline That's Saving Women's Lives by Disarming Dangerous Men

Christina Noriega

January 22, 2021 |

Medium |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Bogotá

The Calm Hotline takes calls from men in Bogotá, Colombia, in an effort to address the root causes of domestic violence: a culture of machismo. Four psychologists take emergency calls – about 700 calls came in the service's first month – and works to refer the callers to an eight-week "gender transformation program" that will attempt to change men's toxic attitudes that can lead to violence. The program is patterned on a counseling hotline in the Colombian city of Barrancabermeja that was associated with a steep decline in domestic violence.

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