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

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  • The hotel for homeless people

    To limit the spread of COVID-19, the Everyone In initiative offers housing to people experiencing homelessness. In the first few months of the program, the government paid for hotel rooms – which were empty due to the pandemic – for about 15,000 people. Additional services provided include helping people with substance abuse issues, accessing welfare benefits, and finding permanent housing. Some hotel residents expressed a renewed sense of purpose from having stable housing. A new set of workers, like hotel staff, addressing homelessness for the first time also led to innovation.

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  • Rwanda Saving Mothers' Lives With An SMS

    The RapidSMS program provides mobile phones to connect pregnant women, community health workers (CHWs), ambulances, and hospitals. CHWs enter data into phones to track all pregnant women, monitor prenatal care, and identify women at risk of complications. The free platform also allows pregnant women to send a text message to their CHW, who can alert an ambulance to be dispatched to even the most remote regions and give hospitals advanced notice of the women’s arrival. The system has been so effective in improving health outcomes that the government is looking to use it for other medical issues like malaria.

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  • Despite COVID and conflict, Kashmiris keep food coming

    Community networks acted to keep people in Kashmir fed throughout COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns. The Bonamsar mosque provides donation-funded monthly meal kits and small cash payments to people in need, including cooked food for those in immediate need. Tiffin Aaw provided meals to residents during political turmoil and shifted to serving warm meals to COVID-19 patients and their medical and family caregivers that couldn’t afford food. Both services included the culturally traditional food that has led the region to have the country’s highest nutritional health.

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  • Reducing Recidivism and Building Green Industry Skills in Detroit

    Between 2012 and 2017, the rate of recidivism, the number of people who return to prison after being released, was 71 percent across 34 states. An industrial recycling program called Greenworks is aimed at job training, access to resources, and jobs to formerly incarcerated people. Part of the green economy, these programs offer jobs to people most impacted by climate change, and Greenworks could be a model for other similar programs. The recidivism rate of Greenworks hovers around four and ten percent each year.

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  • Improving maternal healthcare in rural Nigeria with free drugs and birthing kits

    Hacey Health Initiative and Alabiyamo Maternal and Child Healthcare Foundation are improving maternal and newborn health in rural communities. The groups have provided more than 50,000 birthing kits containing sterilized tools and other essentials and handed out over 100,000 long-lasting treated nets to prevent malaria. Women and infants can get medications and important vaccinations, along with clothes and baby food. The care is free and the groups work with community gatekeepers, like leaders in local markets, midwives, and other traditional birthing assistants, whose buy in is important to build trust.

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  • University degree awarded to student behind bars: his thesis on autoethnography is a survival story

    Magna Graecia University partnered with prison administrators in Catanzaro, Italy, to help two incarcerated men find a form of rehabilitation by writing their own lives' stories. In a process called autoethnography, the men, who are serving life sentences, focus on describing without moral judgment "the psychological and creative resources they used for survival before prison and during their time behind bars." This helps them see the traits that led them into crime might also lead them out of it. Both men tell of extraordinary personal growth through the experience, which others now seek to duplicate.

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  • South Omaha sprints on vaccines as small-town Nebraska lags

    Community health workers from One World have gained community trust over the years and now go door-to-door to talk with residents about the COVID-19 vaccine and dispel misinformation. They provide resources in Spanish and carry vaccines in a refrigerated bag so residents can get vaccinated on the spot. The group has invested a lot of money, time, and personnel having intensely personal conversations with people. They also host pop-up clinics in the community and allow at-home vaccination appointments. The areas served by One World has seen more vaccinations than almost anywhere else in Nebraska.

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  • How to integrate community leaders into pandemic preparedness

    Community-based organizations have been key to reaching historically marginalized populations with COVID-19 information. Grassroots leaders and community workers are effective because they have built trust among communities over many years and they have first-hand knowledge of community needs and barriers. The pandemic shifted the priorities of many organizations. For example, the Self Employed Women’s Association now supplies members with PPE kits, food, and handmade masks to address the pandemic’s health and economic impacts. Proper mask usage increased significantly in the villages where they are based.

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  • Colorado's Harvest Farm Battles Addiction and Homelessness in Unexpected Ways

    Harvest Farm is an experiential recovery program that helps men experiencing homelessness and struggling with substance abuse achieve sobriety and become self-sufficient with stable work and housing. The program is free and a minimum of 6 months. The men toil on the farm and have access to case managers, addiction support groups, life and career development classes, and counseling. In the last phase of treatment, many hold jobs off of the farm, which provides added support through the post-graduation transition. A year after graduating, 70% of participants maintain housing and sobriety.

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  • Doctor's orders: 'Nature prescriptions' see rise amid pandemic

    Park Rx America is an online platform that helps the growing number of medical professionals who write nature prescriptions for their patients. The database contains thousands of parks and public lands, which prescribers can filter by activity, distance from a patient's home, and other amenities like whether there is a playground for kids. Growing numbers of doctors are prescribing outdoor activities as a treatment for conditions like obesity and anxiety. Writing out actual prescriptions with specific directions about where to go, what to do, and how often to go increases the likelihood of success.

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