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Alternative revenue sources could bolster city budget, lower mill rate

Matt Pilon Gregory Seay

July 08, 2019 |

Hartford Business Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Hartford looks to local governments nearby that have found success in the adoption of creative taxation, from restaurant meal taxes to taxes levied on hotel stays. Massachusetts, which has raised significant funds from these taxes as well as from taxation of recreational cannabis, uses this unrestricted revenue to distribute for local operating budgets.

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Hartford's largest nonprofits contribute more

Matt Pilon

July 08, 2019 |

Hartford Business Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut looks to Boston as an example of a city that has succeeded in establishing a connection between nonprofits - who can donate payments to the city that are exempt from property taxes - and the local government. With a massive number of successful hospitals and colleges, Boston has created a system in which it can use donated money from these highly profitable institutions to work toward city planning without paying property taxes on the donations; Hartford hopes to create a similar relationship in its own city limits.

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Fully fund the state's PILOT program

Matt Pilon

July 08, 2019 |

Hartford Business Journal |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Hartford, Connecticut

Connecticut's PILOT program was created to partially reimburse cities and towns for state-owned, tax-exempt properties and take some financial burden off smaller towns. The PILOT program, however, is voluntary, making it easier for state legislators to disregard the reimbursement requests in tough financial times. Now, state officials are urged to make the PILOT program mandatory to keep the response working for the small individual towns and cities around Connecticut.

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What about city spending?

Matt Pilon Greg Bordonaro

July 08, 2019 |

Hartford Business Journal |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut has made significant cuts to city spending in an effort to ensure the revenue they get from taxes goes further. The mayor ensured tight spending by working with local union groups, ceasing new borrowing projects, and cutting the number of unnecessary full-time positions in the city. With the frugal spending, the city has lowered its deficit while not burdening residents with high tax rates.

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How Norway turns criminals into good neighbours

Emma Jane Kirby

July 07, 2019 |

BBC |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Norway, Halden

Norway’s Halden Prison is taking a different approach to incarceration: emphasizing rehabilitation over punishment, which has led to a 20% decrease in recidivism in just two years. Over the past two decades, the country has sought rigorous criminal justice reform, which at Halden Prison means job training and certifications, yoga and other recreational activities, reenvisioning the role guards play, and spaces that look more like home than a jail cell.

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As Floods Keep Coming, Cities Pay Residents to Move

John Schwartz

July 06, 2019 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

The city of Nashville is a model for other U.S. cities focusing on how to deal with homes that are flooding more consistently than before. The National Flood Insurance Program exists to help insure homes that wouldn't be covered by private insurance; for some homeowners, the frustration of constant flooding is alleviated by the city's initiative to buy back those properties from their owners, turning them instead into more environmentally friendly parks, paths, and other flood buffers.

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How can mindfulness help kids?

Will Worley

July 04, 2019 |

Apolitical |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Uganda

Researchers are adapting MindUp, a mindfulness program first used in North America and Europe, to non-Western countries to help with sex and gender-based violence education. While the program has been shown to reduce aggression in some cases, MindUp teams have had trouble getting buy-in from new countries as a result of religious concerns and differences in opinion about the appropriate role of students in their own education.

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Renewing London

Oliver Gordon

July 04, 2019 |

Struggles from Below Magazine |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: England, London

In London, two community-driven initiatives are working side by side to engage residents in sustainable practices. Energy Garden, a community energy cooperative, has created green spaces in rail stations offers residents community gardens, nature education, and solar power. Repower, the other initiative, works with residents to communally invest in renewable energy for low-income neighborhoods while also providing those neighborhoods with energy jobs and mentoring services.

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Preaching Faith in Democracy

Courtney E. Martin

July 02, 2019 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Shared expressions of community and fellowship are fostering a non-partisan approach to civic engagement. The nonprofit Citizen University, based in Seattle, Washington, provides small grants to trained community leaders who host Civic Saturdays. The meetings take place across the country in libraries, town centers, and at small businesses. Groups gather to share song, poetry, and to discuss political concepts as ideas on a spectrum, rather than in opposition to one another.

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Kettering center grows in fight to combat infant drug exposure

Wayne Baker

July 01, 2019 |

Dayton Daily News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kettering, Ohio

For pregnant women impacted by the opioid epidemic, the lives of their infants are often affected if not given proper medical treatment after birth. Realizing this, a program in Kettering, Ohio that specifically works with this population has plans to expand their care after seeing success in its first year.

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