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The Mississippi Program That's Showing How Effective Direct Cash Transfers Can Be

Lauren Gill

September 14, 2020 |

The Appeal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Mississippi

Families experiencing poverty have been given $1,000 each month in an effort to address the racial wealth gap through the Magnolia Mother's Trust program. The cash payments yield an increase of recipients who were able to earn their GEDs, cook fresh meals for their families, and meet all their basic needs. The payments began prior to the onset of the pandemic but have proven to be a crucial safety net.

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Changing their minds, and their lives: A way out of poverty in Philadelphia

Harold Brubaker

September 12, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The MindSet program adopts 30 people per year for a five-year "mobility mentoring" program, coaching people living in poverty to set clear goals and helping them save toward economic independence. Run by the nonprofit Episcopal Community Services and modeled on Boston's EMPath (Economic Mobility Pathways), MindSet rejects traditional case management and approaches that merely maintain people's lifestyle, focusing instead on plotting a path to a better future. More testing is needed on its effectiveness, but EMPath participants increased their annual income from $16,000 to $47,000.

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Community colleges pivot to support their vulnerable students

Madeline St. Amour

September 10, 2020 |

Inside Higher Ed |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Norwalk, California

Community college administrations across the U.S. are helping students continue their education during the pandemic by helping them address basic needs. Cerritos College in Norwalk, California has given away 300 free laptops and already ordered 200 more. Reynolds Community College in Virginia took a targeted approach by focusing on providing technology aid like loaning out computers, setting up internet hotspots in parking lots and, but the pandemic has exacerbated a longstanding struggle for many community colleges across the U.S.—lower federal funding per student when compared to flagship institutions.

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Maryland Stands Up Online Grants Application in Just 8 Hours

Andrew Westrope

September 02, 2020 |

Government Technology |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Maryland

The Maryland Department of Information Technology adapted an existing system to quickly distribute small-business grants and loans due to Covid-19. The Maryland OneStop platform, a single site for state licenses, permits, and certifications, was built with an agile approach decoupling front-end user experience from the back-end where the program does the work, which allowed quick front end modifications to launch the loan and grants online when coronavirus hit. The system processed 18,000 applications in the first 3 days and 56,000 within a month. The success was preceded by many years of planning and work.

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Mexico Is Saving Its Coral Reef From Hurricanes With A One-Of-A-Kind Plan

Alexandra Kirkman

August 24, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo

To protect the Mesoamerican Reef from the effects of climate change, key stakeholders in Mexico created the world’s first insurance policy to protect a natural asset. The policy provides an immediate infusion of cash in the event of a damaging storm, allowing hotel owners and local governments to quickly repair the reef and prevent further degradation. A volunteer corps of people called the Guardians of the Reef make those repairs. While the insurance policy doesn’t cover pollution or overfishing, this mechanism could work for reefs in other countries to restore and protect threatened ecosystems.

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City grant programs help Mission businesses hold on

Annika Hom

August 12, 2020 |

Mission Local |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

San Francisco entrepreneurs are benefiting from several emergency city relief programs which have proven vital to small businesses. The city is funding both The Resiliency Fund and Neighborhood Mini Grants. The former is for businesses across the city with 5 or fewer employees, while the latter is specifically for businesses within seven underserved neighborhoods in the Mission District. To date, both funds have provided over $3 million for store owners who are struggling to pay rent while dealing with plummeting revenues.

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Short on Money, Cities Around the World Try Making Their Own

Peter Yeung

August 07, 2020 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Tenino, Washington

Complementary currencies are local alternatives to national currencies that help local economies when budgets are tight. Tenino prints “wooden dollars” and residents in need get up to $300/month to spend at local businesses from grocery stores to day cares. Cities across the US have reached out for advice on starting their own local currencies, which can take many forms including digital-only. There are 3,500-4,500 local currencies in 50 countries, including Brazil’s Maricá where it helped the under-resourced city build schools and hospitals. These currencies have no value outside of the local economy.

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Full-Circle Support

Katherine Rapin

August 06, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Black Giving Circle supports Black-led and Black-serving nonprofits, offering funding that was raised through the Black community. The giving circle has helped to build personal relationships with people of color, strengthen the community, and increase donation amounts to nonprofits tackling issues in the community. The initiative is an effort to model a more equitable form of philanthropy.

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Homegrown

Emily Stifler Wolfe

August 05, 2020 |

Montana Free Press |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montana

Federal funding helped local food producers expand their operations to include processing plants which enables farmers to meet the demand of Montanans who sought an alternative to the empty grocery store shelves. The lack of processing plants has caused a bottleneck in the local food supply chain, a sore point which was amplified when the pandemic disrupted international supply chains, sending shoppers to their neighborhood farms. Small operators rarely have their own processing plants and must outsource that step in order to take their products to market.

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0%-interest loan program puts economic power in hands of Detroit homeowners

Kate Roff

August 04, 2020 |

Model D |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

Homeowners in Detroit can now access home improvement capital to fix up their historic homes, many of which date back to the early 1900s. The aid is in the form of a zero-interest loan which is paid back over 10 years. The program helps homeowners fix their homes, making them safer while removing blight from the community.

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