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Taxing empty apartments could ease the housing crisis

Adele Peters

February 12, 2019 |

FastCompany |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

Cities with large numbers of empty apartments look to Vancouver's apartment tax, which taxes owners for unused apartment space. After the tax was put in place, the number of unoccupied apartments in Vancouver went down, and the city raised $38 million in tax revenue - most of which will go to affordable housing programs.

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How one Maine school is cutting $30,000 or more from the cost of college

Lori Valigra

February 12, 2019 |

Bangor Daily News |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Maine

A partnership between Maine high schools and Thomas College is helping cut college costs by at least $30,000. Through the Pathways program, students enroll in dual enrollment classes while still in high school and complete extra credit hours and summer classes while in college en route to finishing a bachelors degree in three years instead of the traditional four.

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How To Get Meat Eaters To Eat More Plant-Based Foods? Make Their Mouths Water

Maria Godoy

February 10, 2019 |

NPR |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Red meat consumption requires a great deal of water and land resources to produce and is even responsible for a large amount of greenhouse gases. To combat this, the Better Buying Lab is experimenting with marketing strategies to get people to buy more vegetarian and vegan items. After rebranding food with sensory descriptors like "Cuban" or "grilled", sales increased 13% in California and 76% in the UK. Influential brands like Panera are now increasing their efforts to continue this trend.

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Paying for success: The story of how Utah became a leader in social impact investing

Emily Hoeven

February 08, 2019 |

Deseret News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah played a key role in passing federal legislation that set aside $100 million for underserved communities — without the government having to pay a dollar upfront. In this model, the government doesn’t pay for any social program that isn’t successful. If there isn't a measurable impact, private investors take the financial hit — not taxpayers. If carefully measured data proves that the program was successful, only then does the government pay back investors.

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Can old-fashioned journalism combat fake news?

Eoin O'Carroll

February 07, 2019 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Human-based fact checking offers a more dynamic and thorough way to determine the credibility of news outlets than the use of machine learning software. Although humans are still prone to implicit biases, NewsGuard’s model of employing a team of human fact-checkers to rate news websites pushes back against the tendency of algorithms to disseminate false or misleading content. A user-installed plug-in offers details about the credibility and transparency of over 2,000 websites.

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Punjab's marginalised communities struggle for their right to cultivate common lands

Kundan Pandey

February 07, 2019 |

Down To Earth |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Punjab

Balad Kalan’s Scheduled Castes, popularly called Dalits, collectively bid to win the rights to fertile common lands that big landlords had taken control of. Each family contributed what they could and, after protests due to the lack of transparency in the bidding process, won 53 hectares, or one-third of the common land, which was distributed among 145 families. Fifty other villages have since won collective land rights by replicating the joint bidding process. An 11-member cooperative manages the land in each village, which is distributed to families in proportion to their monetary contribution.

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How the ProComp merit pay system led Denver teachers to the brink of a strike

Melanie Asmar

February 05, 2019 |

Chalkbeat Colorado |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

In 1999, Denver, with the backing of the teachers union, rolled out a merit pay pilot program. Twenty years later, the pay-for-performance system has teachers on the verge of a strike for higher pay. Chalkbeat explores the origin and efficacies of the approach.

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Black Lives Matter Is Making Single Moms Homeowners

Zenobia Jeffries

February 05, 2019 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisville

In West Louisville, the local Black Lives Matter is working and crowdfunding to buy homes for low-income single mothers and and transient families - and offering homeowner, where the only expense is taxes and utilities, to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to own their homes. The organization hopes to address the the historical and institutionalized racism that has made homeownership a distant dream for many African Americans in the highly segregated city.

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In Baltimore, the future of film culture is an old-school video store

Brandon Soderberg

January 30, 2019 |

The Outline |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Where rental stores couldn’t compete, non-profits step in to preserve physical media in the digital age. Despite promises of unlimited access to media, online streaming services have actually reduced the variety of films available to their subscribers. In contrast to the vagaries of digital streaming business models, Beyond Video in Baltimore looks to members, donors, and volunteers to grow and maintain a lending library—already larger than the Netflix catalog—invested in promoting film culture and history.

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Why Old Buildings Are the Key to Transforming a City

Sydney Worth

January 23, 2019 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Tucson, Arizona

In an era of wildly expanding cities, local governments look toward a trend called "reurbanism," which promotes the revitalization of old, locally-owned structures. Cities like Tucson, AZ and Los Angeles embrace reurbanism initiatives to ensure developers make the most of older, smaller establishments within city limits.

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