Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 16550 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Can a Community Water Lab Restore Trust in Flint?

Nina Misuraca Ignaczak

February 18, 2021 |

Belt Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

A community-based water testing and lead-education pilot program aimed to rebuild confidence and trust among Flint residents, who are skeptical of state-affiliated testing. Trained students collected water samples that were tested by University of Michigan labs. Educational materials provided with results included how to install, maintain, and use filters. While most samples didn't show issues, households with dangerous lead levels were given bottled water, filters, and other services. Once the pilot ended, the Mckenzie Patrice-Croom Water Lab secured funding to continue free community-based water testing.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Integration Starts in the Village

Teresa Di Mauro Heydar Isayev

February 18, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Georgia

Ethnic Azeri students face disproportionate barriers in achieving university education compared to Georgians. One of those reasons is due to language barriers. Isolated from Georgian society, it's not uncommon for Azeri communities to not speak Georgian fluently. The center has now expanded into a network of multiple centers. One center serves as many as 160 children. It’s working. Some of the centers had a 100% success rate in helping Azeri students enter college.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How Newark Water Coalition Is Bringing the City Clean Water Without Plastic Waste

Emily Nonko

February 18, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

Since it was reported that Newark’s lead levels in the city’s drinking water were higher than federal standards, the Newark Water Coalition installed a Water Box. This is a portable filtration system that removes contaminants to provide 10 gallons of clean water each minute. The organization worked with another nonprofit that implemented a Water Box in Flint, Michigan, to secure funding to install three others in the city.

Read More
Go to Original Story
A College Program for Disadvantaged Teens Could Shake Up Elite Admissions

Erica Green

February 18, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

About “1,500 (High School) students from 75 of the nation’s poorest schools in 35 cities,” are enrolling in college courses in elite universities like Harvard and Columbia through an initiative started by a nonprofit—and succeeding. The aim of the program is to prepare underprivileged students for the rigors of college education, and give them a confidence boost before they enter college. They complete the same coursework as the college students and get a grade. “All of these schools talk this game, ‘We want diversity, but we can’t find these kids,’ and this proves they can build a pipeline."

Read More
Go to Original Story
‘Crime-Free' Housing Ordinances, Explained

Deborah N. Archer

February 17, 2021 |

The Appeal |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Starting in the early 1990s, thousands of American towns and cities passed "crime-free housing" ordinances that purport to reduce crime in rental housing. The laws encourage or require landlords to evict tenants based on calls to police, or the criminal records of tenants or their houseguests. The laws' lack of due process has turned them into a tool promoting segregation and retaliation against people of color. Frequently enacted in places that have begun to diversify racially, they give police too much power to declare certain residences a nuisance. Legal challenges have begun to curb some abuses.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system

Danny Westneat

February 17, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Retired software engineers in Washington have joined together and created a website that aggregates all available COVID vaccine appointments by using "screen scrapers." Although the site doesn't allow the visitor to book an appointment, it has routinely averaged "10,000 visits a day from anxious shot hunters."

Read More
Go to Original Story
If You Can't Get To Your Vaccine Appointment, These Cities Will Drive You

Taylor Moore

February 17, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Austin, Texas

Some cities across the U.S. are offering "free or cheap transportation to vaccine distribution sites" as a means of increasing access for those who don't have access to a vehicle, are unable to drive, or don't live near a vaccination site or public transportation network. In Austin, the city converted their already-existing bus and commuter rail system, which was experiencing a decline in use during the pandemic, to a curb-to-curb service.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Creative Repurposing of Plywood From Boarded-up Stores

Linda Poon

February 17, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Paul, Minnesota

In the months after businesses covered their storefronts with plywood as cities erupted in social-justice protests, environmental and other community groups in many cities organized recycling campaigns to reuse the plywood rather than see it end up in landfills. Twin Cities Plywood Rescue in Minnesota, the heart of the protests, collected 642 sheets of plywood and donated it to nonprofits for use in building construction. Other cities' collections have ended up as voter registration booths, outdoor-dining furniture, and animal enclosures.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Seattle Bets on Equitable Development

Isabella Garcia

February 17, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

An Equitable Development Initiative was launched as a result of a racial equity analysis that gauged the effect that Seattle’s economic growth would have on communities of color. Funding for the initiative has gone toward capital for these communities to purchase real estate and develop projects that build up affordable housing, child care, food security, and other issues that would best serve longtime residents and prevent gentrification.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Tech Company Aims to Disrupt Predatorial Prison Phone Industry

Shani Saxon

February 17, 2021 |

Colorlines |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

A free mobile app called Ameelio opens a free channel of communication between incarcerated people and their families, to avoid the price-gouging telephone services that prisons and jails authorize to charge people exorbitant rates to talk. Ameelio's app makes sending letters with photos easier than doing it by snail mail. Nonprofits can also use the free service to communicate with clients. Ameelio, which is supported by donations and grants, is piloting a video-conferencing service.

Read More
Go to Original Story