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

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  • ‘Vigilantes' on a mission to reunite owners with their stolen bikes Audio icon

    Facebook groups are reuniting bicycle-theft victims with their property by creating a place to report thefts and alerting others to be on the lookout for the bikes. A pandemic-inspired boom in bicycling, as a means to avoid public transportation, has fed a concurrent boom in bike thefts. Police praise the Facebook groups' public spirit and effectiveness, but warn of risks when confronting those trying to sell stolen bikes. More than 90% of bike theft reports to police hit a dead end, lowering faith in the police as a solution.

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  • Program offers alternative to calling police

    For 31 years, CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has used unarmed medics and crisis intervention experts to respond to mental health and other non-violent crises, saving money and preventing potentially violent reactions that can result from having police respond first. No effects on police officers' use of force have been measured. But CAHOOTS estimates it saves taxpayers $8.5 million annually in police costs.

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  • The US police department that decided to hire social workers

    When Alexandria, Kentucky's police chief realized how many of his officers' calls were for mental health crises or minor interpersonal disputes, and then how many of these unresolved problems resulted in repeat 911 calls, he hired a social worker to follow up with people to offer health and social services after the police leave. Now the department's two staff social workers do that work, costing less than hiring more police and reducing repeat calls. Alexandria is a small town, but now its approach is being copied in nearby Louisville.

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  • Citizens' assemblies are increasingly popular

    Citizens' assemblies have been used in a number of countries to give groups of ordinary people the chance to grapple with big, difficult problems and then recommend what actions their governments should take. Assemblies in Ireland led to referenda on subjects long considered intractable, same-sex marriage and abortion, leading to public approval of liberalized policies. As in France, the key to success is when politicians actually listen. By hearing from experts and giving a range of views space to be heard, citizens' assemblies can move people off extreme positions toward compromise.

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  • Students lost in the virtual learning shuffle? This school district comes to find them

    In order to reach students who aren’t attending virtual classes during the pandemic, a school district in Sacramento created a program called “Student Find.” If teachers and school administrators can’t reach students who’ve been absent, then school counselors hit the pavement. They go door-knocking in an attempt to make contact with families. “That’s the thing I would encourage other districts to consider,” Reyes says. “If we could all take part responsibility and make it something that’s manageable and doable in other places.”

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  • Detroiters are Fighting for the Right to Water

    Throughout the United States, people living below the federal poverty level often struggle to pay for utilities, but in Philadelphia, the Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) aims to alleviate that burden by basing water utility rates on income. In the four years since the program launched, more than 15,000 residents have participated and 96% of those participants have avoided water shutoffs.

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  • California May Need More Fire to Fix its Wildfire Problem

    Prescribed burns are considered the best way to contain catastrophic wildfires, and fires sparked by lightning or by Native Americans once burned more land in California than has burned in 2020's record-setting fires. But burning its way out of danger is hardly a simple matter for California now. Obstacles are many. Long-standing policies of aggressive fire suppression, plus climate-change-induced drought and pestilence, have amassed more fuel for fires. Dense populations in fire-prone areas, make for daunting logistical and financial obstacles.

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  • An Oregon school district's unique approaches to keeping students fed

    A school district in Oregon took a multi-pronged approach to serving students their school lunches during the pandemic. Some of those things include curbside pickup, using buses to deliver food, and packing more than one meal per pickup. “We definitely saw a decline in the number of people we were able to serve, or who were coming out for meals, so we’re really trying to reach everyone to come get a meal.”

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  • Mental Health And Police Violence: How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing

    More than 2,700 police departments in the U.S. have crisis intervention teams aimed at responding to mental health crises with fewer arrests and less violence, but the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester police custody offers clear lessons in the shortcomings and misuse of the CIT model. A lack of adequate mental health services across the country, coupled with superficial training of the police, too often means a police response to a crisis will not de-escalate the situation or lead to meaningful help for the person in crisis. A recent study found CITs have not shown they will lower violence.

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  • No WiFi at home? One Virginia school district has a creative solution for students

    A school district in Virginia has implemented a two-prong solution to provide internet access to rural students during the pandemic. The indoor solution allows students to make appointments to be inside the school to access the internet. The outside solution, equipping three schools in the district with equipment to boost their Wi-Fi signals, allowing students who can’t make indoor appointments a way to access the Wi-Fi. “We just took advantage of something that was already happening in the district."

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