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

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  • Avid Bookshop's New Book Club Promotes Literature About Race and Labor

    Georgia’s Racial Justice Centering Committee, part of the University of Georgia’s United Campus Workers, runs the Racial Justice, Labor, and the South Book Club at the Avid Bookshop. The moderator-led discussions provide attendees with exposure to diverse literature and an opportunity to learn about the intersection between labor and race. While University of Georgia students are the target audience, the book club is open to the public. Meetings are currently held on zoom, but in-person meetings at the bookshop introduced a wider audience to the diverse books and increased support of the local business.

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  • An Illinois district proved programs for gifted students can be diverse

    U-46, Chicago's second-largest school district faced a legal suit in 2005 for discrimination of Hispanic students in its gifted programs and is now setting an example for how programs can be upended for good. By 2018 U-46's gifted program consisted of 48% Hispanic students, a better representation of a 57% Hispanic district. The changes implemented by the district included addressing systemic issues by not relying on teacher recommendations and instead testing all third and sixth graders, expanding the number of seats for gifted students. The district also has teachers undergo antiracism training and more.

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  • Nigeria is using radio to provide support for SGBV survivors

    To combat high rates of sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria, the Spotlight Initiative supports several organizations providing counseling and educational services to victims and to women and girls at risk of abuse. One program from the NEEM Foundation countered the pandemic shutdown by distributing transistor radios to continue its classes for women. Another, Save the Child Initiative, intervened in a child rape case that local authorities ignored, convincing national police to arrest the attacker and providing counseling to the victim and her mother.

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  • A California town was promised police reform – then police got involved

    A series of killings by the police sparked a community-led movement urging greater accountability and better training. The campaign bore fruit when the Chico mayor formed a committee to examine use of force policies. While police-reform advocates got appointed to the committee, the panel was dominated by the police and their political allies. Use of force policies never got examined. The city, in fact, ended up giving the police more resources and power. One policing critic concludes from this episode that professionalizing the police without scrutinizing their mission is bound to fail.

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  • How Norway's Prisons Have Weathered a Pandemic

    When Covid-19 threatened to disrupt Norway's correctional system, the country's prisons and jails were quick to pivot their practices to protect those who were incarcerated. Although it helped that the country's correctional system was already known for being "small, responsive, and humane," more protocols were put into place to allow some who were incarcerated to complete their sentence at home, while others were provided with iPads to decrease isolation while visits were restricted. So far, only 60 cases of Covid-19 have been reported throughout the entire prison system.

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  • Oakland's Chinatown finds solutions to hate crimes

    With hate crimes against Asian Americans on the rise, Oakland's Community Ambassadors program serves the city's Chinatown by caring for the neighborhood and making people feel safe. Started as a way for formerly incarcerated people from San Quentin Prison to reconnect with the community, the program builds trust with residents who might be wary about asking the police for help and who may be so afraid of street crime that they don't leave home. Ambassadors walk the streets to help the elderly get groceries, check in with people experiencing homelessness, and hear the concerns of shopkeepers and residents.

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  • How COVID Impacts Education — Prison Literature Club Adapts During COVID Lockdowns

    An educational program called ROOTS (Restoring Our Original True Selves) taught at San Quentin prison in Marin County, California, has transformed into the Literature Club due to the pandemic and has reached other nearby prisons. The Literature Club, started by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee in Oakland, pairs people who are incarcerated with people outside, and they exchange emails to update each other on their reading progress and reflections. "More than a reading group, it’s a supportive space where emotions are openly discussed."

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  • The radical idea to reduce crime by policing less, not more

    Using the tools of medical research can help transform policing from an arbitrary and often-damaging practice ruled by gut instinct into a carefully calibrated approach to reducing crime without causing so much collateral damage. In one of dozens of randomized controlled trials, researchers discovered how much more effective it is to provide counseling and other non-punitive treatments to people charged with lower-level crimes and considered at moderate risk of committing more of the same. Knowing what actually works can make policing more effective while reducing its footprint.

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  • How Jordan's decision to integrate Syrian refugees is paying off

    Based on pressure from international aid organizations, the kingdom of Jordan now offers permits for refugees to work in agriculture, construction, hospitality and other industries. As a result, the large Syrian refugee community has better integrated into society and can help support their families. NGOs help refugees with the administrative paperwork and also facilitate access t0 vocational training and the equipment people need to get started in the jobs. In return, aid organizations have invested over $8 million in infrastructure and education projects.

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  • Freedom Fund: Bringing Justice to Incarcerated LGBTQ Individuals

    The 2020 social justice uprisings drew attention, and donations, to bail funds, which use donations to bail people out of jail while their criminal charges or immigration cases are pending. One fund that benefited from this trend is the LGBTQ Freedom Fund, which focuses its financial aid and related social and educational services on LGBTQ people, given their high risks for incarceration and mistreatment in the criminal justice system. Since its 2017 founding, the fund has helped post bail for people in 15 states and its fund has grown to several million dollars.

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