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

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  • Solutions to restore inmates' mental health and get them to trial

    In Texas, legislators and advocates are working to address mental health concerns for individuals entering or in the criminal justice system. For those already in jail, telepsychiatry is being offered to help rehabilitate inmates. For those just entering the system, a mental health court in Travis County has been developed to connect people with needed mental health services so that they can stand trial and even have their cases dismissed.

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  • Formerly Incarcerated Women Launch Worker-Owned Food Business During COVID-19

    ChiFresh Kitchen is a worker-owned cooperative that gives formerly incarcerated people an income, and a second chance, under a corporate structure that attacks high unemployment from the ground up. Formed as a catering business on Chicago's West Side just as the pandemic shutdown began, ChiFresh shifted its intended clientele from nursing homes and schools to food-relief programs distributing free meals. The co-op, initially formed by mostly black women with hopes of scaling up to about 100 worker-owners, echoes the sorts of enterprises formed in response to Jim Crow restrictions of the past.

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  • Stifled Progress

    Less than two years after Florida voters abolished the state’s lifetime ban on voting by anyone with a felony criminal record – a law that disenfranchised more than 10% of the state's voting-age people – an estimated 50,000 affected people had registered to vote and organizers were working to register the balance of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters. Amendment 4, the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, won widespread voter approval and initially survived an attempt by legislators to undermine it thanks to a grassroots movement organized by formerly incarcerated people.

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  • In Contrast To Wyoming, Wind River Tribes Counter COVID-19 With Aggressive Measures

    Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes share land, and despite previous disagreements, they collaborated to create one of the state's most effective coronavirus testing clinics. 3,000 people from both tribes have been tested, about 30% of all tests done in Wyoming. The two nations have also helped residents, impacted by casino closures and sharp drops in oil and gas revenues, with special hunting seasons, food supply distributions, and providing quarantine housing. More testing has meant higher cases identified, which has led some to create a narrative blaming Native people for the spread of the virus.

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  • The Separation

    Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison for women, once found to be one of the worst prisons for women in the country, has undergone major reforms to change its once-abusive culture. A key part of this has been a focus on pregnant women who are experiencing incarceration, focusing more on rehabilitation than punitive measures by offering peer support groups and substance abuse programming. Tutwiler has also brought in the Alabama Prison Birth Project, offering childbirth education and doula services if desired.

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  • Emptier Jails Could Stay That Way

    Cleveland’s city jail has released close to 900 inmates in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its overcrowded facilities. And the response isn’t unique – New York, LA, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, and Houston are just a few of the other cities that have taken similar measures. While an immediate response to the pandemic, advocates say the release of low-level offenders could bode well for larger prison reforms that have been slowly taking hold.

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  • An Army of Equality Voters

    The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) identified 57 million voters who identify as LGBTQ or allies and used digital and print ads, direct mail, and text and phone outreaches to turnout these “equality voters” in the 2018 mid-term elections. The campaign registered 30,000 new voters and trained 1,600 local volunteers who logged more than 20,000 hours for HRC-endorsed candidates. The campaign effectively increased turnout in the group from 36% in 2016 to 56% in 2018. While there are many more LGBTQ and ally voters not included, the group worked with Catalist to identify voters who are motivated by LGBTQ equality.

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  • Community Development Lenders Turning to Fintech for a Boost During Crisis

    CNote has provided a source of funding for federally certified Community Development Financial Institutions by pooling cash from foundations, bigger banks, philanthropists, and donor-advised funds to counter the lack of available cash flow experienced by CDFIs, which are lenders but not banks. Federal COVID-19 funding set aside $30 billion specifically for CDFIs that overwhelmingly lend to women- and minority-owned businesses, which face persistent racial and gender biases and are unable to successfully tap into lending and grants such as the Paycheck Protection Program through traditional lenders.

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  • Designing Accessible Communities

    Design students are being taught about accessibility and the challenges faced by those who live with disabilities at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. While new construction must comply with basic accessibility standards, the course is taught in an effort to make accessibility a bigger factor when architects and designers build new developments.

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  • Dumplings Against Hate Audio icon

    The NYC-based campaign, Dumplings Against Hate, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Asian Americans for Equality’s Emergency Small Business Relief Fund by bringing together a virtual community of support. As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up in early 2020, Chinatown restaurants and businesses saw a decrease in revenue because of xenophobia and racism, inspiring the group’s creation. Since then, it’s acted as a model for similar groups across the country, and is creating a toolkit for cities to create their own campaigns.

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