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

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  • Healthy communities: What is 'social prescribing'?

    Social prescribing, where medical practitioners encourage patients to look beyond medicine to remedy their issues, can lessen the demand for medical services and medications. In the UK, Denmark, and Canada, doctors are piloting programs in which healthcare providers can recommend community and social activities to patients. In Canada, for example, the Alliance for Healthier Communities is integrating activities like knitting at its community centers. In Denmark, doctors can present cultural activities to patients suffering from moderate depression.

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  • When public lands become tribal lands again

    After decades of failed legislation, over 17,000 acres of public land was finally restored to the Umpqua Tribe with the passage of the Western Oregon Tribal Fairness Act. The land was a constant source of tension between the tribe, the government, and environmental conservation groups, “under the pretext that Native peoples didn’t know how to manage them.” But in December 2018, with the passage of the Act and the return of 3% of the land that was originally seized, a sense of justice was felt.

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  • Tribal communities in Michigan use traditional knowledge to tackle modern public health crisis

    In Michigan, infant mortality for Native American babies is almost triple the rate of infant mortality for white babies. To combat this troubling reality, tribal communities are working to reintegrate traditional knowledge into parenting practices, starting with culturally aware breastfeeding classes. The program is helping to ensure that indigenous communities and families have the resources they need to keep their babies safe and healthy.

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  • Forget Game of Thrones: The master of the cliffhanger is back

    Building community around storytelling preserves cultural heritage. Across Lebanon, individuals and institutions like the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and the Theatre Monnot in Beirut are working to preserve oral culture as a medium for storytelling. Initiatives, including the long-running International Storytelling Festival and Beirut’s Hakaya, bring together storytellers, known as hakawati and hakawatiye.

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  • For Remote Communities In Scotland's Outer Hebrides, Mobile Libraries Are A Lifeline

    Mobile libraries provide a crucial point of engagement for remote communities. In Scotland, the country’s mobile library service has provided residents of its Western Isles with access to books, Gaelic culture, and a chance to socialize within a very rural setting since the 1950s. The service becomes even more crucial as the population on the islands dwindles, and funding for libraries and other community centers grows scarcer.

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  • The Cultural Revolution at the National Library of Israel

    Libraries can serve as spaces for practicing cultural inclusion. The National Library of Israel is working to broaden its target audience and increase the visibility of Muslim culture in Israel. In addition to curating its Islam and Middle East Collection, the Library has expanded educational programs and public outreach related to Islam and Muslim culture. This proactive cultural dialogue also includes a residency program for Arab and Jewish writers.

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  • Bok choy and bread fruit: How traditional crops fit a food secure future

    Organizations like Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu are reintroducing small-scale farmers to breadfruit — a traditional Hawaiian starchy fruit that fell out of style following the rise of plantation farming and colonialism. Growers are taught how to cultivate and sell the fruit, and their network of now 200 farmers are helping to keep part of their culture alive. Similarly, in California a Food Roots program connects farmers growing traditional Asian produce like bok choy to local businesses and markets to provide accessibility to culturally relevant fresh produce.

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  • Punjabi weddings turn slim

    With the support of the Samaj committee, a local NGO, more and more Punjabi communities are downsizing their weddings. The events are traditionally expensive affairs, signifying pride and status, but for many, they are an expense that has led to debt, and even suicide. The committee reaches out to villages and families, suggesting they skip the dowry, and once one family does it, others follow suit.

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  • These Indigenous Women Are Reclaiming Stolen Land in the Bay Area

    The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an intertribal women-led organization that is working to reclaim ownership of land in the Bay Area that Ohlone people have lived on for centuries. They regained access to the land through a partnership with another local grassroots organization called Planting Justice, who will eventually hand over the land to Sogorea Te for free once it is fully paid off. Sogorea Te believes that the root of a lot of Indigenous problems is the dispossession of their land, so they hope to use this land to rebuild resiliency and a way of life for and with their people.

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  • Graffiti punished by reading - 'It worked!' says prosecutor

    After graffitiing a historic landmark with swastikas and racist phrases, a juvenile prosecutor chose to educate rather than punish the perpetrators. Each teen was given a list of 35 books that covered topics like race, religion, and culture, and they had to pick 12 and do monthly assignments for a year. The books included titles like, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, and Night, by Elie Wiesel. After the year, the learning opportunity given to the teens showed demonstrable success.

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