Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody

Laine Kaplan-Levenson

January 07, 2021 |

NPR |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

The story of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act starts with a young legal aide to Sen. Joe Biden who did not identify as a feminist and knew little about the issues, but whose methodical building of a coalition and a set of arguments led to the historic passage of the law in 1994. VAWA was the first U.S. federal law to address comprehensively the ancient problem of gender-based violence. A key provision, authorizing federal civil lawsuits by victims, helped many women for six years until the Supreme Court struck it down. The law's other effects, still ongoing, include funding victim-aid groups.

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‘Slow Streets' Disrupted City Planning. What Comes Next?

Laura Bliss

January 06, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Durham, North Carolina

When city planners rushed early in the pandemic to close streets to automobile traffic in order to give residents a safe space to roam outdoors, they ended up learning lessons entirely apart from their original goals rooted in public health and traffic safety. In Durham, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Oakland, community groups pushed back at the cities' initial failures to consider the opinions of communities of color whose neighborhoods were affected by the changes. The pushback led to collaborations and modified plans that redefined the problems at issue and the ways to address them.

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Five Days Without Cops: Could Brooklyn Policing Experiment be a ‘Model for the Future'?

Yoav Gonen Eileen Grench

January 03, 2021 |

The City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

For 50 hours over five days, police and community members collaborated on the Brownsville Safety Alliance pilot project, which kept police officers away from a longtime crime hotspot so that community members could provide for police-free public safety. During the experiment, no one in the neighborhood called 911 to report a serious crime. Criminologists caution that the test does not prove that police can step away permanently. But residents say that after longstanding friction over policing, they and the police struck a new tone of cooperation in community-led crime prevention that they hope can continue.

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A Year of Intersex Victories

Mari Wrobi

December 31, 2020 |

Autostraddle |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

To promote the need to end intersex surgery, an organization launched a multi-pronged campaign that raised awareness about the potentially damaging impacts of the practice. The group used social media, created a petition, and held protests outside of a local hospital – all of which resulted in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago issuing an apology and declaring that "they will no longer be performing intersex surgeries unless absolutely medically necessary moving forward." Throughout the world, similar awareness efforts have also garnered positive outcomes.

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Fragile cities are being inundated with people fleeing the impacts of climate change. How can they cope?

Ambika Chawla

December 30, 2020 |

Ensia |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Somalia

Durable Solutions Initiative (DSI) aims to create long-term solutions to help internally displaced people in under-resourced urban areas, many of whom fled climate-related disasters. DSI relies on ideas from the displaced communities about how to move towards self-reliance. In Somalia, the participatory and locally-created approach led to Midnimo I, a donor-funded initiative that created short-term jobs, built or upgraded community-prioritized infrastructure projects like schools and hospitals, and improved relations between authorities and displaced communities, benefiting nearly 350,000 people directly.

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How Youth Turned the Tide in the 2020 Election

Levi Pulkkinen

December 30, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

A team of young people helped Kirsten Harris-Talley win a seat in the Washington state legislature. The 63 young people, ages 12 to 22, did more than the traditional behind the scenes work, like phone banking and door knocking. Rather, the young campaign workers participated in strategy meetings, ran the campaign’s Instagram account, and shaped the campaign’s climate justice and youth rights platforms. Ten of the young people were given paid fellowships and carried out responsibilities in all aspects of the campaign, such as voter engagement and fundraising.

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How US cities fixed violations to Asian Americans' voting rights in 2020

Amy Yee

December 22, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Malden, Massachusetts

Violations of the Voting Rights Act during primary and local elections led the city of Malden, where 23% of its 60,000 residents are of Asian descent, to provide voting materials and information - including mail-in ballots, voting instructions, official election websites, and precinct signs - in English and Chinese. The city also hired a trilingual city employee fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin and collaborated with community advocacy groups on voter outreach and recruiting more bilingual poll workers. Advocates see Malden as a role model for other jurisdictions to remedy voter access issues.

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5 Years Later, Santa Barbarans Reflect on Goals, Outcomes of Switch to District Elections

Joshua Molina

December 16, 2020 |

Noozhawk |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Santa Barbara, California

In 2014, activists enlisted the help of attorneys and filed a lawsuit against the city of Santa Barbara for violating the California Voting Rights Act by diluting Latino votes. To avoid a costly legal battle, the city agreed to switch to district-based elections where local officials are selected by the actual neighborhoods they will represent rather than the city at-large. These elections ensure neighborhoods will be represented by officials that have intimate knowledge of the area’s needs and have led to dramatic increases in the diversity of elected officials in terms of ethnicity, age and gender.

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‘The Poetry Project': How young refugees in Germany are bridging the cultural gap with their voices

Anna Fleck

December 12, 2020 |

The Local |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Germany, Berlin

The Poetry Project provides a platform for young refugees to create poetry, share their stories, and learn about German culture. The initiative started with weekly meetings for 7 young refugees to workshop poetry about the refugee experience, including leaving loved ones, why they left, and how they feel in their new home country. Their live performances have won prizes and their audiences respond emotionally. The group’s success allowed it to expand to more participants and reach a wider audience. The experience helped some participants integrate more smoothly into German society, where they have thrived.

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There is no Gen Z ‘enthusiasm' gap

Iliana Hagenah

December 10, 2020 |

Scalawag |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Mississippi

Civic engagement groups creatively encouraged young Black voters to vote. Mississippi Votes ran fellowships where local representatives educated young people on the political landscape of their state and used "geofencing," to share sample ballot links and precinct information on social media when users’ smartphones were within specific geographic locations. Engage Miami reached young people with "Get Out And Vote" TikTok videos, and partnering with social media influencers. In addition to registering thousands of new voters, both groups lent resources to youth voices in Black Lives Matters protests.

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