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

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  • Meet the Young Activists Fighting Chicago's Gun Violence, With Lobbying and Group Hugs

    GoodKids MadCity, an anti-gun violence group that is led by black and brown youth in Chicago is working to create a safer community. Members, most of whom have been directly impacted by gun violence, work together to address the systemic drivers of gun violence in their city, including poverty, trauma, and lack of safe spaces. They do so by creating a community for themselves and by engaging politically – pushing local lawmakers to address the systemic drivers they’ve identified.

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  • Young voting advocates take up the fight against suppression

    Young advocates for voting rights are fighting back against laws that make it difficult for young people and other marginalized groups to register to vote. Through public campaigns, lawsuits, and voter registration drives, these youth advocates are taking action as their peers come of age to vote.

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  • By the people: How Ohio citizens better their communities through direct action

    Grassroots movements made up of ordinary citizens can go a long way in creating change. This article details several initiatives across Ohio that were led by citizens using a combination of lobbying, education, persistence, knowledge of government practices, and organization. Some things that were achieved using these methods are wage reimbursements and increased bus access.

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  • Can Democrats and Republicans Understand Each Other? It Starts With Getting Off Twitter

    Living Room Conversations facilitates civil discourse among people with different political views. The nonprofit encourages in-person meetings of groups of four to seven people with different backgrounds and views, ideally in a comfortable setting like a living room, coffee shop, or park, and provides over 100 guides on their open-source website to help participants engage in thoughtful dialogue. Rather than attempting to problem solve actual issues, the goal of the conversations is to humanize one another. Participants find the skills they learn useful in their personal relationships as well.

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  • How teen Greta Thunberg shifted world's gaze to climate change

    All over the world, more than 2 million children and teens are participating in classroom walkouts in an effort to bring attention to the severity of climate change. Called, Fridays for the Future, leaders of the movement are gaining traction, and have developed a declaration that emphasizes their demand that world leaders do something to stop the rising global temperature. This movement was sparked by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, who, at 16-years old, has started this movement, spoken to global leaders, and continues to do what’s needed to demand action in the face of climate change.

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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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  • The community hub of the future isn't a library or a shopping center. It's city hall

    In Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city, a new city hall building is embodying transparency and community engagement. The building boasts a public cafe, seating nooks, studios, and a public art museum among the more traditional municipal offices of typical city halls. There are no barriers in this city hall, and the public has full access to everything except the offices and the chamber.

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  • Court Observers Are Shining a Light on the Immigration Court System

    One way that any ordinary citizen can lend a hand to the plight of those caught in the American immigration system is by being a court observer: someone who sits in immigration court and takes notes by hand. Several organizations are working to develop a standardized way of evaluating judges' treatment of migrants to put it in a central database so that the data can be used to evaluate the human impact by the system as a whole. People who participate testify to the job alleviating despair over the situation as they can mitigate any unfair practices going unnoticed.

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  • Britain's first climate assembly: can it help fix democracy too?

    In the London borough of Camden, randomly selected locals, including students, builders, civil servants, restauranteurs, and others, came together to discuss what to do about climate change. This climate assembly allows jurors to listen to briefings, pose questions, analyze data, debate, and discuss action items. The council took inspiration from a citizen assembly around abortion in Ireland in 2016 that led to the national referendum in 2018.

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  • Preventing Gun Violence with Nicole Hockley of Sandy Hook Promise

    The non-profit, Sandy Hook Promise, equips schools and youth with knowledge and tools to prevent gun violence. Founded after the Newtown shooting, the organization couldn’t make headway through policy and legislature, so they turned to people. The founders spent time analyzing how social change happens and took a strategic, generational approach to shifting the culture of gun violence. With much success, they now face the challenge of scaling to a national level.

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