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Putting Citizenship Back in Congress

David Bornstein

July 04, 2017 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Stop underestimating yourself. That’s the call of Sam Daley-Harris to the many everyday Americans who feel that they cannot effect change in their country. He’s the founder of Results, a grassroots network that has spent decades teaching people how to build relationships with their congressional representatives and advocate for legislation.

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TADA: bringing ambition and opportunity to underprivileged children in Brussels

Elodie Blogie

June 24, 2017 |

Le Soir |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Belgium, Brussels

Based off the Dutch initiative IMC Weekendschool, TADA is a program in Brussels, Belgium that helps younger kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods learn about different career paths. The weekend workshops expose children to a diverse set of professions and passions. The program is so popular that they haven't been able to meet demand. They hope to work with about 1000 young people by 2020.

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Creating a Better Community Through Text Messages

Krutika Pathi

June 14, 2017 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

For urban residents, participation in city-planning often means navigating complex administrative bureaucracy and struggling through a lack of transparency, but in New York City, efforts are being made to engage citizens in the renewal (and preservation) of Brownsville, Brooklyn. The city’s Housing Department has worked with the online platform coUrbanize to facilitate community-sourced ideas for the future via text. These residents’ responses are then inputted into a publicly-accessible map, which the city has pledged to incorporate into its planning.

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Pilot program to help young women run for political office

Alison Graham

June 07, 2017 |

Indiana Daily Student |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Bloomington, Indiana

After calling roll at an all-male city council meeting in Bloomington, Indiana, city clerk Regina Moore recruited a group of women to run for office with the Democratic Women's Caucus in 1999. In 2017, she worked with a national organization called Rise to Run to start the recruitment pipeline younger by targeting high school and college-aged women to be more politically engaged.

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311: From a Hotline to a Platform for Citizen Engagement

Tod Newcombe

June 01, 2017 |

Government Technology |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

Boston's 311 mobile application, launch in 2009, exemplifies the new customer service-oriented era of the citizen service, which allows users to request services, take photos of potholes, and offer data to city planners. Neighboring Somerville, Massachusetts has a successful 311 app of its own, where an analytics team crunches the wealth of data generated by the app service. But Kansas City, Missouri's 311 services are even more developed, and citizens can access the city via the app, clal-in, Twitter, and social media.

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Chicago Youth Help Decide Where Public Funds Go

Martín Xavi Macías

May 30, 2017 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago is asking its citizens, including youth, to help determine how to spend public money. Participatory budgeting involves communities identifying their greatest needs and guiding spending towards solutions.

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Directly Impacted Youth Are Leading Fights Against Racism and the Criminal Punishment System

Jean Trounstine

May 30, 2017 |

Truthout |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Across the country, young people are taking an active stand in criminal justice reform. Organizations like Assata’s Daughters and Teens Leading the Way have invested in young voices to shift make changes in things like the prison industrial complex and juvenile record expungement. In doing so, they have centered civic participation, racial justice, and activism as core educational tools to empower youth participants.

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Lessons from India in building urban resilience

Patralekha Chatterjee

May 29, 2017 |

Citiscope |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Surat, Gujarat

TARU, an Indian thinktank, has found that Indians cities have combined decentralized action and "multi-stakeholder engagement" in public policy to respond to problems of scarcity in water and power as well as climate change-related natural disasters. Municipalities are putting responsibility for improving local lives at the grassroots level; integrating disruptive technologies from the private sector; and fostering collaboration between government and citizens.

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How Cities Fought the White House, and Won, in the 1980s

Brentin Mock

May 24, 2017 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

In 1986, the city of Baltimore battled the Reagan administration over its local anti-apartheid ordinances—and won. How they prevailed may have important lessons for cities trying to resist Trump today; from his policies regarding immigration to climate change.

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How a Small Town Is Standing Up to Fracking

Justin Nobel

May 22, 2017 |

Rolling Stone |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Grant Township, Pennsylvania

While the U.S. economy enjoys the cheap fuel prices afforded by fracking, the consequences on the environment and communities like Grant Township in Pennsylvania reveal the ugly underbelly of the oil and gas industry and the broken regulatory infrastructure of state and federal government. But Grant wasn't willing to roll over and just let their woodlands and water sources be polluted, so they worked together and took a creative defense against the installation of a toxic injection well in their town: by granting the trees, animals, and streams rights to protection and battling it out in court.

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