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  • Churches are an unlikely ally in solving the rural internet access puzzle

    With the help of a program that enables churches to assess the needs of their community and create solutions, one reverend in North Carolina was able to provide a lifeline: internet access. Rural communities like his in North Carolina struggle with internet access and are unable to schedule vital telehealth visits, complete school work or work from home. The funds paid for internet as well as several old computers and 14 hotspots.

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  • This Nonprofit Helps Small Business Aid Go Where it Usually Doesn't

    An American nonprofit called the Community Reinvestment Fund expands access to small business loans by partnering with almost two dozen groups across the country to set up and scale up their community development lending. Founded in 1988, the group essentially takes on the risk of a SBA license so that others could benefit from their license. They created an online platform called Spark that redesigned the user interface of the existing loan processor platform to better facilitate the exchange of money. They have now supported loans for 1,000 communities across 49 states.

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  • Need a Quran teacher? There's an AI for that

    An AI app is potentially eliminating the need for Quran teachers by offering precise feedback to those who are learning to recite or memorize the holy book of Islam. Tarteel uses machine learning technology to enable speech recognition, allowing it to test users' knowledge of the Quran and to receive feedback on recitation without a teacher. The tool can identify mistakes and has a memorization mode, only revealing words as they are recited. Building such an accurate tool "requires a vast data set to train a deep neural network" so users who opt in are crowdsourcing the data set needed to power Tarteel.

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  • After April's election difficulties, would a vote-at-home system make more sense for Wisconsin?

    States that use universal voting by mail can be models for all states to protect voters amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Voting by mail can also increase voter turnout. After sending 2020 primary ballots to all registered voters, two Wisconsin districts had voter turnout about twice that of the statewide turnout. States also report that, after high startup costs, voting by mail is cheaper over the long term. Colorado successfully uses intelligent bar codes to track ballots and avoid fraud. Setting up the system before the November 2020 election would be difficult, as is reaching those without a permanent address.

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  • Just a click away: Apps bring doctors to your home

    Since 2015, telemedicine has been helping connect doctors with people in rural parts of Kenya, which has proven to be crucial during the coronavirus pandemic. Although not all insurance companies have made the process easy and some residents don't trust the use of technology to keep their data safe, the practice has seen a significant increase in people with chronic diseases utilizing the system as a means of limiting their exposure to situations where they could be exposed to the virus.

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  • Sweden's Coronavirus Strategy Should Not Be the World's

    Others can learn from the so-called Swedish model for managing the pandemic, while at the same time should be wary of adopting its undeclared mission to achieve herd immunity. From the start of the crisis, Sweden has placed the responsibility for risk reduction on individuals and businesses rather than through government mandates. The gamble appears to have paid off, as people for the most part behaved responsibly and cautiously, suggesting a less damaging approach for the long haul. But whatever progress the country has made toward widespread immunity carries a big health cost.

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  • #PourEux : cuisiner un « bon petit plat » pour les SDF de sa ville

    Né au début du confinement à Lyon, Lille et Paris, le mouvement #PourEux s’est étendu petit à petit dans plusieurs villes de France et d’ailleurs. Le principe est simple et sans engagement : des bénévoles cuisinent une part de plus, des livreurs viennent chercher le panier repas et l’offrent à un sans-abri ou une personne précaire.

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  • New York City Pilots Mobile Methadone Program to Help Treat Addiction Audio icon

    New York City is piloting a methadone distribution system for residents struggling with opioid addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially intended to avoid unnecessary visits to medical centers, the model is now championed by policy experts as a permanent solution for reaching more patients. “It’s amazing, unprecedented, ground-breaking, and will be something that we’ll continue to fight to make sure that it stays in place after COVID has passed,” one proponent said.

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  • How Detroit Gets People Around During a Pandemic

    The city of Detroit’s government spearheaded new partnerships at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to provide transit options for people living in city shelters and residents who don’t have cars to access COVID-19 testing. These partnerships among government departments allowed for transporting those experiencing homelessness to designated emergency shelters and hospitals to prevent the spread of the virus among shelter residents. Government officials anticipated as many as 450 shelter residents would contract the virus, but so far, only 154 people have tested positive with no deaths reported.

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  • As Europe comes out of lockdown, what lessons can be learned from Sweden?

    Sweden’s refusal to enact strict lockdown rules turned out to be far from an unqualified success, but in both its failures and modest benefits it offers lessons on managing through a pandemic while minimizing economic harm. The country’s responses were more nuanced and detailed than a simple hands-off approach. Its economy has not been spared a severe downturn, nor is its death toll anything to brag about. But, in numerous ways, Sweden’s softer approach lives up to its billing as more sustainable than many other countries’.

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