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PA should follow California's lead and mail ballots to every registered voter in the state

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

May 15, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

Governor Gavin Newsome in California ordered vote-from-home ballots be sent to all registered voters for the November 2020 election due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While some states allow people to vote by mail for any reason, a ballot is usually obtained only by request, which evidence shows does not lead to the same increased voter turnout as automatically receiving a ballot. Absentee voters do tend to be white and upper-middle class, but some voter-rights organizations such as Committee of Seventy have shifted priorities to getting everyone who is eligible to request a vote-from-home ballot.

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Formerly Incarcerated Women Launch Worker-Owned Food Business During COVID-19

Oscar Perry Abello

May 14, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

ChiFresh Kitchen is a worker-owned cooperative that gives formerly incarcerated people an income, and a second chance, under a corporate structure that attacks high unemployment from the ground up. Formed as a catering business on Chicago's West Side just as the pandemic shutdown began, ChiFresh shifted its intended clientele from nursing homes and schools to food-relief programs distributing free meals. The co-op, initially formed by mostly black women with hopes of scaling up to about 100 worker-owners, echoes the sorts of enterprises formed in response to Jim Crow restrictions of the past.

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Can Vote by Mail Work in Low Income Minority Neighborhoods?

Eric Cortellessa

May 14, 2020 |

Washington Monthly |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Maryland and Ohio recently held elections almost entirely by mail and their different approaches provide insight into the impact on low-income voters, particularly those without permanent addresses. All registered voters in Maryland were sent mail-from-home ballots whereas Ohio voters had to request a ballot. Despite some reports of issues, turnout in Maryland increased 10 percentage points overall and 6 points in Baltimore City, indicating no widespread disenfranchisement in poorer counties. In Ohio, the extra step created a barrier for many voters and turnout decreased from 43.6% in 2016 to just 22.6%.

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Seed by seed, a women's collective helps reforest Brazil's Xingu River Basin

JoAnna Haugen

May 12, 2020 |

Mongabay |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Xingu River Basin

A group of women, known as the Yarang Women’s Movement, from villages in Brazil collect and sell seeds to nurseries, landowners, and other organizations to replant degraded land by the Xingu River. While this effort has helped reforest the area, a significant amount of land is still degraded and climate change threatens the availability of seeds throughout the year. Yet, “they have found creative ways to survive and adapt to climate change. The Yarang Women’s Movement is an example of resilience,” said someone who has worked with the group.

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Amid Covid-19, a Call for M.D.s to Mail the Abortion Pill

Patrick Adams

May 12, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Amid the pandemic, medical researchers and an abortion-rights advocacy group in the U.S. are working to make the abortion pill available via mail. Although there is ambiguity surrounding the rules and regulations of how the pill must be distributed to patients, some doctors have helped efforts by agreeing to register with F.D.A.-approved manufacturers and a handful of states are allowing the pill to be mailed after an in-person ultrasound has been conducted.

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Using a Mobile Phone Survey to Investigate South Sudan's Conflict

Carolyn Thompson

May 11, 2020 |

Global Investigative Journalism Network |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: South Sudan

To tell the stories of victims of forced displacement, property destruction, and occupation in South Sudan, a team of journalists devised a phone survey to gauge the extent of the problem. By surveying hard-to-reach people in refugee camps, one of many barriers to traditional reporting due to the government's repressive tactics, the reporters pinpointed areas where people had been forced off their land, many by government soldiers. The survey was recorded in six languages and was made statistically valid by consulting outside experts and transparently disclosing its limitations.

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Stifled Progress

Hannah O. Brown Becca Burton

May 11, 2020 |

The Marjorie |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Less than two years after Florida voters abolished the state’s lifetime ban on voting by anyone with a felony criminal record – a law that disenfranchised more than 10% of the state's voting-age people – an estimated 50,000 affected people had registered to vote and organizers were working to register the balance of the 1.4 million newly eligible voters. Amendment 4, the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative, won widespread voter approval and initially survived an attempt by legislators to undermine it thanks to a grassroots movement organized by formerly incarcerated people.

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In Contrast To Wyoming, Wind River Tribes Counter COVID-19 With Aggressive Measures

Savannah Maher

May 07, 2020 |

Wyoming Public Media |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Wyoming

Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes share land, and despite previous disagreements, they collaborated to create one of the state's most effective coronavirus testing clinics. 3,000 people from both tribes have been tested, about 30% of all tests done in Wyoming. The two nations have also helped residents, impacted by casino closures and sharp drops in oil and gas revenues, with special hunting seasons, food supply distributions, and providing quarantine housing. More testing has meant higher cases identified, which has led some to create a narrative blaming Native people for the spread of the virus.

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Lifelines: Farming Program Helps N.H. Refugees Move Forward From Past Trauma

Peter Biello Alex McOwen

May 06, 2020 |

New Hampshire Public Radio |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Manchester, New Hampshire

Fresh Start Farms is a program by the New Hampshire Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success that invites refugees in the state to apply their farming skills here in America to earn an income. Many of the refugees in New Hampshire are from Somalia and witnesses to the Civil War there—and they carry that trauma with them. Having this outlet, where you can do what you know how to do alongside people who have similar experiences as you, is therapeutic. The program is now moving forward with opening up a storefront despite the COVID-19 restrictions.

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The Separation

Alysia Santo Elaine McMillion Sheldon

May 06, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Wetumpka, Alabama

Alabama’s Tutwiler Prison for women, once found to be one of the worst prisons for women in the country, has undergone major reforms to change its once-abusive culture. A key part of this has been a focus on pregnant women who are experiencing incarceration, focusing more on rehabilitation than punitive measures by offering peer support groups and substance abuse programming. Tutwiler has also brought in the Alabama Prison Birth Project, offering childbirth education and doula services if desired.

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