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

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  • Jury of their peers: Youth court aims to keep students out of criminal justice system

    In Newark Youth Court, the common mistakes and misbehavior of childhood lead to a trial in which all of the participants are high school students, and the outcomes center on second chances and atoning for wrongdoing through community service and decision-making classes. The court, which hears about 100 cases per year, serves as an alternative to pushing allegations of minor fights, vandalism, and truancy into the justice system, where punishment falls most heavily on youth of color and can wreck lives without solving the discipline problems.

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  • How giving entrepreneurs 30 days of free retail space revived a North Avenue storefront and built a collective

    Pop-Up MKE was a pilot program that provided a risk-free way for artists to see if their products would sell in a retail space by giving 19 urban entrepreneurs 30 days of free retail space and mini-grants up to $2,000. Four participants formed The Bronzeville Collective MKE LLC and, after negotiating to stay in the retail space, they doubled their own sales and feature products from other creatives, particularly entrepreneurs of color. They split the rent four ways and collect a 20% vendor fee. Other participants in the pilot moved to permanent storefronts and/or expanded their retail presence.

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  • Borussia Dortmund: The structures behind the club's fight against the far right

    A highly popular German sports club named Borussia Dortmund is taking advantage of its fanbase and following to promote anti-extremist messages, praise diversity, and celebrate inclusion. They do so in a variety of ways, including elevating and supporting independent fan initiatives like ballspiel.vereint!, requiring fan clubs and members to sign statues that reject far-right ideology, hosting educational field trips to former concentration camps for youth, and donating over a million dollars to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

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  • In the Aftermath of Civil War, a Writing Workshop Aims for Peace

    The Sri Lankan Civil War lasted from 1983 to 2009 and bitterly divided the country into two sides between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Years later in 2012, a literary program called Write to Reconcile was created by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Shyam Selvadurai to use creative writing as a tool to open up dialogue between the two sides that still have misconceptions and prejudices against each other. Many participants in the workshop, which ended in 2017, testify to how much the program changed their perspectives.

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  • A.I. Joins the Campaign Against Sex Trafficking

    Online buyers of sex now have a great chance of running into the NYPD's latest initiative to combat trafficking amongst prostitution: a chatbot called Freedom Signal. Originated by an organization called Seattle Against Slavery, this bot collects solicitors' phone numbers and warns them of arrest, as well as using strategically-placed ads and text conversations with real trafficking survivors. The bot is 1,200% more productive than a full-time staff, 10 times more effective than on-the-street outreach, is currently being used in 13 cities, and makes buyers 50-80% less likely to be caught a second time.

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  • By Forgiving Warrants and Fines, Communities Give People a Fresh Start

    Stand With Dignity, a grassroots, community organizing group in New Orleans, has coordinated warrant clinics for those driving with suspended licenses. These clinics have forgiven $2 million worth of traffic fines and reinstated licenses for hundreds of individuals, in the hopes of breaking the cycle of unpaid fines, which is often a driver of unemployment and poverty.

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  • They Found a Way to Use Science in the Fight for Human Rights – and It's Working

    A special cross-sector collaboration has emerged with the On Call Scientists Hotline by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Human rights advocates call the hotline when they're in need of data to back up their findings, and on the receiving end are volunteers with expertise in areas like forensic chemistry, public health, refugee trauma and food/environmental toxins. This immediate response with analyzing research, filling in data, and reviewing reports helps those on the frontline of human rights make stronger arguments in service of their cause.

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  • Energy Equity: Bringing Solar Power to Low-Income Communities

    Dozens of states across the US are adopting programs that offer solar power for low-income communities in order to cut down on their utility costs and provide renewable energy that they previously would not have had access to. Some of these programs also incorporate other social goals into their programs, such as offering job training or developing sites of backup energy should there an outage. Solar development is currently one of the fastest growing industries in the US, and analysts predict that the nation will be able to hold over 2,000 megawatts of solar capacity this year alone.

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  • Perfectly good food was going in the trash, so an Indiana school turned it into take-home meals for hungry kids

    A community organization in Indiana called Cultivate "rescues" food from local caterers, hospitals, casinos, and businesses to then be packaged into take-home meals for students at Woodland Elementary School that come from food-insecure homes. Cultivate is in its second year of existence, has three staff and 400 volunteers, and hopes to expand beyond their pilot program to reach all 21 schools in the district.

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  • School district turns unused cafeteria food into frozen, take-home meals for kids

    Elkhart Community Schools in Indiana has teamed up with a nonprofit called Cultivate to provide meals for students who may go without food over the weekend. In this pilot program, 20 students will receive a backpack full of eight frozen meals made up of "rescued" food from the cafeteria that was made but never served. This initiative helps reduce food waste and ensure that students will not go hungry.

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