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Minneapolis Offers People Experiencing Homelessness a Simple Gift: A Safe Place for Their Stuff

Cinnamon Janzer

March 31, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A pilot program in Minneapolis is providing a safe place for unhoused residents to store their belongings for free and without any time limits. People experiencing homelessness can often be easily identified as such when lugging around baggage, an indicator that can affect their ability to find employment or negatively impact the quality of healthcare they receive. Although the pilot project was cut short by the shelter-in-place order, the city is looking to continue and expand the program due to the positive response from those experiencing homelessness.

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State of NH, local school districts, work to keep kids fed

Dave Solomon

March 18, 2020 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

School districts across New Hampshire went into action to feed their students quickly after in-person classes had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Some districts incorporated community volunteers in order to increase food delivery routes and run bus routes, others were able to extend food pick-up to include the weekend, and others were able to offer fresh produce on top of bagged lunches, all of which helps not just the near-30% of students in the state who qualify for free lunch, but whoever wants or needs accessible food resources.

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Advocacy for LGBTQIA Children, Youth Grows in Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Mary Margaret Stewart

March 16, 2020 |

Grady Newsource |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

The Episcopal Church advised Dioceses to be more inclusive of LGBTQIA and differently abled children and youth, particularly in light of the high numbers of LGBTQIA youth suicides. Rather than wait the years it could take for specific how-to guidance, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta trained 30 volunteers to lead “Safeguarding” sessions where church members hear first hand accounts of the needs and concerns of LGBTQIA and differently abled youth and can form relationships with them and their families. The sessions are booked two months out and all clergy in the Diocese are being required to attend in person.

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Less is more: Lithuanian company's experiment with shorter working hours

Domantė Platūkytė

March 12, 2020 |

Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Lithuania, Vilnius

A company in Lithuania cut back the work day from eight to six hours and noted an increase in morale without any negative impact on productivity. Employees reported a better work-life balance, reducing their stress and exhaustion and allowing them more time for activities that boost personal wellbeing.

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When a Haircut Is More Than Just a Haircut

Aaron Randle

March 11, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Barbershops are a key part of Black Americans' culture, but the culture within those barbershops tend to be homophobic and alienating to LGTBQ individuals. To address this, a number of barbershops are catering specifically to the LGBTQ community by offering a safe and open space to get a haircut. They are able to cultivate this community through social media by using strategic tags, influencers, platforms, and outreach. A client describes the relief of having an accepting barbershop: "You just don't know how comforting it is walking into a place where you know you’re safe.”

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In Baltimore, parents owe hundreds of millions in child support. Here's how other states have made changes for the better.

Yvonne Wenger

March 09, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Maryland

Maryland's punitive child-support policies, which have piled $233 million in largely uncollectable debt on the state's poorest residents and destabilized families and neighborhoods, could be improved by adopting reforms other states have used to increase payment compliance. In Colorado, for example, more support payments have meant healthier families and communities, after the state stopped offsetting welfare payments by whatever child support had been paid. Other states have stopped revoking driver's licenses and work permits as a non-payment penalty, in order to make steady employment more attainable.

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'Visible women': Feminist mappers bridge data gap in urban design

Anastasia Moloney

March 07, 2020 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Mexico City

The underrepresentation of women in technology and computer science has led to the creation of Geochicas, a group of women who recruit and train female, open source mappers across the world. Open source mapping is a male-dominated pursuit but one that informs urban design and public policy. When mapping a city, women tend to add services that are overlooked by men, such as childcare services, hospitals, and women's health clinics. Diversifying the volunteers who do this work to include more women leads to mapping that is more inclusive and minimizes crowdsourced-data bias against women.

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How women in Iowa are leading farmland conservation efforts

Mark Bittman Melanie Saltzman

March 07, 2020 |

PBS NewsHour |

Broadcast TV Programs |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Iowa

A group of women called The Women, Food and Agriculture Network was founded in 1998 in Iowa to educate female landowners about land conservation and implementing sustainable practices on their farms. The group has held more than 250 meetings since 2009, reaching more than 3,800 women landowners—and their surveys find that after a one-day session, 50-70% of the women go on to take an action to improve conservation on their property. Longterm, this group empowers women to play a bigger role in the future of agriculture in the state.

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What Would a World Without Prisons Look Like?

Patricia Leigh Brown

March 06, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Deanna Van Buren and her nonprofit firm Designing Justice/Designing Spaces use architecture to advance social justice and criminal-justice-reform ideas, designing workplaces, meeting places, and homes nationwide founded on the notion of "what a world without prisons could look like." The firm's projects, often planned with input from the people directly affected, have included privacy-enhancing temporary living units for people recently released from prison, a "peacemaking" space in Syracuse, N.Y., and two of the first restorative-justice meeting places for crime victims and those who harmed them.

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Madhya Pradesh's ‘fluoride warriors' unleash citizen science to empower community

Sahana Ghosh

March 02, 2020 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

As part of a social work graduate program through Alirajpur Post Graduate College, a group of students are using “citizen science” to share their research that water with elevated levels of fluoride can be dangerous to drink. This has especially been an opportunity for female students to develop public speaking skills while connecting with women whose role it is to manage water for their households and encourage them to use wells with the appropriate fluoride levels, based on their data and research.

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