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  • Short on Money, Cities Around the World Try Making Their Own

    August 07, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tenino, Washington

    Complementary currencies are local alternatives to national currencies that help local economies when budgets are tight. Tenino prints “wooden dollars” and residents in need get up to $300/month to spend at local businesses from grocery stores to day cares. Cities across the US have reached out for advice on starting their own local currencies, which can take many forms including digital-only. There are 3,500-4,500 local currencies in 50 countries, including Brazil’s Maricá where it helped the under-resourced city build schools and hospitals. These currencies have no value outside of the local economy.

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  • The old-school organizers who got it done on Zoom

    August 06, 2020 |

    High Country News |

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    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, California

    The Industrial Areas Foundation, the country’s oldest community organizing group, adapted to coronavirus restrictions by using technology to win relief for immigrants without legal documentation in California. Organizing a diverse coalition over zoom had many challenges, but they successfully won the expansion of the California Earned Income Tax Credit to include people who file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, rather than a Social Security number. This applies to about one-tenth of California’s workforce who mainly work in hard-hit service and agriculture industries.

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  • How A COVID-19 ‘Rapid Response Team' In Chicago Is Working To Fix Decades Of Neglect In Black, Latinx Communities

    July 31, 2020 |

    WBBM-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Spurred by the high concentration of COVID-19 deaths in Black and Latinx neighborhoods on Chicago's South and West sides, city government teamed with multiple community groups to form a Racial Equity Rapid Response Team to distribute protective gear, food, financial aid, and other help in the hard-hit neighborhoods. The help included more than 1 million masks, 6,000 boxes of food, 250,000 information flyers, laptops and free internet access, and $380,000 to help pay rent and utilities. The deaths and desperate need for help stem directly from decades of racial disparities in food and health care access.

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  • Will Community Gardens Survive Pandemic Budget Cuts?

    July 23, 2020 |

    FoodPrint |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    The ability of community gardens to supply healthy food to those who might not have their basic needs met has grown in importance as coronavirus continues to spread across the United States. For example, the New Roots community gardening initiative in Salt Lake City helps nearly 150 refugee families raise food on plots, and about 86 percent of the gardeners report saving an average of $30 a week by growing their own food. However, the future of this program, and others around the country in New York City, Seattle, and Minneapolis, are uncertain as they face budget cuts from cities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  • The Promising Results of a Citywide Basic-Income Experiment

    July 15, 2020 |

    The New Yorker |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Stockton, California

    Universal basic income, or UBI, was implemented in Stockton, California through a pilot program known as SEED. Each participant was given $500 with no conditions on how to spend it. The data shows that the largest expense was food, especially as the pandemic began. Participants report being able to quit second jobs and third jobs, pay off debts, and cover medical bills. A key feature of the UBI was the absence of the requirement to be employed in order to receive the money. The basic-income pilot has caught the attention of programs across the country who reached out for advice.

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  • The Pandemic Proved That Cash Payments Work

    July 10, 2020 |

    The Atlantic |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    American households were able to avoid income loss when the federal government implemented an extra $600 a week for anyone facing unemployment in addition to $1200 for those who qualified, regardless of their employment status. Despite an almost total economic shutdown, the universal payments have kept poverty rates from increasing. The money has provided a security net for households while also preventing a collapse by generating economic activity.

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  • What We Can Learn from Costa Rica's Embrace of Migrants

    July 01, 2020 |

    Yes! Magazine |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Costa Rica

    Despite its own troubled economy, Costa Rica has embraced a large influx of Nicaraguan refugees out of a recognition that immigration is an economic boon. The absorption of more than 28,000 migrants in one year, in a country of only 5 million people, has been aided by Costa Rica's existing population of Nicaraguans who fled earlier rounds of political and economic upheaval in their country. Those earlier migrants formed a network of aid organizations providing new arrivals with basic necessities, educational opportunity, connection to social services, and mental health support groups.

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  • Community groups step in to provide immigrants COVID testing, relief

    June 09, 2020 |

    Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

    To meet the financial needs of undocumented immigrants caught in the gap left by the federal CARES Act pandemic relief program, the advocacy group Aliento has distributed financial aid, educated workers about unemployment benefits, and conducted outreach to young people and families. Aid checks of $500 are aimed at helping cover rent, utilities, and health care costs for families in which layoffs, particularly in the construction and hospitality industries, have caused hardships.

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  • How Germany Saved Its Workforce From Unemployment While Spending Less Per Person Than the U.S.

    June 03, 2020 |

    ProPublica |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Germany

    Germany's creative workshare approach to stemming unemployment has prevented mass layoffs, unlike rising numbers in the United States. The German government provides payroll subsidies which allow an employer to keep on its staff by cutting back hours for everyone. Unemployment funds that would usually go to those who are laid off are instead directed to employers' payrolls, preventing the inconvenience and uncertainty of layoffs and allowing workers to seamlessly return to work full time when the health crisis is under control.

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  • USDA Acts Fast To Help Schools Offer Families Take-Out, Grocery Money

    June 02, 2020 |

    Boise State Public Radio (KBSX) |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has effectively responded to the Covid-19 crisis by quickly helping existing programs provide food aid to families. School lunch programs rapidly moved from providing hot food to children who qualify to a to-go style menu for all children under 18 and offers grocery money to families who can’t pick up food. The USDA also expanded SNAP with increased monthly allowances and options for online shopping. There have been administrative difficulties coordinating aid so quickly that has caused delays to some families getting the food they need.

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