Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 203 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Bad Death Notifications are Affecting Families; Can They be Fixed?

Jazzlyn Johnson

August 07, 2020 |

The Community Voice |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Kansas City, Missouri

The nationwide non-profit Trauma Intervention Programs Inc. uses volunteers trained in "compassionate notifications" – informing families of loved ones' deaths, a task that often is bungled by untrained, rushed first responders and hospital workers. In more than 250 communities, TIP volunteers can be dispatched simultaneously with fire and police teams. They provide counseling and assist families long after first responders have left. Advocates say their role can mend police-community relations in places like Kansas City, which lacks a formal protocol and resources for handling notifications.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Searching with the Mothers of Mexico's Disappeared

Ana Karina Zatarain

August 05, 2020 |

The New Yorker |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Culiacan, Sinaloa

Las Rastreadoras de El Fuerte is a group of about 200 members, mostly mothers whose children are among the more than 73,000 people who have disappeared and presumably were murdered in Mexico's long drug war. Las Rastreadoras search the countryside for the unmarked graves of the missing, hoping to find their own children, often finding others'. In six years, they have found 198 bodies, 120 of whom were identified. What began spontaneously as one woman's search, then a group effort, has become a way to heal from the pain of what a psychologist calls "ambiguous loss" as well as an act of political activism.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How A COVID-19 ‘Rapid Response Team' In Chicago Is Working To Fix Decades Of Neglect In Black, Latinx Communities

Dorothy Tucker Samah Assad Carol Thompson

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.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Defund Movement Aims to Change the Policing and Prosecution of Domestic Violence

Jessica Pishko

July 28, 2020 |

The Appeal |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Criminalizing domestic violence was considered a feminist-inspired advance for crime victims, but making arrests and prosecution the main responses to the problem has backfired in many ways. With funding and attention focused on punishment, other services for victims have been neglected. And expecting victims will aid in a prosecution, even jailing them for refusing, can ignore the rational choices many victims make for non-cooperation, based on their desire for safety, financial and housing security, to avoid maltreatment by police, and other reasons that point toward more promising responses.

Read More
Go to Original Story
This City Stopped Sending Police to Every 911 Call

Christie Thompson

July 24, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Olympia, Washington

Since April 2019, Olympia’s Crisis Response Unit has sent civilian first-responders instead of police officers to hundreds of “quality of life” calls such as a mental health crisis or problems related to addiction or homelessness. Providing services while doing outreach on the streets, following up on previous calls, or dispatched by 911 operators or police, these responders connect people with the services they need to be safe and healthy, freeing police to handle more serious calls and avoiding police interactions that can lead to violence or needless jail stays.

Read More
Go to Original Story
They Agreed to Meet Their Mother's Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.

Eli Hager

July 21, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville’s prosecutor began a unique experiment in using restorative justice dialogue in murder cases, seeking to help survivors learn the full truth of a crime in ways a traditional trial would not provide. In return for an honest dialogue with the people they harmed, defendants could win more lenient sentences. But in one case the tactic failed in a way that added to the survivors’ pain and ended the program altogether. Restorative dialogue has been shown to help victims, mainly when used after a conviction or for less serious crimes.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Comprehensive Services Key In Deterring Violence, Crime and Negative Interactions With Police

Alexis Taylor

July 03, 2020 |

Afro News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Two programs targeting two types of problems have been successful with one common element: interventions that provide needed social services rather than rely only on police responses. In Baltimore, shootings and homicides in the Belair-Edison neighborhood are down 20% in the year since the Safe Streets program put violence interrupters on the street to cool disputes before they turn violent. In Dallas, the Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team's medical and social-worker responses to mental health crises reduced emergency room admissions 30%, replacing arrests with social and health services.

Read More
Go to Original Story
As Domestic Abuse Rises, U.K. Failings Leave Victims in Peril

Amanda Taub Jane Bradley

July 02, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: England

Ignoring the pleas of victim-aid groups and the examples set by other countries, the British government and courts failed to protect domestic violence victims during the pandemic. Italy, Spain, Germany, and New Zealand provided for emergency shelter for victims trapped at home with their abusers or made other preparations a formal part of their lockdown plans. But in England, where at least 26 deaths and multiple cases of abuse are blamed on the government’s failures, shelters overflowed and orders of protection went unenforced because of a lack of funding and effective planning.

Read More
Go to Original Story
For Survivors of Violence and Their Kids, a Push to Prioritize Housing

Claudia Boyd-Barrett

June 25, 2020 |

California Health Report |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Since 2016, California's Domestic Violence Housing First program has grown to 65 organizations that give victims the financial help they need to stay housed after leaving an abusive spouse. Financial and housing instability are major reasons victims stay with their abusers, and domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness. The program spends more than $20 million per year, or an average of $3,000 per victim, to help them and their children with rent, moving costs, utilities, and other needs. Typical domestic violence shelters usually lack the resources to help victims move to permanent housing.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How Facebook is using AI to boost blood donation

Faustine Ngila

June 25, 2020 |

Nation Africa |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Kenya

A partnership between Facebook and the Ministry of Health in Kenya has helped connect blood banks with blood donors. The process uses artificial intelligence and geo-location data to notify Facebook users who have signed up as blood donors when blood banks in their area are in need of donations.

Read More
Go to Original Story