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

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  • Grieving Murdered Children During A Pandemic

    The nationwide surge in gun violence during the pandemic has forced support groups for grieving survivors to persevere in their work using different tools and strategies in a process that depends on intimate forms of counseling. In Durham, one "grief circle" associated with the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham still hosts anti-violence vigils after each killing. Its support group for parents and grandparents of victims, led by fellow survivors for maximum effect, shifted to Zoom and telephone calls. Among the beneficiaries of the support: the organizers themselves, whose work gives them purpose.

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  • Purple Keys, Part 2

    A mobile app called App-Elles was used 5,400 times during the early months of the pandemic by either the survivors of gender-based violence or witnesses and helpers trying to connect the survivors to assistance. Created by French singer Diariata N'Diaye, the app lets users designate three "protectors" chosen in advance to receive alerts. Once alerted, they can summon help via text message or other discreet means of contacting women who are trapped at home with their abusers. The app is among other examples of digital survivor-aid services developed for women during the pandemic.

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  • Heroes of the pandemic: “When the world is burning, I feel I must help put out the fire”

    A group of health professionals known as Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19, or LATIN-19, is helping to bring coronavirus-specific health care access to North Carolina's Latino community. Because the group operates across county lines, they have become well-known amongst the local communities, helping to not only provide much-needed health care services, but also increase awareness around the dangers of the virus.

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  • How a housing-first strategy could save domestic violence survivors during a pandemic

    To provide emergency housing to domestic violence victims without crowding them into shelters during the pandemic, Ohio victim-aid groups have helped hundreds of families to flee violence and find safe housing in subsidized apartments or short-term hotel stays. One program, the REACH Rapid Rehousing program, has given rental assistance to more than 100 families in rural counties who need but cannot afford permanent alternative housing. Another, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, has housed 126 families in hotels for up to two weeks at a time.

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  • ‘Vigilantes' on a mission to reunite owners with their stolen bikes Audio icon

    Facebook groups are reuniting bicycle-theft victims with their property by creating a place to report thefts and alerting others to be on the lookout for the bikes. A pandemic-inspired boom in bicycling, as a means to avoid public transportation, has fed a concurrent boom in bike thefts. Police praise the Facebook groups' public spirit and effectiveness, but warn of risks when confronting those trying to sell stolen bikes. More than 90% of bike theft reports to police hit a dead end, lowering faith in the police as a solution.

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  • In a career born in her own grief, violence recovery specialist works at a Chicago hospital in a city under siege

    Since the 2018 opening of a trauma-care center near the neighborhoods most affected by Chicago's gun violence, the University of Chicago Medical Center's Violence Recovery Program has helped survivors and victims' families to address the emotional harm that can go untreated when only physical harm is treated. Part of a growing field nationwide, hospital-based violence intervention, the program's nine specialists counsel people through the immediate shock of a gun injury or death. Then they address longer-term needs for services. The goals are both humanitarian and pragmatic, to head off more violence.

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  • Stranded Aussies mapped in project aimed at removing the cap

    Stranded overseas for more than half a year by border closings because of the pandemic, Australians flocked to a new mapping tool that tells the story of their plight. Remove the Cap website attracted more than 600 users in more than 30 countries in just its first week online, all of whom posted their photo and the story of their inability to return home. It’s too soon to tell if the site can succeed in easing the government’s cap on the number of returnees, but in the meantime it provides a platform for frustrated citizens who want their stories told.

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  • The Prison Within

    In San Quentin Prison, men convicted of murder attend a 72-week restorative-justice circle where they tell their stories of trauma: what they suffered in their lives, and how they turned that into harm they inflicted on others. The Victim Offender Education Group enables a form of accountability and healing that being locked up doesn’t, because of the dialogue among the men and with others’ victims of violence.

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  • Contact Tracers in Massachusetts Might Order Milk or Help With Rent. Here's Why.

    In Massachusettes, contact tracers for COVID-19 are tasked with an additional responsibility that includes acting as a care resource coordinator to better help those they're interacting with make "the best choice for the public." So far, approximately 10-15% of those who have been contacted as part of contact tracing efforts have utilized the assistance service which has helped them stay isolated while still having access to necessities such as "food, medicine, masks and cleaning supplies."

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  • Scotland's 'Navigators' Transform Lives in the Emergency Room

    In Scotland, the Navigators program performs violence interruption work in seven hospitals, at the bedside of victims of violence, with counseling and connections to social services to nudge people into safer lifestyles. Because Navigators act independently of the police and other authority figures, and because their service follows clients into the community, they are able to win the cooperation of 65-90% of those they approach. A survey of 100 clients showed 23% fewer emergency room visits in the year after cooperating with the program. Navigators started after violence in Scotland raged in 2005.

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