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Small size, big impact: Baltimore nonprofit Next One Up wraps teen boys in supports and watches them fly

Tatyana Turner

December 23, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

In Baltimore, a non-profit known as the Next One Up program is helping young men who are struggling in school by supporting and advancing their academic, athletic, and social development through small group activities. Although small, the highly-individualized program – which "focuses on students who have attendance issues, have experienced trauma, or need food, clothing, or parental support" – meets every Sunday for class and homework help, followed by a sport of their choice. All who have participated so far have graduated high school on time.

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Lost Childhood: The Visible and Invisible Weight on North Tulsa Youth

Kolby Webster Arielle Davis

December 21, 2020 |

KOSU |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Dream Center provided an invaluable resource to North Tulsa’s largely African-American youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the community center closed its physical space, staff continued food distribution by going door-to-door, passing out about 2,700 meals a day to over 2,000 young people. The contact also gave the organization a chance to check in the on the kids and make sure they were safe. As the pandemic eased slightly, the group started summer pop-up camps within local housing authorities and neighborhoods, allowing a few children at a time to take part in activities.

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Homicides dropped after Philly gangs signed a 1974 peace pact. What can we learn from the org that brokered the truce?

Layla A. Jones

December 14, 2020 |

Billy Penn |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The House of Umoja in West Philadelphia, created in the late 1960s in response to high rates of gang violence, succeeded in helping thousands of young men through a residential treatment program, mediating disputes peacefully, and brokering a gang truce credited with lowering Philadelphia violence in the 1970s. The program was based on Afrocentric customs and family structure (its name means unity in Swahili). The grandson of the founders is now trying to revive the home as part of the city's multiple anti-violence initiatives.

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As Harlem Children's Zone moves to export its model nationwide, Obama's Promise Neighborhoods offer cautionary tales

Amadou Diallo

December 11, 2020 |

The Hechinger Report |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Under the Obama administration, the Promise Neighborhoods initiative was launched. It granted over $430 million in multiyear grants to nonprofits across 17 cities. The success of these grants have been difficult to measure. Two of the programs that were awarded grants highlight the differences in communities, and how success can’t be measured one way, but across a spectrum. “These first five years are like finding yourself,” said Lepore. “It’s an opportunity to find out what’s working, what isn’t and what we need to invest in.”

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Musical Empowerment bridges technological divide to teach local students

Ben Greer

October 20, 2020 |

The Daily Tar Heel |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Musical Empowerment provides mentors for children who do not have access to music education in their community. About 160 student-teachers mentor children in instruments like guitar, piano, violin, brass, saxophone, and even voice. The group uses grants and donations to help with technological and internet disparities, as well as provide instruments if needed. Learning music helps young people in many areas of their lives, including self-confidence and self-discipline. Mentors are paired with a mentee based on instrument interest and compatibility, and also experience personal growth from the relationship.

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How a Chicago nonprofit cut gun violence by helping young men find work

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

October 08, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago's CRED program (Create Real Economic Destiny) blends effective violence-intervention strategies with economic empowerment, life coaching, therapy, and education to provide the kind of opportunity so often lacking for young men prone to committing or suffering violence. While Chicago's citywide gun violence has increased by half, the neighborhood CRED serves has seen it fall by one-third. Even low-paying jobs are enough to lure the men off the street and out of danger so that they can benefit from the menu of services that rebut the notion that policing alone can solve the problem.

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Wooster's virtual tutoring program offers educational aid to students during pandemic

Grant Pepper

October 08, 2020 |

Knox Pages |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wooster, Ohio

A collaboration between Ohio's Wooster City Schools and the College of Wooster has allowed for an enhanced educational experience for many students during the coronavirus pandemic. The partnership not only provides tutoring services to the K-12 students but has also "strengthened the bond between the college and its surrounding community."

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'It's like family': Swedish housing experiment designed to cure loneliness

Derek Robertson

September 15, 2020 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Helsingborg

A multigenerational housing program in Sweden aims to combat social isolation of seniors and increase understanding between native Swedes and the young refugee population. About half of the 72 residents are over 70 and the rest are aged 18-25 from culturally diverse backgrounds. To live there, residents must agree to socialize for at least 2 hours a week. The coronavirus revealed a need to ensure all residents take precautions to protect the higher-risk seniors but is also revealed the strength of the relationships formed, where the younger residents helped run errands and care for their senior neighbors.

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Atlanta's Trying to Support, Not Punish, Its Teenage Water Vendors

Adina Solomon

September 15, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Atlanta, Georgia

Teens selling water on the sweltering streets of Atlanta are typically dealt with by police officers who often crack down on "unpermitted sales of water by youth." In a new approach, city officials convened a council to offer alternatives to police action and suggested ways to promote and develop the entrepreneurial spirit in teens through a variety of programs. The council looked to a similar program in Baltimore that re-engaged windshield-washing teens in school and re-directed others to full-time jobs.

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Suicide hotline offers young people hope and a chance to talk with peers

Molly Bohannon

August 31, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Phoenix, Arizona

In Arizona, a teen-run suicide prevention hotline connects teens who need someone to talk to with a peer operator who works to listen to and calm the caller. The volunteer teenage operators don't offer medical advice but do undergo clinician-supervised training that includes active listening, collaborative problem solving and the ability to connect with callers.

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