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

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  • The Cycle Of Chronic Gun Violence: How One Community Looks To Save Lives In A New Year

    Gun homicides in Durham increased an alarming 20% in 2019, but one bright spot was the county public health department's Bull City United program. Since 2016, BCU is credited with reducing shootings by 28% in two areas where it was deployed. BCU follows the Cure Violence model, a violence interruption strategy using mediators, sometimes former gang members, to intervene face to face when disputes seem headed for gunfire, offering services to help young people. This public-health model of stopping the spread of violence can fail if used in a transient neighborhood lacking community organizers.

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  • Providing a home for Europe's unaccompanied migrant children

    There are thousands of children caught in the midst of the migrant crisis, and many of them end up without their parents or with a relative. To avoid placing migrant children in facilities that would be unable to give them specialized care, people are stepping up to serve as foster parents for the time being. The foster parents support the children's emotional well being and sense of self, and now foster aunts—forming a relationship without taking over care—are also emerging. These initiatives help ease the process of starting over in a new place, especially for children.

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  • Most of America's Farm Owners Are White. This Program Is Rooting for More Diversity

    Cultivating a more diverse generation of farmers requires training and mentorship. In New York, GrowNYC’s FARMroots program trains new farmers of diverse backgrounds. The FARMroots Beginning Farmer Program offers courses on everything from finances to driving tractors. The program also pairs the new farmers with an experienced mentor. Hailing from a range of backgrounds, the new farmers bring new crops, new ideas, and new skills to their communities.

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  • Reporting for Work Where You Once Reported for Probation

    Since 2012, the New York City Department of Probation’s Arches program has integrated “credible messengers” into its mission, diverting some energies toward helping instead of punishing. The term refers to people, often formerly incarcerated or on probation themselves, who apply their street knowledge to mentoring youth caught up in the criminal justice system. The movement has spread to a variety of government agencies, but usually is used in street-outreach crime prevention work by community organizations. A large body of research shows the effectiveness of the approach in lowered crime and recidivism.

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  • 'Big Sisters' ride to rescue of Nepali child brides

    Support and counseling from trusted volunteers empowers young women to stay in school and out of child marriage. In Nepal, the Sisters for Sisters program was the result of a governmental effort to reduce child marriages. Volunteers, many of whom were child brides themselves, help fight stigma and cultural pressures by leading discussions with young women on topics like sexual health and life choices.

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  • Can basketball reduce gun violence? It did in Richmond, Virginia.

    RVA League For Safer Streets uses a basketball league as "bait" to change young men's lives by teaching critical thinking and better ways to resolve conflicts. The Richmond, Virginia, program was co-founded in prison by a former drug dealer convicted of murder who learned the methods of cognitive behavioral therapy behind bars. Paroled after 23 years, he began counseling youth with an approach that police say contributed to a significant drop in Richmond's gang violence and other crime.

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  • At This Boston School, Friendships Lift More Students to Graduation Day

    Boston Public Schools is embracing an approach called Building Assets, Reducing Risks that has proven successful in other U.S. school districts. In BARR, teams of teachers compare notes on students to ensure they are on the right track: "BARR doesn't rely on one superstar teacher to notice a kid in trouble. From the science teacher to the school counselor, they all take a seat at the table."

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  • This Baltimore anti-violence program courts youths most at risk of crime. ‘The alternative is death or jail.'

    In the first year of Baltimore's use of an anti-violence program for young men that has proven successful in Boston, the program successfully reached about half its targeted contacts, and from that group enrolled about 95, or just over 1%, in job training and education programs. Though extremely modest, the numbers indicate the challenges faced by a population in which several died, many got incarcerated, and many others resisted contact. The program, Roca, uses behavioral therapy to turn job training into life training. In Boston, large numbers get jobs and stay out of trouble long term.

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  • The judge, jury and lawyers are kids. But punishments at N.J. youth court are real.

    The 10-year-old Newark Youth Court has heard some 700 cases in which high school students serve as judge, jury, and lawyers in proceedings that avoid school discipline or criminal charges with creative exercises in personal accountability. Taking aim at fights, disruptive behavior, or more serious offenses involving weapons or drugs. the Youth Court seeks to encourage better life choices. Outcomes may exclude punishment altogether, imposing community service (including Youth Court jury duty) or other alternatives to jail, avoiding criminal records that can ruin someone's future.

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  • 'First-Gen' Proud: Campuses Are Celebrating An Overlooked Group. But Is That Enough?

    A growing number of colleges are providing "first-gen" resources and networks for students who are the first in their families to attend college. Experts are debating what type of help is most effective.

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