Minnesota Is Testing a Model To Add More Civility to Politics

Neighborhood Centers, a Houston anti-poverty program has a simple philosophy: “The people are the asset, the source of potential solutions, not the problem.” The non-profit has scaled nationally, employing its bottom-up approach to disburse funds in poor communities.

At UC Berkeley, the Blum Center for Developing Economies and the Center for Effective Global Action are working together to formalize development engineering as a field of research - a new generation of engineers committed to making a social impact.

The Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies provides a "blueprint" for peaceful and democratic revolution, busting myths about the process of nonviolent revolt and helping dissidents in countries around the world to accomplish political goals, such as fighting corruption or protecting the environment.

The Islamic State's recruitment of women draws big attention. But less noticed and more important are efforts in Islamic countries to raise the number of women in religious leadership, despite a long tradition against it, as a potential, effective antidote to the IS recruitment efforts – preventing young women (and men) from joining radical groups.

With homicides up 50 percent last year, the D.C. Council is backing a controversial new crime bill aimed at stopping the violence. It’s modeled in part on a 9-year-old program in Richmond, California. Each year, 50 young men at risk for violence are paid to put down their guns. (1st of a 3 part series)

Women4Climate is a new alliance of women mayors from major cities who are determined to act against climate change with or without federal support. Instead, they mentor each other in innovative solutions, cross-promote important causes, and share best practices to help stem the negative effects of greenhouse gas emissions, empowering women everywhere to participate.

Low voter turnout has affected the results of numerous elections across the country. Oregon gave its residents the choice to opt in instead of out when receiving government services, in the hopes of increasing voter turnout.

A changing demographic can create barriers between government and new residents. Nashville is tackling that with a program that teaches immigrant leaders what the city has to offer.

MIT's D-Lab is supporting individuals in impoverished, rural areas invent low-cost technologies to address the needs of their communities. In 2009, the D-Lab paired with SolCom, a Guatemalan community organizing enterprise, and an international development fund to bring this model to the isolated area of Nebaj, assisting locals in creating a Makerspace for microentrepreneurs. The collaboration has fostered an environment for sustainable grassroots change, in which the social and intellectual capital needed to create the needed innovations and inventions originates in the community itself.

Women are underrepresented in elected positions, and with Trump being elected after being heard describing women in poor taste, this has only become more of a concern. Programs such as Elect Her and IGNITE are trying to help increase the number of women in politics through various methods.