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  • Chicago Teens Unveil Vision for Change and Public Safety in Their Neighborhood

    September 23, 2020 |

    Next City |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Twenty high school students enrolled in Territory, an urban design nonprofit, produced a zine and their own quality of life report for West Austin, where many of the students live. The students conducted interviews, surveys, and gathered community input to create the report. It includes sections on public safety, youth empowerment, and mental health.

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  • The Shared Spaces program: a crisis-driven experiment that could permanently change San Francisco's urban landscape

    September 22, 2020 |

    Mission Local |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    The Shared Spaces program is a pandemic-driven initiative that increases outdoor dining space in commercial areas. The initiative made the permit process more user friendly and less expensive. Over 1,200 outdoor dining applications were approved in three months, which is more than the city approved in 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased capacity of outdoor dining seating takes away other public spaces, usually parking and driving space, but the program’s success has helped businesses survive pandemic-related restrictions and officials are assessing the program to maintain it moving forward.

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  • How Did These Students Get The City To Change The Name Of Douglass Park? They Built Collective Power And Didn't Back Down

    September 22, 2020 |

    Block Club Chicago |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Chicago students organized and, for the first time, convinced the city to rename a park in honor of Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass. The former Douglas Park was named after a Civil War era Illinois senator who advocated to expand slavery, and whose wife owned slaves. Not daunted by the city’s bureaucracy, the students canvassed in their community and gathered over 10,000 signatures for a petition to change the park’s name. The campaign, which began in 2017, was much harder and longer than the students anticipated, but by forming a coalition and continuing to speak out they persevered.

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  • The art of fire: reviving the Indigenous craft of cultural burning

    September 20, 2020 |

    The Narwhal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Tsilhqot'in Nation, Canada

    A 3-year pilot is developing a traditional fire management program for First Nation communities using cultural burns, a practice banned for over a century. Cultural burns are used to reinvigorate the landscape so that seeds and berries grow and animals return. The low intensity, slow burns also reduce wildfire risks and other issues linked to climate change, such as infestations. Stories about cultural burns are being recorded from tribal elders to preserve the rich cultural knowledge about traditional fire management techniques. First Nations hope to be able to use cultural burns on their tribal lands.

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  • Truck Convoy Brings Boon to Town Plagued by Violence

    September 20, 2020 |

    Global Press Journal |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kanyabayonga

    Truck convoys ensure safer journeys for drivers and their goods around Kanyabayonga, an area that experiences intermittent instability and violence between armed groups. Up to 100 trucks carrying goods like charcoal, bananas, or lumber line up most days and wait for permission to continue their journey. The local economy has benefited, with restaurants and stores popping up to accommodate the influx of people. A ban on night time driving to prevent threats from armed groups has also supported the growth of a hotel industry, with 15 informal hotels now in operation.

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  • Hi, There. Want to Triple Voter Turnout? Audio icon

    September 19, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Vote Tripling is a get-out-the-vote strategy where volunteers set up outside of polling places, a safer pandemic option, and ask voters to text three friends with a reminder to vote. A randomized trial showed turnout was nearly 8 percentage points higher among people receiving texts. The message to vote holds more weight coming from a friend and it empowers those doing the texting, who also receive an election day reminder to send the texts. To be most effective, the technique requires a busy polling place where proximity to the polling place is legally allowed.

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  • Could 80,000 family woodlot owners be the key to saving the Acadian forest?

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Narwhal |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: Canada, New Brunswick

    Community Forests International created a carbon project to preserve Acadian forest. They measured and quantified carbon storage on small family-owned forest land, certified it by third-party standards, and sold the carbon offsets to an architecture and engineering firm. A conservation easement was also put on the land to ensure the forest’s longevity. The organization has stored enough carbon dioxide to equal the greenhouse gas emissions of 8,229 passenger vehicles driven for a year in three Wabanaki-Acadian forest preserves. The money raised helped buy some of the land to practice sustainable agriculture.

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  • Citizens' assemblies are increasingly popular

    September 19, 2020 |

    The Economist |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Ireland

    Citizens' assemblies have been used in a number of countries to give groups of ordinary people the chance to grapple with big, difficult problems and then recommend what actions their governments should take. Assemblies in Ireland led to referenda on subjects long considered intractable, same-sex marriage and abortion, leading to public approval of liberalized policies. As in France, the key to success is when politicians actually listen. By hearing from experts and giving a range of views space to be heard, citizens' assemblies can move people off extreme positions toward compromise.

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  • South L.A. Community Fridges feed and support local residents

    September 18, 2020 |

    USC Annenberg Media |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

    A mutual aid network in Los Angeles is providing communities across the city with the tools and resources to set up community refrigerators in neighborhoods that request them. A total of 15 refrigerators have been installed and are restocked with fresh foods and basic essentials and maintained by the neighborhoods they serve.

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  • Can an Algorithm Help Solve Political Paralysis?

    September 18, 2020 |

    Scientific American |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United Kingdom

    Citizen assemblies bring together residents for in-depth discussions about solutions to social issues. This alternative form of democracy led to policy changes in many countries, including legalizing abortion in Ireland. In the UK, an algorithm was applied to form a 110-person “climate assembly.” In a multistage process, the algorithm selected a representative sample of the U.K.’s population, sometimes oversampling harder to reach groups to ensure inclusion. A small stipend was also offered to offset costs for people with lower incomes. The group submitted a final report with climate policy recommendations.

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