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How vending machines are making life better for Kenyans

Andrea Dijkstra

December 14, 2021 |

BBC |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Nairobi

Vending machines are dispensing basic grocery items such as milk and cooking oil in parts of Kenya. The machines allow patrons to customize their purchase instead of buying prepackaged sizes. This helps cash-strapped citizens who need to buy smaller portions. They’ve also created economic opportunities for entrepreneurs.

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They Said the Tornado Would Hit at 9:30. It Hit at 9:30.

Thomas Fuller Tariro Mzezewa

December 14, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Mayfield, Kentucky

Advances in meteorological technology have helped drive down the fatality rate from tornadoes in the U.S. to a fraction of what it was a century ago. Violent tornadoes rarely evade advance detection, thanks to weather satellites, advances in radar, and a communication system to announce warnings. The deadly tornadoes that struck Kentucky and other states in December 2021 illustrate the ways in which even this system – one scientist called it "one of the most incredible success stories in applied science" – can fail, including when people ignore warnings or buildings cannot withstand the high winds.

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Room for everyone: Tribal college expands its reach

Marisa Agha

December 13, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Tohono O'odham Nation Reservation, United States, Arizona

Tohono O’odham Community College in Arizona shifted its courses online during the pandemic and offered them for free to any Native student, expanding the tribal college's reach beyond the Tohono O’odham Nation for the first time. The college saw its enrollment jump by 96 percent — the largest increase of any tribal college in 2020 — and now serves students representing 55 tribal nations.

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How role-playing helps police do their job without firing their guns

Caren Chesler

December 12, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Training courses based on role-playing that supplement classroom teaching have helped some police departments reduce incidents of unnecessary use of lethal force. In response to protests over police shootings, more departments are using a variety of courses that train officers to seek alternatives to shooting when they perceive a threat. The most expensive and intensive course uses live actors. Others use video and virtual reality headsets. The key to effectiveness is the realism of a training that lets officers repeatedly act out the lessons so that they become second nature.

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He lost his best friend in a mudslide. Now he's using coconuts to fight deforestation in West Africa.

Danielle Paquette

December 03, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sierra Leone, Freetown

Alhaji Siraj Bah created Rugsal Trading to decrease deforestation in Sierra Leone. One of the reasons people clear forests is to make wood-based charcoal for fuel. In order to address that need while enouraging sustainability, Bah's company makes a charcoal substitute out of coconut scraps. They've made $11,000 in revenue and produced 100 tons of coconut briquettes.

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How Bangladesh is beating the odds on climate disaster deaths

Léopold Salzenstein Rafiqul Islam Montu

December 02, 2021 |

The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Bangladesh

In 1970 Cyclone Bhola hit Bangladesh. It killed up to 500,000 people. Since then, the country has revamped its emergency disaster preparedness through a multipronged process, reducing its cyclone-related deaths by 100 fold. Now, the country collects weather data from more than 50 weather stations. The data is sent to mitigation committees which dispense the info to people through various methods: radio, text messages, and even doorknocking. The country also has a volunteer program with 76,000 volunteers and increased the number of multi-purpose shelters from 44 in 1970 to 512 in 1991.

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Trolley Times

Nyima Pratten

November 30, 2021 |

Vice |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: India, Delhi

To help protestors communicate more effectively across large demonstration sites in Delhi, activists created Trolley Times, a digital and print newspaper dedicated to chronicling the farmers protest movement. The paper's circulation grew from around 1,000 copies to roughly 7,000, and it has attracted tens of thousands of followers across online platforms, helping to amplify the movement's message outside of Delhi and India.

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What Happens When Brazil's Favelas Take On The World Of Online Gaming?

Anna Fleck

November 23, 2021 |

World of Us |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

AfroGames offers young people aged 12 and over with classes in game programming, bringing the world of gaming to the lower-income communities in Brazil, or favelas, allowing youth to explore their culture, technology and potential job opportunities through game design.

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Booking Fees: The effort to find long-term solutions for short-term rentals

Sarah Ravits Jake Clapp

November 21, 2021 |

Gambit |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Cities are contending with a rise in short term rentals which is exacerbating the already limited supply of affordable housing. The effort to rein them in includes fees being redirected to affordable housing funds, stricter regulations, and technology that helps enforce city regulations.

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These Americans Are Just Going Around in Circles. It Helps the Climate.

Cara Buckley

November 20, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Carmel, Indiana

America's capital of the traffic roundabout is Carmel, Indiana, a city of 102,000 people and 140 roundabouts. The city boasts exceptionally low rates of traffic deaths and injury crashes. Studies of roundabout use elsewhere show benefits as well in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and in cutting environmentally harmful emissions because traditional intersections cause much longer idling times. Not all drivers like them, but Carmel long ago overcame initial qualms when the longtime mayor put into practice the traffic idea he admired when he was a university student in England.

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