Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 626 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Oakland's Chinatown finds solutions to hate crimes

Heidi Shin

March 11, 2021 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

With hate crimes against Asian Americans on the rise, Oakland's Community Ambassadors program serves the city's Chinatown by caring for the neighborhood and making people feel safe. Started as a way for formerly incarcerated people from San Quentin Prison to reconnect with the community, the program builds trust with residents who might be wary about asking the police for help and who may be so afraid of street crime that they don't leave home. Ambassadors walk the streets to help the elderly get groceries, check in with people experiencing homelessness, and hear the concerns of shopkeepers and residents.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Social Workers Instead of Police? Denver's 911 Experiment Is a Promising Start

Alissa Walker

March 10, 2021 |

Curbed New York |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Four years after pairing social workers with police officers on certain nonemergency calls, Denver's STAR program began dispatching a mental-health clinician and paramedic as sole first responders when health and social services are needed rather than arrests, jail, and the risk of police violence. The program in its first six months, though limited by geography and hours, handled 748 calls without any police involvement. Police, in fact, are relaying many of the calls that STAR takes. STAR teaches other large cities useful lessons, but it's only as good as the local mental-health infrastructure.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Conservation initiative helps nature heal itself for Sierra Madre reforestation

Gaea Katreena Cabico

March 09, 2021 |

The Philippine Star |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Philippines, Baras, Rizal

The government of the Philippines is working with the Masungi Georeserve Foundation to restore wildlife and forests in a 2,700 hectares area of degraded land. They use a technique that focuses on the nurturing of native trees through natural practices. While the method takes longer to reforest an area than traditional ways, the initiative has planted 60,000 trees and employed 100 park rangers from the local communities that help protect the reserve.

Read More
Go to Original Story
For those frustrated with vaccine system, a crew of volunteers is ready to help

Felice J. Freyer

March 02, 2021 |

The Boston Globe |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

A community effort is underway in Massachusetts to help people secure Covid-19 vaccination appointments, despite a confusing government roll-out system. The Massachusetts COVID Vaccination Help volunteer group is composed of volunteers from across the state, who are using their free time to help individuals schedule appointments. Although there are concerns about privacy, users thus far have commended the group's persistence and success in booking appointments.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Here's What Happens When Social Workers, Not Police, Respond To Mental Health Crises

Christina Jedra

March 01, 2021 |

Honolulu Civil Beat |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

Honolulu could benefit from adopting the approach to mental-health crisis calls to 911 that Eugene, Oregon, uses. But it would need to make big changes first in its critical infrastructure. Eugene's CAHOOTS program sends counselors and medics on 17% of the calls coming to its city's 911 center, saving millions on police, ambulances, and emergency room visits. Non-police responders de-escalate potential conflicts and get people the help they need without arrest or violence. Honolulu is primed to examine this approach, as many cities have done, but it's not a simple matter to start it.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Cops and Hippies

David Byrne

February 26, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Eugene, Oregon

The CAHOOTS program, which sends medics and counselors on certain 911 calls instead of the police, has become a national model in the wake of 2020's criminal-justice protests. But its roots reach back half a century, when a free medical clinic serving the hippie counterculture emerged as a public-health response to drug, mental health, and other non-violent emergencies. CAHOOTS has grown into a 24/7 service that saves Eugene millions in policing and medical spending, and saves many on the streets from unnecessarily punitive interactions with the police.

Read More
Go to Original Story
An AI is training counselors to deal with teens in crisis

Karen Hao Abby Ohlheiser

February 26, 2021 |

MIT Technology Review |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Crisis hotlines and chat services are turning to technologies such as AI tools to help assist an oft-overburdened system. At The Trevor Project, AI is used as both a risk assessment tool and as a role-play simulator to train volunteer counselors to correspond with callers. Users of these tools stress that they are not a replacement for counselors, but rather a tool to help the humans in these roles.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How does Portland's Street Response Team compare with a similar program in Denver?

Dan Haggerty

February 24, 2021 |

KGW-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Although Eugene, Oregon's long-running, successful CAHOOTS program serves as one model for the new Portland Street Response, a more relevant model can be found in Denver's STAR program. Like CAHOOTS, STAR responds to mental-health and other crisis calls with medics and counselors rather than police officers. But Denver's size, demographics, and homelessness make it much more analogous to Portland. In STAR's first six months, it handled nearly 750 calls without a single arrest. Both STAR and PSR are starting small, so more resources are needed if the pilot projects succeed.

Read More
Go to Original Story
An Evanston Teen Saw How Hard It Was For The Elderly To Find Vaccines, So He Built A Website To Help

Edie Rubinowitz

February 21, 2021 |

WBEZ |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Evanston, Illinois

When a teenager in Evanston, Illinois realized that senior citizens were facing difficulties securing Covid vaccination appointments due to technology barriers, he created a website to help eliminate some of the technological barriers. The site aggregates available appointments in the area so seniors don't have to go searching for them, which has consequently helped reduce stress for users of the website.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Can Mass Self-Testing for Covid-19 Keep Schools Safe?

Ruth Bender

February 21, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Austria, Berlin

Schools in Austria are teaching schoolchildren how to use noninvasive antigen tests to test themselves for COVID-19, in an attempt to keep schools open and coronavirus spread low. Although some question how reliable these tests are, a few hundred cases have been detected so far and almost all parents and teachers "have embraced the testing offer."

Read More
Go to Original Story