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How College Students Are Helping Each Other Survive

Ezra Marcus

November 23, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Students across the country are dealing with food and housing insecurity, and financial loss, conditions that have been exacerbated because since the pandemic. In response, students in some colleges and universities created mutual-aid networks, raising and distribution thousands of dollars to their peers. “Students continue to lead the fight to address their basic needs.”

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How Norway Built an Economy That Puts People First

Isabella Breda

November 03, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Norway

Despite a nationwide months-long coronavirus lockdown in Norway, the economy was able to remain stable due to a "decades-long effort to create an equitable economy" that helped the government to enact a package that provided businesses and self-employed individuals' tax relief and deferrals. Although Norwegians pay roughly the same amount of taxes that Americans do, their taxes largely pay for social welfare programs which include unemployment benefits, retirement pay, and health care coverage. This "national ethos of economic equity" is what helped the country to navigate the pandemic.

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In a boon for the climate, philanthropists are making it rain for cleantech innovators

Adrienne Day

October 30, 2020 |

Grist |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Prime Coalition is financing clean tech startups and climate-focused technologies that often don’t get a lot of funding. These technologies can be expensive to build and don’t generate profits immediately. So far, the public charity has secured $89 million that it has given into 18 energy ventures. “What’s important here is that the climate crisis is such a large-scale problem that we need lots of different types of solutions,” says Sarah Kearney, founder of Prime Coalition, “and so we need to match up right-fit capital to each kind of solution.”

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Shipping containers in Los Angeles becoming homes for the homeless

Paul Vercammen,

October 18, 2020 |

CNN |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Recycled shipping containers ae providing affordable housing options to families and veterans experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Wraparound services on site help tenants with everything they need to stay housed, such as how to pay rent, access healthcare and find transportation. Container housing has been used in several cities across the country due to the convenience and low construction costs.

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Philanthropies flow funds to climate technologies

Katherine Ellison

October 14, 2020 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Philanthropies are funding “tough tech” startups that are developing technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. Since 2014, the nonprofit Prime Coalition has channeled more than $24 million from wealthy donors and foundations to 10 ventures focused on that goal. Not all of their investments, though, have paid off. Yet, some of these initial investments could lead to widespread solutions to the world’s climate crisis.

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Akron wants to help small business owners grow, but officials say they need more help from banks

Abbey Marshall

October 12, 2020 |

The Devil Strip |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

Motor City Match is an entrepreneurial development initiative that provides grants for historically marginalized business owners in Detroit. It also matches minority entrepreneurs with empty retail space in addition to providing business coaching and planning services. The program depends on nontraditional lenders to provide the funding. Motor City Match inspired the formation of Rubber City Match in Akron but that program has faced financing hurdles due to a lack of nontraditional lenders in the city.

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Community lending helps African businesses in Philly stay afloat during COVID-19

Miles Bryan

October 08, 2020 |

WHYY |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia's community of African business owners has created its own security net in the wake of the shutdown, which left many businesses closed or in debt. A traditional African system known as "susu" provided the mutual aid entrepreneurs needed to stay afloat. Susus provide an informal loan network in which members contribute regularly and take turns tapping into the group funds. During the lockdown, financial support was given to those participants who were most in need. The informal loan clubs were crucial to the owners who are typically immigrants and were denied federal aid at greater rates.

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Meet the Bristol collective putting surplus wealth in the hands of people tackling injustice

Alex Turner

October 02, 2020 |

The Bristol Cable |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: England, Bristol

Bristol Redistro is an experiment in wealth redistribution that taps the social-justice consciences of people who pool what they see as their excess money to make grants to small community groups that are "challenging unfair power structures." An initial round made £1,000 grants to such groups as Mandem, an online artistic platform for young men of color, and No More Exclusions, which seeks to reform school discipline. Funding decisions get made by a collective, not Redistro's leaders, with the aim of driving social change and challenging inequality by sharing the wealth with grassroots community groups.

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Jumpstart trains developers to fight gentrification in Philly neighborhoods

Courtney Duchene

September 29, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jumpstart Germantown and five spinoff programs trained about 1,000 people in the art of locally controlled neighborhood rehabilitation. The Jumpstart programs target particular neighborhoods, mainly mid-range housing stock with vacant and deteriorating conditions, and lend money to newly minted developers to fix and resell the properties. Housing rehabs maintain the character of neighborhoods, rather than gentrifying them or making wholesale redevelopment changes. Beyond the community improvement benefits, the program helps diversify the real estate business and provides employment opportunities.

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Three Approaches to Rural Rejuvenation

Kelly Burch

September 18, 2020 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Despite the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, three small cities have managed to thrive due to successful economic development plans that have led to “rural rejuvenation” in an effort to attract young families to live there. The city of Taos, New Mexico has used a regional strategy to increase tourism while Durango, Colorado, chose to diversify the economy by focusing on its other resources such as high education, natural gas, and healthcare. Bozeman, Montana focused on nurturing local business instead of enticing outside businesses.

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