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Create A New Collection

Collections are versatile, powerful and simple to create. From a customized course reader to an action-guide for an upcoming service-learning trip, collections illuminate themes, guide inquiry, and provide context for how people around the worls are responding to social challenges.

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1. Name your collection

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Add stories to your collection from your list of Favorites below, or add stories directly to a collection from Search or Discovery. Anytime you see the collection icon you can add a story. Just click the icon and follow the instructions on your screen.

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Solutions Story Tracker®

Welcome to a curated database of rigorous reporting on responses to social problems.

15,700 stories produced by 8,900 journalists and 2,000 news outlets from 89 countries. The stories cover responses in 192 countries, in 17 languages. This resource is made possible because of a growing movement of journalists who use solutions journalism to illuminate both problems and evidence-based responses to them.

Learn more about the Solutions Story Tracker.


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  • From prison to star employee

    Jo Mathys
    2021-01-28 20:57:19 UTC
    0

    November 17, 2020 |

    BBC |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Grand Rapids, Michigan

    Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

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    • 12269

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  • Bus Stop Shakespeare

    Dorota Salus
    2020-10-31 20:29:03 UTC
    0

    October 26, 2020 |

    Transitions Online |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Poland, Gdansk

    A program at the Gdansk Shakespeare Theater in Poland is creating job opportunities for people with Down syndrome after partnering with the city and a local foundation that supports job training and coaching for special-needs individuals. The project has not just benefited the participants – patrons of the company as well as other businesses are realizing "that people with Down syndrome who have the appropriate skills can prove themselves at work."

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    • 11580

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  • Brokering peace on the South Side

    Antonia Hylton
    2020-10-01 19:12:06 UTC
    0

    September 28, 2020 |

    NBC News |

    Broadcast TV News |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

    Outreach workers with CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny) in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood are paid under a city grant to de-escalate and mediate disputes among the same gangs that some of the workers once belonged to. Able to win the trust of people who distrust the police, CRED's violence prevention workers also provide therapy to trauma victims and job development help, in order to address the underlying causes of violence in a neighborhood where a lack of hope can breed a lack of respect for others' lives. Fatal shootings in Roseland are down by one-third while up elsewhere in Chicago.

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    • 11316

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  • Waiting for a New Deal job program? These US parks are already hiring

    Jodi Helmer
    2020-08-20 00:13:09 UTC
    0

    August 14, 2020 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Asheville, North Carolina

    With many people out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some cities and nonprofits are creating outdoorsy job programs to relieve unemployment. Inspired by the conservation corps programs created during the Great Depression, North Carolina, Alaska, and Texas have these initiatives. The reliance on fundraising to pay workers can be a challenge, but these programs are providing jobs for nearly 250 people and are making some conservation progress. For example, the Carolina Climbers Coalition crew has already completed projects at state parks in the Southeast.

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  • Leaving Gun Towers and Barbed Wire for a Healing House

    Patricia Leigh Brown
    2020-08-17 17:28:17 UTC
    0

    August 07, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

    A New Way of Life Reentry Project creates homes for women as they leave prison, providing a refuge and programs to help ensure a more successful transition into life on the outside. The network of small group homes, started in Los Angeles and expanded to 16 houses in multiple states, boast a 90% success rate. New Way’s approach prizes ordinary homes in residential neighborhoods, unlike jail-like settings common in transitional housing, which generally caters to men. Classes include careers, therapy, and family reunification.

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    • 10917

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  • Could alternative, transition scheduling help the unemployed re-enter the workforce?

    Katie Ellington
    2020-08-07 22:16:39 UTC
    0

    July 06, 2020 |

    Richland Source |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Mansfield, Ohio

    A pilot program has successfully launched an alternative-schedule employment initiative that eliminates barriers for employees who are kept out of the workforce because they are unable to work full time. Obstacles such as affordable childcare or access to reliable transportation are often reasons that people are unable to commit to a full workweek, making them harder to employ. Temp2Higher, the agency running the pilot, provided coaching to help participants manage barriers to full-time employment. The pilot program had a 30 percent success rate, which was considered a success for temp-to-hire employment.

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    • 10852

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  • How a Former Dry Cleaners Became a Cleveland Community Hub

    Cinnamon Janzer
    2020-05-26 18:57:50 UTC
    0

    May 07, 2020 |

    Next City |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

    PNC Fairfax Connection is a community center run by PNC Bank but separate from its corporate services. The center is free and accessible to all, was built with community-focused design, and seeks to build strong community ties. Programming is based on member input and ranges from social events to professional development resources. For example, over 400 residents attended a concert hosted by the center and another program helped six formerly incarcerated community members to secure employment with resume creation and interview preparation support. The center is currently closed due to Covid-19.

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    • 10169

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  • PowerCorpsPHL trains Philly youth for careers that have a future

    Jessica Blatt Press
    2020-06-25 22:58:13 UTC
    0

    February 12, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    A workforce development initiative, PowerCorpsPHL, pays participants to learn skills and gain hands-on experience for jobs that offer long-term career opportunity in the field of environmental sustainability. Participants generally have criminal records or have been in the foster care system. In addition to job training and education, PowerCorpsPHL also provides services such as mental health counseling, securing childcare, navigating SNAP and AmeriCorps tuition benefits and helping with paperwork. The program helps 92 percent of participants secure either a job or post-secondary education.

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  • This Baltimore anti-violence program courts youths most at risk of crime. ‘The alternative is death or jail.'

    Jessica Anderson
    2020-07-31 15:46:49 UTC
    0

    November 26, 2019 |

    The Baltimore Sun |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    In the first year of Baltimore's use of an anti-violence program for young men that has proven successful in Boston, the program successfully reached about half its targeted contacts, and from that group enrolled about 95, or just over 1%, in job training and education programs. Though extremely modest, the numbers indicate the challenges faced by a population in which several died, many got incarcerated, and many others resisted contact. The program, Roca, uses behavioral therapy to turn job training into life training. In Boston, large numbers get jobs and stay out of trouble long term.

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    • 10799

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  • In the age of burnout, how companies keep their employees coming back

    Annabelle Timsit
    2020-03-06 02:50:00 UTC
    0

    November 19, 2019 |

    Quartz |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    Organizations around the world address rocky employee leave transitions by building resiliency and extra job training into their organizational structures after long absences. Companies successful in keeping turnover low after employee leave often institutes collaboration and connective activities in the workplace, encouraging employees to show their strengths and feel valued at work.

    Read More

    • 9240

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Please sign in via My Profile before submitting a story. This will allow you to view the status of your submission and get notified if the story is added to the Solutions Story Tracker®.
Filter your search by the language of the story. As the Solutions Story Tracker grows, we are working to include more stories in more languages. Your story submissions can help! Submit stories here.
These factors identify the ways communities overcome the big challenges and help you see the insights. Learn more about the Success Factors here.

Solutions Journalism Around the World

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Solutions In Focus

Discover curated content about themes that matter to you, exclusively from the Solutions Story Tracker. Explore collections, resources and more.

  • Climate Solutions

  • Advancing Democracy

  • Youth Mental Health


Go to All Solutions in Focus

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    Video Tutorials

    Learn how to find what you need in the Solutions Story Tracker in español and in français.

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    Submission Guidelines

    This database is powered by user submissions. Submit a story.

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    Custom Story Alerts

    Get notified when new stories match your interests by setting up custom story alerts in My Profile.

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Solutions Story Tracker® FAQ

  • Solutions journalism…
    • Describes a response to a problem and how it works.
    • Seeks to draw out insights that explain success or failure.
    • Presents the available evidence about the effectiveness of a response.
    • Explains the shortcomings or limitations of the response.
    Learn more.
  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is a curated, searchable database of solutions journalism stories — rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. We vet and tag every story in the Story Tracker, which offers an inspiring and useful collection of the thousands of ways people are working to solve problems around the world.

  • You can learn more about how we source, vet, and tag stories here, as well as how we share them. We also have video tutorials in Spanish and French that show how to use the Solutions Story Tracker to find what you need.

  • Story collections are curated by our staff or other partners to explore a theme, pattern, or trend via selected solutions stories and external resources. Some story collections focus on an in-depth exploration of a topic with solutions journalism; others highlight journalists and how they report on topics. Certain story collections include discussion questions and notes, so that educators and community discussion leaders can lead learners to fully engage with the stories.

  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is powered by user submissions. We encourage submissions from journalists, as well as from anyone who has an eye for solutions journalism. Click here to submit. (Why submit? So many reasons!)

  • You can submit a story directly on the Solutions Story Tracker®. You will be prompted to register or log into the Solutions Journalism Network website, if you are already logged in. (It is free to register!) Logging in allows you to track the status of your submissions under My Profile, as well as save your favorite stories, create story collections and story alerts, and access other helpful features of our website.

  • After you submit a story to us and assign it a topic, it is sent to one of our Solutions Story Tracker team members. Our team member evaluates the story for the four qualities of solutions journalism, and on the basics: The story must come from a news outlet and have a date and a byline. If the story meets our criteria, our team tags it accordingly and adds it to the database. If the story falls short of the mark, our team will include the reason why. We include stories in the Story Tracker that meet our standards of solutions journalism. Inclusion does not mean we support the initiatives, policies, organizations or approaches featured in those stories.

    Discover common reasons why a story may miss the mark for inclusion in the Solutions Story Tracker®.

    Learn more about the history of the database.

  • Solutions Journalism Network features these stories in the searchable database making them publicly accessible to anyone who wants to search for rigorous reporting on solutions to social problems. Any story that is added has the potential to make more impact than its original purpose. Added stories are used in journalism trainings, school curricula, research projects, and independent analysis on issue area trends. This now includes artificial intelligence tools, which are applied for educational value to find stories and support story vetting, as well as to extract insights from the stories. SJN has digital products and newsletters that give new life and exposure to the stories meeting people where they are at. Story data also is used to develop innovative tools to reach the general public with solutions journalism as well as some specific research projects requested by researchers. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of story data or added stories, please contact Lita Tirak.

  • News outlets determine whether all users can access their stories — and some limit the number of stories that anyone can view, or require a subscription. The majority of stories in the database can be accessed for free.

  • We work with journalists, academic researchers and others who feel that our database will support their research. We are especially interested in research that seeks to develop new insights about solutions journalism and its spread and its impact on social problems. Please complete all sections of the Data Request Form, and we will contact you to discuss your request in greater detail.

  • We do not fact-check the stories in the Solutions Story Tracker®. We do ensure that each story comes from a credible news source that has its own editorial infrastructure.

  • We worked with Tara Pixley and Jovelle Tamayo of the Authority Collective, who developed a guide for using equitable visuals. We follow this guide when choosing images for our website.

  • We welcome your feedback and additional questions. Please use this form to get in touch.

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