Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • A Year of Intersex Victories

    To promote the need to end intersex surgery, an organization launched a multi-pronged campaign that raised awareness about the potentially damaging impacts of the practice. The group used social media, created a petition, and held protests outside of a local hospital – all of which resulted in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago issuing an apology and declaring that "they will no longer be performing intersex surgeries unless absolutely medically necessary moving forward." Throughout the world, similar awareness efforts have also garnered positive outcomes.

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  • At Chicago's Immigrant-Run Corner Stores, Striving for Food and Racial Justice

    The Corner Store Campaign alleviates food insecurity in Chicago by providing fresh produce and supplies to customers who frequent the neighborhood establishments - typically in places that are more likely to be food deserts. The program is run by Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), which also seeks to ease and heal the historically-fraught relationship between immigrant corner store owners and the black communities they typically cater to by partnering with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative to engage in dialogue about policing and community safety.

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  • Under Biden, the Justice Department is expected to again police the police

    After East Haven, Connecticut, police officers were caught harassing residents based on race, the Obama Justice Department took the police department to court and won a consent decree requiring a long list of reforms, in hiring, training, discipline, and use of force. The oversight, rare for a small city, changed the department's culture and won praise from many residents, who now trust the police more. Such federal action waned in the Trump years, but is expected to revive in the Biden administration, though perhaps under a more collaborative, less coercive model.

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  • 'We stopped being afraid to meet local people': The Czech lunches that connect families

    Migrants and native Czechs are breaking bread together in an initiative designed to promote tolerance. Next Door Family connects locals with migrants who seek a sense of belonging and security in their new homes. Over 40 percent of families met up again on their own. The project was also implemented in several other European countries.

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  • An Alternative to Police That Police Can Get Behind

    A street-level view of White Bird Clinic's CAHOOTS program in Eugene explains its appeal as a cost-saving, humane alternative to sending the police to 911 calls concerning mostly minor problems involving homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. From the decades-old program's countercultural beginnings to today's 24/7 presence, the private agency's publicly funded teams of a medic and crisis worker have helped keep problems from escalating into violence and jail time. But a number of factors call into question how scalable this approach would be in larger, more diverse cities.

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  • Lessons From Portland's Protest Movement

    Organized groups of volunteers helped sustain over four months of Black Lives Matters protests, with centralized information sources keeping the public informed and essential support services provided. A network of over 160 medics tended to protesters' health needs and organizers provided air filters to deal with tear gas. Protestors getting out of jail were given food, water, and other resources, and affected neighborhoods were cleaned up by teams of volunteers. Such support created other ways to participate while also providing critical infrastructure to sustain months of protests for racial justice.

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  • These gardens ask visitors to reconsider solitary confinement

    Solitary Gardens is an art project that protests prisons' solitary confinement conditions. Incarcerated people connect with volunteers on the outside who plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs in beds matching the tiny dimensions of the prison cell that confined Herman Wallace for a record 41 years in Louisiana. The people inside prison imagine their garden, often with memory triggers of what they have lost, and their gardener carries out their plan. The idea is to make a place for grief, healing, public service, and public education, as the gardens in four cities teach about solitary confinement.

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  • NYC Court Summons Redesigned With Human Behavior in Mind

    New York City courts significantly reduced no-shows for court dates by redesigning court summons forms and sending text reminders to people of their upcoming court dates. An estimated 30,000 fewer arrest warrants were issued, thanks to the behavioral "nudges" that researchers designed with one realization in mind: People often miss court dates accidentally, not intentionally. The changes were made to summons systems, used for low-level offenses, but they could also be used in more serious criminal cases.

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  • ‘From queer to queer': How locals are supporting LGBTQ asylum seekers in Denmark

    LGBT Asylum’s trained volunteers have provided emotional support to over 400 LGBT+ asylum applicants, also preparing them for the procedural process, such as the questions they will be asked and how long it will take. LGBT+ applicants have to prove their sexual orientation and the danger they face in their home countries because of it, which is emotionally triggering. The all-LGBT+ volunteers are able to relate on some commonalities, which can make it easier for the asylum seekers to talk about their struggles. The group also holds social and networking events to hep people integrate into Danish society.

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  • Creating safer spaces for LGBTQ migrants of colour in Bremen

    Queeraspora was founded in Bremen as a safe space for immigrant and refugee LGBTQ+ people to find social and emotional support, as well as access to information. Around twenty people make up the nucleus of the group, and they come from all over the world including Turkey, Taiwan, India, Bosnia, and South America. The meetings focus on personal empowerment, as well as political organizing and educational workshops. The mix of social and educational activities provides a network for people who experience homophobia among refugee and migrant communities and racism among mainstream LGBTQ+ communities.

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