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When a Haircut Is More Than Just a Haircut

Aaron Randle

March 11, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Barbershops are a key part of Black Americans' culture, but the culture within those barbershops tend to be homophobic and alienating to LGTBQ individuals. To address this, a number of barbershops are catering specifically to the LGBTQ community by offering a safe and open space to get a haircut. They are able to cultivate this community through social media by using strategic tags, influencers, platforms, and outreach. A client describes the relief of having an accepting barbershop: "You just don't know how comforting it is walking into a place where you know you’re safe.”

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In Baltimore, parents owe hundreds of millions in child support. Here's how other states have made changes for the better.

Yvonne Wenger

March 09, 2020 |

The Baltimore Sun |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Maryland

Maryland's punitive child-support policies, which have piled $233 million in largely uncollectable debt on the state's poorest residents and destabilized families and neighborhoods, could be improved by adopting reforms other states have used to increase payment compliance. In Colorado, for example, more support payments have meant healthier families and communities, after the state stopped offsetting welfare payments by whatever child support had been paid. Other states have stopped revoking driver's licenses and work permits as a non-payment penalty, in order to make steady employment more attainable.

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'Visible women': Feminist mappers bridge data gap in urban design

Anastasia Moloney

March 07, 2020 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Mexico City

The underrepresentation of women in technology and computer science has led to the creation of Geochicas, a group of women who recruit and train female, open source mappers across the world. Open source mapping is a male-dominated pursuit but one that informs urban design and public policy. When mapping a city, women tend to add services that are overlooked by men, such as childcare services, hospitals, and women's health clinics. Diversifying the volunteers who do this work to include more women leads to mapping that is more inclusive and minimizes crowdsourced-data bias against women.

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How women in Iowa are leading farmland conservation efforts

Mark Bittman Melanie Saltzman

March 07, 2020 |

PBS NewsHour |

Broadcast TV Programs |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Iowa

A group of women called The Women, Food and Agriculture Network was founded in 1998 in Iowa to educate female landowners about land conservation and implementing sustainable practices on their farms. The group has held more than 250 meetings since 2009, reaching more than 3,800 women landowners—and their surveys find that after a one-day session, 50-70% of the women go on to take an action to improve conservation on their property. Longterm, this group empowers women to play a bigger role in the future of agriculture in the state.

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What Would a World Without Prisons Look Like?

Patricia Leigh Brown

March 06, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Deanna Van Buren and her nonprofit firm Designing Justice/Designing Spaces use architecture to advance social justice and criminal-justice-reform ideas, designing workplaces, meeting places, and homes nationwide founded on the notion of "what a world without prisons could look like." The firm's projects, often planned with input from the people directly affected, have included privacy-enhancing temporary living units for people recently released from prison, a "peacemaking" space in Syracuse, N.Y., and two of the first restorative-justice meeting places for crime victims and those who harmed them.

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Madhya Pradesh's ‘fluoride warriors' unleash citizen science to empower community

Sahana Ghosh

March 02, 2020 |

Mongabay |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh

As part of a social work graduate program through Alirajpur Post Graduate College, a group of students are using “citizen science” to share their research that water with elevated levels of fluoride can be dangerous to drink. This has especially been an opportunity for female students to develop public speaking skills while connecting with women whose role it is to manage water for their households and encourage them to use wells with the appropriate fluoride levels, based on their data and research.

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Harnessing the power of Latino voters could reshape politics in Texas

Vicky Camarillo

March 02, 2020 |

Corpus Christi Caller Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Texas voter registration initiatives are aimed at Latino voters, where less than 41% of eligible Latinos voted in 2016. Voto Latino focuses on college campuses, registering 15% of all new Texas voters in 2018. Southwest Voter Registration Education Project visits Latino-majority schools, including reaching out to 500 high schools across Texas. Jolt Action registers voters, held the first Latino-focused political candidate forum in Texas attended by 870 people, and runs Poder Quince where girls can have a free photo booth at their quinceañera if paired with a voter registration table and pledge to vote at 18.

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Jacksonville Organization Attacks Violence, Blight With Holistic Approach

Claire Goforth

February 27, 2020 |

Juvenile Justice Information Exchange |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Jacksonville, Florida

After the residential real estate market collapsed a decade ago, a developer that had been revitalizing an impoverished Jacksonville neighborhood with single-family homes pivoted to a broader approach to reducing crime and blight. Progress has been difficult, and violence in the neighborhood remains high. But, by building larger complexes and offering an array of services and interventions, Northwest Jacksonville Community Development Corporation is achieving slow but steady social change.

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A Country That Welcomes Migration

Patrick Ammerman Gustavo Andrés Castillo Arenas

February 19, 2020 |

Yes! Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Bogotá

In a time when many Western countries are closing their doors to refugees, Colombia has been particularly welcoming to migrants and refugees. The country has enacted a series of laws that make it easier for incoming Venezuelans to find work and become a Colombian citizen. One policy, called Permiso Especial de Permanencia, or PEP, provides legal status to Venezuelans who entered the country without a visa. Nearly 600,000 Venezuelans had been granted PEP as of October 2019.

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App connects users with native-owned businesses

Laurel Morales

February 17, 2020 |

Marketplace |

Radio |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Tuba City, Arizona

In the Navajo Nation, more than 70 percent of local income leaves the tribal area, but one effort is helping native-owned businesses expand their reach. Change Labs, a business incubator, helped birth Rez Rising, an app that helps people find and shop with native-owned businesses, which often find obstacles to entrepreneurship like listing a physical address or operating a website.

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