Detroit resident 'leads with love' in local climate resiliency

The Queensbridge Houses, one of the nation's largest public housing projects, is celebrating more than one year without a shooting in what Mayor de Blasio called "a year of golden silence." Security measures such as the implementing of lights and cameras, combined with the creation of the 696 Queensbridge, a team of ex-convicts who patrol the area, has greatly reduced violence in the area.

In Jackson, Mississippi, a series of community-led cooperatives are creating opportunities for affordable home ownership. This is part of a trend across the country to create community land trusts. They are financed through donations, other community businesses, or commissions. Though each land trust faces hurdles, they are collectively allowing more access to wealth and ownership in historically low-income neighborhoods.

In London, a new initiative called Junior Roadwatch is engaging children as traffic safety enforcers. Around one particularly busy and dangerous section of road, drivers who are caught speeding have two options: get a ticket or be questioned by a group of school-aged children. While newly developed, the initiative, devised by The Met Police and Transport for London, has stopped over 90 individuals for speeding, all of whom chose to answer questions from children about the consequences of their actions.

Women only gyms are gaining popularity in Turkey, encouraging women to work out in a comfortable setting as well as to gain financial independence and entrepreneurial advice. Many of these women use their gym networks to overcome obstacles in the business community in open their own gyms, despite the pushback against women working outside of the home.

Across New Hampshire, youth are leading the fight against substance abuse. Programs like Dover’s Youth-to-Youth, Stand Up Sachems, Youth Leadership Through Adventure, and the Making it Happen Coalition, are all youth-led, adult-supported initiatives that are empowering young adults to create and disseminate substance abuse awareness and prevention campaigns. Fundamental to each of these efforts effective communication and creating a sense of community as key to prevention.

Improving outcomes in addressing HIV requires reducing stigma. In Atlanta, Georgia, faith-based communities are embracing HIV prevention campaigns and courses. Bible Way Ministries provides HIV testing at community events and offers awareness campaigns aimed at reducing stigma. In Philadelphia, Faith in Action similarly recruits religious communities to increase HIV awareness.

Grassroots organizations, like the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, seek to preserve Chinatown’s heritage and fight the displacement of old-time residents by gentrification. The organizations bought an historic hotel to prevent displacement of 100 low-income residents, revitalized commercial spaces such as restaurants to preserve the neighborhood’s heritage and history, and funded programs to support social connections with events such as Majhong socials that bring together over 100 people. While the organizations agree on the goal to preserve Vancouver’s Chinatown, they sometimes disagree on how to get there

Kibra Green, a grassroots organization in Kenya, mobilizes the young people in the community to clean up their neighborhood. At times, the group has as many as 500 participants for a community-wide clean up. Yet, a lack of steady funding and socioeconomic barriers for volunteers to regularly contribute to the group has made it difficult to scale the organization.

Westminster Presbyterian Church in New York opens its doors to create the Pride House, a safe space for local LGBTQIA+ youth, once a week. Organizers provide snacks and games, and participation in the church is not required.

The Spanish-Language Community Advisory Network works with a performing arts center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, to bring in Latino audiences by showing culturally-relevant films, reducing language barriers, and even inviting the films’ cast and crew to the screenings.