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New San Diego-Tijuana Survey Holds Mirror Up to Border Cities

Gregory Scruggs

February 26, 2015 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Former Bogotá mayor Antonas Mockus has implemented his Citizenship Culture Survey, which measures local public opinions on legal culture, behavior regulation systems, mobility, tolerance, tax culture, public safety, agreements, civic participation, mutual regulation, public trust and victimization, across San Diego and Tijuana. The first ever binational survey of its kind aimed to measure shared social values to inform a cross-border civic council.

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How to Topple a Dictator (Peacefully)

Tina Rosenberg

February 13, 2015 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Serbia, Belgrade

The Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies provides a "blueprint" for peaceful and democratic revolution, busting myths about the process of nonviolent revolt and helping dissidents in countries around the world to accomplish political goals, such as fighting corruption or protecting the environment.

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It Takes a Village

Kirsi Jansa

February 11, 2015 |

Sustainability Pioneers |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United Kingdom, Balcombe

Two towns are fighting back against fossil fuel companies. From fossil free energy fairs in Pennsylvania to a solar energy co-op in the UK, citizens are relying on the idea of community power to unite in favor of renewable energy. In the UK, the creative financing structure of the co-operative REPOWERBalcombe will generate both financial and environmental returns.

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Can Storytelling Help Destroy the Stigma Associated With Abortion?

Maya Dusenbery

February 05, 2015 |

Pacific Standard |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Abortion is a highly stigmatized topic that can lead individuals to selectively disclose who they tell about the experience. Storytelling is now being viewed as a way to help de-stigmatize abortion based on contact theory and empathy as a means of bringing people together.

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When I Grow Up

Rebecca Mead

January 15, 2015 |

The New Yorker |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico

KidZania is a theme park in a dozen countries where kids engage in different types of work, ranging from working on a car assembly line to putting out fake fires with real water and examining a doll’s teeth as a dentist. They earn a paycheck, which they must pay taxes on, and then can spend the money they earn at stores within the park. Although the parks promote free markets and brand loyalty, owners have also worked with local governments to incorporate lessons that promote good citizenship and awareness of civic institutions, health and safety, environmental sustainability, and appreciation of diversity.

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Generation Citizen College Volunteers Teach About Political Action

Kathleen O'Brien

December 05, 2014 |

NationSwell |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States

Generation Citizen is a nonprofit that places college students in high school and middle schools to teach students about civic engagement. Each college volunteer, known as a Democracy Coach, teaches a semester-long class and gets students to identify and develop a plan to solve a local issue of their choosing, including topics like bullying, unemployment, and public transit. As of 2014, the nonprofit, which was started by Scott Warren, included around 10,000 students and over 500 college volunteers in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, and Providence.

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Experiments show this is the best way to win campaigns. But is anyone actually doing it?

David Broockman, Joshua Kalla

November 13, 2014 |

Vox |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Research shows that having in-person interactions with voters is by far the best way to increase turnout. It’s not simply knocking on doors. It’s about having genuine conversations. But political campaigns typically spend almost all their money on TV ads instead.

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How Nigeria defeated Ebola

Calestous Juma

October 31, 2014 |

The Guardian |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

The media could help countries still affected by Ebola by focusing on Nigeria, where they defeated the virus through effective public institutions that protected the public interest, such as rejecting cash but accepting much needed health workers.

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How This Teen's Quest to Define 'Sustainability' Changed State Law

Geoff Dembicki

October 17, 2014 |

The Tyee |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Hawaii private school students were taught about ecological sustainability, but public school students were not. After losing a school essay contest about sustainability, a high school student convinced Hawaii’s legislature to pass a resolution requiring that every student learn the meaning of the concept. Due to this student’s advocacy, the state is also piloting a program to install solar panels on its public schools to teach children how to be more self-sustaining.

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MIT D-Lab promotes rural community innovations in Guatemala with Soluciones Comunitarias

Nancy Adams

October 10, 2014 |

MIT News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Guatemala, Santa Maria Nebaj, El Quiché

Using "Creative Capacity Building," MIT's D-Lab established in impoverished, rural areas in developing nations a method of empowering and supporting individuals in rural communities to invent low-cost technologies specifically geared to address the problems or needs of their locale. In 2009, the D-Lab paired with SolCom, a Guatemalan community organizing enterprise, and an international development fund to bring this model to the isolated, impoverished area of Nebaj, assisting locals in creating a Makerspace, or "integrated workshop, demonstration site, training center, and retail shop to complement the activities of microentrepreneurs." The collaboration has fostered an environment for sustainable, grass-roots change, in which the social and intellectual capital needed to create the needed innovations and inventions originate in the community itself.

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