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  • This Nonprofit Eliminated a Simple Barrier Keeping New Orleans Teens From Their Summer Internships

    May 27, 2021 |

    Next City |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

    Onerous paperwork and required legal documents keep many youth - especially those not living with legal guardians - from taking part in city internships, so YouthForce NOLA worked with the city to pilot an internship program with fewer barriers. The streamlined application included workarounds for common issues, like allowing public school records to certify residency, accepting approval from non-legal guardians, and providing a checklist with exactly what records they need and how they can get them. The added support reduced anxiety among the youth and significantly increased retention in the internships.

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  • Bogota crowdsources a green transport future to cut emissions

    May 26, 2021 |

    Thomson Reuters Foundation |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Colombia, Bogotá

    Citizen participation in meetings, door-to-door surveys, and via an open-source online platform where residents could edit and add to draft plans resulted in 7,000 citizen proposals to redesign one of Bogota’s major, car-choked, 23-km thoroughfares. Residents as young as 10 years old contributed to design plans that will cut climate-changing emissions and pollution by adding more bike lanes, pedestrian paths, and electric buses and cable cars. City officials spent substantial time listening to residents’ ideas and concerns, including talking with populations that are often ignored by those in power.

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  • Online Town Halls Likely to Survive Beyond the Pandemic

    May 25, 2021 |

    Orange County Register |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Orange County, California

    Orange County congressional members increased the number of town halls they hold since the coronavirus pandemic forced them to from in-person to virtual events. Going virtual increased the frequency of citizen’s access to hear from their representatives and also allowed many more people to tune in, especially those unable to attend town halls due to work or physical ability. A virtual event held by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) was attended by 100,000 people, whereas in-person events pre-pandemic drew about 400 people. Live-streamed virtual events are faster to arrange and less expensive to host.

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  • Okemos Public Schools is changing its mascot. Belding already did and says they have no regrets.

    May 25, 2021 |

    WSYM-TV |

    Broadcast TV News |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, East Lansing, Michigan

    Many parents and community members lobbied the Okemos School Board, which approved a name change for the public school's mascot from one that objectifies and stereotypes Native Americans to one that promotes a positive imagery for students of all races and backgrounds. Belding area schools also approved a name change after parents protested an interim solution that allowed the use of the mascot’s name without imagery as not going far enough. The Native American Heritage Fund provided grants to schools wanting to change their mascots to help mitigate the obstacle of the high costs of rebranding.

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  • Reimagining a Better World After George Floyd's Death

    May 24, 2021 |

    Yes! Magazine |

    Radio |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Two ways that communities affected by police violence and racial injustice responded to the uprising after George Floyd's murder were block-by-block organizing and participatory budgeting. The first, used in Minneapolis, provided public safety and mutual aid when neighbors formed networks to guard buildings, put out fires, mediate disputes, and deliver aid to people living through a period of unrest. In participatory budgeting, 30 cities turned over control of $400 million in public spending to communities, which set policy based on communal decisions and directed financial priorities.

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  • In New Hampshire, young adults are finding their voice

    May 22, 2021 |

    Concord Monitor |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

    Barriers to participation are keeping millennials from civic engagement in New Hampshire. Unaffordable housing, a lack of childcare, uncompensated civic engagement, office and voting hours that conflict with work schedules, and convoluted processes all prevent both the young and diverse populations from participating.

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  • Baltimore's top cop in demand as cities seek consent decree advice; some locally criticize cost, pace of reform here

    May 20, 2021 |

    The Washington Post |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    The Baltimore Police Department was the last agency to enter into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice during the Trump administration. This is a process by which a troubled police department submits to federal oversight as a way to reform its practices and culture. Now that the Biden administration has signaled a willingness to use this tool more, police are looking to Baltimore as a model. A federal monitor cites multiple signs of progress in Baltimore. But local activists are frustrated with the slow pace of change and high costs of federal monitoring.

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  • Hong Kong Protests, Silenced on the Streets, Surface in Artworks

    May 20, 2021 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Hong Kong

    Even though police silenced the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, artists, writers, and filmmakers are producing work about the protests in more abstract and ambiguous ways to evade authorities. For example, the Goethe-Institut’s Hong Kong branch hosted a mixed show that included photographs of the 2019 protests that the artist had punched, ripped, or cut in order to hide protestors’ identities. Even though Chinese law criminalizes anything that the government deems as promoting “secession, subversion, or collusion with foreign powers,” several other exhibits are also featuring protest art.

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  • People Are Using an Ancient Method of Writing Arabic to Combat AI Censors

    May 19, 2021 |

    Hyperallergic |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Palestine

    To get around algorithms that have flagged and removed Palestinian content, users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram are using an old version of Arabic, dating back at least a thousand years, that doesn’t have diacritical points (dots above or below letters). Converting Arabic into a dotless form in social media posts makes it much more challenging for AI machines to identify because they use a binary code to identify each letter.

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  • The FBI is supposed to track how police use force – years later, it's falling well short

    May 17, 2021 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    Five years after the FBI started tracking how often police use force, the majority of police departments still fail to comply and the FBI refuses to release publicly what information it has collected. The policy was enacted in response to the realization that no one had definitive data on how often the police kill people, use teargas, or other incidents of force. What little data exists showed racial disparities in whom police use force against. But compliance was made voluntary and the FBI made public release of the data contingent on 80% of police departments complying, a goal it's nowhere near.

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