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

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  • Dancing through Gunshots in Brazil's Favelas

    The ballet program “Na Ponta dos Pes” (On Tiptoes) uses the teaching of ballet to girls ages 4-15 to inspire hope among the youth living in one of Rio de Janeiro's most violent favelas. Tuany Nascimento is not trying to turn all the girls into professional ballerinas, as she once was. Instead, she uses the discipline of dance lessons to show girls their lives can transcend their surroundings. Says one of the girls who attests to the power of the lessons, "They think we're only girls from a favela. Being poor, being black, being a woman ... We are people looking for hope."

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  • Meet The Woman Who's Transforming How Kenya Sees Disability

    After volunteering for the special olympics, Maria Omare decided children with disabilities in Kenya needed a space where they would be treated with dignity, care, and respect. So she rented a one-room space, and called it the The Action Foundation, a grassroots organization that provides social inclusion and education for children with disabilities. Eight years later, the organization has ballooned, “since 2012, the foundation has helped almost 240 children with various needs, large and small.”

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  • How transgender people in the South are helping each other get health care

    After accompanying trans people to their doctors appointments, and answering their medical questions, Kale Edmindson founded Trans Buddy in 2013. “Transgender people can call a hotline and get a trained “buddy” to answer their questions, refer them to a trans-friendly provider, or accompany them when seeing a doctor.” Since then, hundreds of people have been served and the model was replicated by the Kentucky Health Justice Network.

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  • Teaching Curiosity

    Since Ascend Charter Schools switched from the popular "No Excuses" model to a Responsive Classroom philosophy, test scores have steadily risen, suspension rates have dropped dramatically, and the racial achievement gap has all but disappeared. While traces of the former structures, such as repeated routines, still exist today, the school has also incorporated trauma-informed elements and social-emotional learning curricula.

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  • Straight Women Are Marrying Each Other for Safety in Tanzania

    A unique Kuria tribal tradition in Tanzania called nyumba ntobhu (“house of women”) allows two women to legally marry despite a national persecution of homosexuality. The younger woman in the pair will bear children (by outside men) to become part of the older woman's family, thus ensuring that the older woman's land and lineage are passed on. Although this is a successful solution for some women who are escaping domestic violence, financial dependence, or loneliness, for other women it can be as limiting as a heterosexual codependent relationship.

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  • These Kenyan widows are fighting against sexual 'cleansing'

    In Kenya, and in other parts of Africa, widows are considered impure until a male has sex with them and cleanses them. If they don’t get cleansed they face social stigma. However, one widow, Roseline Orwa, refused, and instead created the Rona Foundation. “The center provides loss and grief counseling, financial support and teaches entrepreneurial skills.” She also successfully lobbied for a bill that outlawed widow cleansing. However, even though the practice is still prevalent in rural parts of Kenya, both men and women are talking about ending the practice through talk sessions offered by the center. “A

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  • How One Colorado Town Is Tackling Suicide Prevention — Starting With The Kids

    The Grand Junction school district in Colorado is adopting Sources of Strength, a national program that empowers high school students to look out for each others' mental health. Organization around peer outreach is empowering students to process the high suicide rates in their area and talk openly with each other.

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  • The Central Valley's Freedom Summer of empowering youth

    25 students from two University of California schools went home to intern in the Central Valley for 3 months where they registered high school students to vote and taught them about civic engagement. Modeled after Freedom Summer, where students registered Mississippi voters in 1964, the Central Valley Freedom Summer project sought to increase the low turnout among young voters by teaching them the importance of civic engagement. The interns faced some resistance in the county, but were able to register or pre-register over 3000 young voters and hold events to get youth engaged in their communities.

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  • Lafayette Trades Oil for Cajun Songcraft to Drive Economy

    Layette is replatforming itself to embrace local culture over a dangerous oil dependency. CREATE, a voter-approved initiative in the city, funds cultural events and festivals to create new economic drivers and to promote the cultural legacy of the region. The fund draws upon money designated from a larger pool of surplus property tax revenue, as well as from philanthropic donations.

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  • Colorado's explosive outdoor industry growth is emerging as global model

    Outdoor recreation offices, started and spread by Luis Benitez, are growing from Colorado to Puerto Rico to potentially even Panama. By focusing on spurring economic development and job growth, promoting health, and helping the environment, the movement for outdoor recreation is succeeding. The initiative is especially helpful in Puerto Rico, a place where effective and creative ways to help the economy in the wake of Hurricane Maria are welcomed.

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