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

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  • While many colleges are making big cuts during the pandemic, a few opt for permanent transformation

    Across the U.S. many colleges and universities adapted their courses and curriculum to meet Covid safety guidelines, but many are seeing the pandemic as a catalyst for the necessary innovation, acceleration, and changes. Unity College in Maine is shifting the traditional semester system into eight, five-week terms both online and in-person, at a much lower price for students. Over in Colorado, Metropolitan State University pivoted its approach by creating a free program to retrain people who lost jobs due to the pandemic.

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  • Iranian women's group empowers amid pandemic by making masks

    An organization in Tehran, Iran is helping women "looking for work to make handicrafts" by allowing them to use donated sewing machines as a means of becoming self-sufficient despite high rates of unemployment. When the coronavirus pandemic impacted the market, however, they shifted to making masks. Specific sales figures for the masks aren't available, but participants say they are grateful to be able to learn a new skill for free.

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  • Hack Your Future, Belgium's coding school for refugees

    Hack your Future Belgium offers free IT training to migrants to help fill the country’s worker shortage in that sector and help newcomers gain skills and find work. Most participants are asylum seekers or refugees and all of the teachers are volunteers. Classes for the eight-month program are in English and held on weekends to be inclusive of those with other obligations. No previous IT knowledge or personal equipment is required, but selection is based on motivation and language skills. Students receive substantial coaching and support and about 85% have found an internship, job, or went back to school.

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  • Local initiative helps folks with cannabis-related charges find jobs—while pushing to decriminalize pot

    When Pennsylvania's largest medical-marijuana dispensary, TerraVida Holistic Centers, struggled to find enough employees, given the state's ban on the industry's employment of people with marijuana convictions, TerraVida joined with the Urban League of Philadelphia to expand aid to the formerly incarcerated. Through Urban League's Out4Good program, the partnership helps people expunge their drug convictions. It also counsels and financially helps groups of 10 trainees at a time, dozens of whom have started careers and stayed out of trouble. The group also seeks a longer-term fix: marijuana legalization.

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  • Could matching skilled immigrants with employers help fill the gaps in Sweden's workforce?

    MatchIT helps prepare skilled immigrants for jobs in fields where Sweden has a shortage of labor. Highly educated immigrants are provided with a 22-week training in programming skills, Swedish language classes, and 10-week internships. The program is aimed at filling a need in Sweden while helping immigrants better integrate into a xenophobic society.

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  • Kibera ropes project keeps children out of mischief, supplements families' income

    Concerned with a rise in misbehavior by students who were staying home much more due to the coronavirus pandemic, a resident of Kibera started a rope-making project that both engages and employs the children. "I felt the need come up with a project to keep the children busy and also generate a little income for the families to shield them from the effects of the pandemic,” the founder of the program explains.

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  • This App Pays Young People Without Housing to Build Life Skills Audio icon

    Youth experiencing unstable housing in New Haven, Connecticut can build life skills in exchange for gift cards through an app built by a nonprofit. DreamKit incentivizes positive change for disadvantaged young people who have competing priorities. The nonprofit is building a pipeline which will allow them to gauge which skills employers are looking for, provide those skills through the app, and then present a list of trained youth to employers.

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  • Revolutionizing Representation in Documentary: The Making of 'Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen'

    The production model of the documentary Disclosure prioritized diversity, inclusion, and empowering transgender people both on screen and behind the scenes. Over 120 trans people contributed to the film. Nine trans Fellows, many of whom have since made their own films, received stipends, mentoring, hands-on training, and networking opportunities. Trans representation behind the camera increased interviewee openness and all interviewees were compensated for their time. While a controversial practice in documentary film making, it was implemented to avoid exploitative and extractive storytelling practices.

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  • What happens after the police stop? People of color with disabilities face higher risks

    Crisis intervention training for Kansas City police officers does not reach the majority of the department and can fail to address a critical reason that police might use excessive force on people with disabilities. Although the 40-hour training includes a segment on dealing with people with autism and developmental disabilities, the combination of racial bias and some people's eccentric behavior can cause officers' "compliance culture" to kick in and make them overreact to perceived threats. Training without culture change, advocates say, is doomed to have short-lived effects.

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  • Innovative program helps Lawrence, MA, get off the mat

    A program in Lawrence, MA has helped hundreds of families to enter the paid labor force by connecting with them via their children’s’ schools. Using a $700,000 grant, the program connects with parents when they register a child for school. Schools offer programs through resource centers that help them get the training and connections needed to find a job. Oftentimes the parents also get an actual job referral. A key component of the program is English language training as well as skills courses in healthcare, education, manufacturing, and other fields.

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