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

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  • Where Danes Butt Heads (Politely) With Their Leaders

    Thousands of Danes attend a political festival called Folkemodet every year to mingle with government ministers and corporate executives and enjoy live music, comedy, and art. The casual atmosphere allows participants to ask tough questions of their leaders in person. Participants say the festival helps them learn more about political issues and inspires them to become more politically active.

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  • Reviving the City: How an Asphalt Plant Turned Into a Public Park

    By participating in the decision-making process, Mexico City residents successfully convinced the government to build a public park instead of an office development. The Parque Imán is 2.4 hectares, includes 163 trees, and the green space can potentially benefit up to 200,000 residents of some city boroughs. While there are some concerns about the soil quality in the park due to the adjacent asphalt plant, the park shows how participation from residents and transparency from the government allowed the public space to be built.

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  • Cities are getting more crowded: better design could stop violence

    Researchers found that more greenery in urban spaces reduces crime and this idea of combatting crime with good design is part of a discipline called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED. It spread around the world, but there also downsides. A new generation of CPTED advocates are expanding the field to consider social factors underlying crime and engage with local communities when designing projects because just discouraging crime is not enough to make spaces inviting.

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  • Maine Tests a New Way of Voting, and Opts to Keep It

    After trying ranked-choice voting, citizens in Maine decided to keep the system, even fighting court battles on the issue. The system allows voters to rank candidates running for an office from most desirable to least desirable. This makes it possible for voters’ choices to be taken into account even if their top pick candidate falls out of the running in an election in which no candidate wins the majority of the vote outright.

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  • Latin America is fighting corruption by opening up government data

    Reduce corruption by making public data accessible and transparent. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, information about public works projects is available online, so excess spending is hard to hide. Meanwhile in Brazil, an observatory analyzes government expenditures and investigates suspicious transactions. Credit card expenditure fell by 25 percent after the data was published.

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  • ICE Came for a Tennessee Town's Immigrants. The Town Fought Back.

    After a raid in a Tennessee plant resulted in 97 immigrants being detained, and 130 American-born children affected, a town came together to help their immigrant neighbors. A church was converted into a crisis response center, professors organized a speaking event at the college, 1,000 attended a prayer vigil, and 300 marched in a protest downtown. “We love Morristown. We are here to send a message of love and unity.”

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  • Jordan's young protesters say they learned from Arab Spring mistakes

    Protesters opposing a proposed income tax hike in Jordan stayed away from polarizing language and avoided proposing structural changes to the political system, a shift away from rhetoric used during the Arab Spring. “This is a Jordanian movement for the core causes that affect all Jordanians: taxes, unemployment, and corruption,” said Mohammed Hussein, a 26-year-old protester. “We do not want a group to hijack this movement for their own agendas.”

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  • Tilden High School Civics Class Helps Students Affected by Gun Violence Find Fellowship, a Way Forward

    Students in Chicago coping with gun deaths and violence among their families and friends find empowerment and support through teachers and administrators who encourage them to become active in national protests against gun violence. The students feel supported and also connected to a larger community and movement that helps them feel less isolated. It also sparked interest in getting active on other issues.

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  • The simple voting reform that raises turnout wherever it's tried

    Voting is easy when a ballot arrives in your mailbox. Vote-at-home increases turnout in all precincts and elections in which it’s available. It significantly outperforms all combinations of other innovations such as absentee ballots, early in-person voting, same-day registration and election-day registration.

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  • Games in government: How to get public servants excited about work

    Games can help government employees feel more engaged in their work. The United Kingdom’s Department of Work and Pensions uses a game called Idea Street to encourage innovation, and the City of Louisville, Kentucky, awards digital badges for creativity and collaborations. Sustaining staff interest in games can be a challenge. It helps to have clear rules and to align games with the top motivations of employees.

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