Howdunnit

In 2016 and 2017, New York City installed infrastructure designed to slow down drivers making left-hand turns in more than 200 locations and banned left turns at high-risk spots as a way to curb pedestrian crashes. Since then, median left-turn speeds have dropped 19 percent at those intersections and the number of vehicles cutting turns so closely they cross the double yellow lines declined by 79 percent. Now cities like San Jose and Los Angeles are looking to follow New York’s lead.

A program through the Mission Asset Fund, based in San Francisco, helps low-income communities get loans and good credit from an unlikely source: each other. The initiative pools together funds from family members and neighbors and distributes the loan to one of the contributors each month; the loans are interest free and allow community members to build credit without the difficulties of breaking into the typical microfinance realm.

Take a moment and think to yourself if you’ve ever had your mind changed by someone. Have you ever truly changed someone else’s? It’s not so easy - especially when discussing social issues. Finding ways for opposing viewpoints to be exchanged without rancor feels like a level of discourse we have forgotten almost.

But a group of students at Notre Dame University started a group called BridgeND - to do just that - unite folks with different views for conversation.

A pediatric care center in Philadelphia has partnered with a nonprofit that "helps people with tax prep and asset-building" as well as an organization that provides financial counselors to offer young patients free, on-site help with their taxes. The initiative is modeled after Boston Medical Center' StreetCred program which has "returned more than $5.3 million to more than 2,700 low-income families since 2016".

A village in Thailand had a problem: there seemed to be fewer fish in the nearby river. The river most of the 75 households of the village depend on for food. No fish equals empty bellies. So the village agreed to try an outlandish solution. A crazy solution. They tried not fishing.

A pediatric care center in Philadelphia has partnered with a nonprofit that "helps people with tax prep and asset-building" as well as an organization that provides financial counselors to offer young patients free, on-site help with their taxes. The initiative is modeled after Boston Medical Center' StreetCred program which has "returned more than $5.3 million to more than 2,700 low-income families since 2016".

As the habitats of wild elephants shrink, conservationists in India are developing safer ways to reduce the number of conflicts between humans and the animal. The Wildlife Research and Conservation Society uses chili smoke and beehive fences as natural ways to divert elephants away from farmers’ crops. Since they started, there have been no casualties related to human-elephant conflict. The nonprofit Wildlife SOS uses radio collars to track the herd’s movement and alerts local villagers via WhatsApp of any potential conflicts. However, the success of some methods vary depending on the time of year.

At a German preschool, an intergenerational mentoring program pairs community members with young children to productively talk about complex life concepts such as illness and death. Studies have shown that such programs can promote prosocial behavior and encourage empathy in kids.

After its fossil fuel–powered furnace started to fail, St. Paul’s United Church converted its old radiators to electric units in order to better insulate the building and be more environmentally friendly. The church got $25,000 in funding as part of the United Church of Canada’s Faithful Footprints grant program and since the switch, the church has seen its carbon emissions cut by 15 percent.

Mutual aid programs run by Black women have filled critical gaps in public assistance during the pandemic by feeding hundreds or thousands of people in multiple Southern cities. From Durham's Mustard Seed Project to St. Louis' Potbangerz to others, these community-based care programs center their aid on prepared meals, but they often add other donated goods for people in need: personal protective equipment, groceries, and household and baby items. In some cases, the nonprofits' organizers have formed intercity friendships and alliances that help spread their tactics.