Federal program that helps farmers during the pandemic is changing the local food landscape

Kate Bradshaw

June 13, 2021 |

The Almanac |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, California

The Farmers to Family program, an initiative from the U.S Department of Agriculture set aside $3 billion for its Farmers to Families Food Box program, part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The program awarded contracts farmers and distributors to provide food for families experiencing food insecurity. The article lays out some of the challenges with the program like issues with how the contracts were awarded, difficulty coordinating between distributors and farmers, stringent requirements, as well as the quick, creative solutions that were deployed to overcome them.

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Internet from the moon: Varsity scholar nurtures his concept on inexpensive internet.

David Owino

June 11, 2021 |

Zulani |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Kenya, Nairobi

To make internet connectivity accessible and affordable across Africa, Dr. Harold Omondi developed “internet from the moon,” a technology that uses satellite dishes to communicate with transponders placed in the moon several years ago by NASA. The transponders can send and receive information and, since the moon keeps the same side of its surface pointed towards earth, the connection cannot be lost. Still in the piloting phase, the system currently offers free internet at Jomo Kenyatta University, where over 1,200 people login every day, and has another station in South Sudan serving 300-500 people daily.

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Affordable housing expansion happening on Indy's west side

Stephanie Wade

June 09, 2021 |

WRTV-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Indianapolis, Indiana

With 2,300 people on a wait list for affordable housing, the city of Indianapolis pumped $3 million into a vouchers program for 2021 that has already housed 672 people. Some of the vouchers are set aside for military veterans and their families experiencing homelessness. The city contracted with a national affordable-housing developer and property manager. The housing market has priced many people out of affordable, safe options. A new 61-unit development is under construction, with more homes dedicated to reducing the numbers of unhoused veterans.

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Recovered Covid Patients Send Their Leftover Meds to Those in Need

Priti Salian

June 08, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Mumbai

Volunteers with India’s Meds For More initiative (MFM) collect leftover unused medications from recovered Covid-19 patients by canvassing their apartment buildings, offices, student clubs, schools, and other locations. Once collected, MFM distributes them to NGOs licensed to work in the health sector, who transport the medicines to marginalized communities in urban and rural areas. Medical professionals sort and pack the medicines and give them to local hospitals and health care centers, who distribute them to patients. The success of the program has inspired similar initiatives in several other cities.

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The Shot And A Shave: Inside A COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic At A Nashua Barbershop

Daniela Allee Gabriela Lozada

June 08, 2021 |

New Hampshire Public Radio |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Nashua, New Hampshire

Community health workers are engaging small business owners to host local COVID-19 vaccination clinics. These smaller clinics, like La Fama 2 Barbershop, are effective because of the strength of interpersonal relationships. At the barber shop, the atmosphere is relaxed and the owner knows the needs of his customers. To make the information and vaccines accessible to the local Latino community, the clinic held Saturday afternoon hours and community health workers were present with information in Portuguese and Spanish. It helps for friends and families to get vaccinated together, among people they trust.

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Guilty or not Guilty? How PSN Africa is addressing the realities of postpartum depression in Lagos State

Chibuike Alagboso

June 07, 2021 |

Nigeria Health Watch |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Lagos State

The Postpartum Support Network Africa turned a foothold in one Lagos hospital into a 50-hospital network in two states combatting postpartum depression by training healthcare workers, screening for the problem, and providing therapy to mothers. The World Health Organization estimates that postpartum depression affects nearly 1 in 5 women in developing countries. Though common, it can be hard to detect and many lack awareness of its symptoms and treatment. PSN Africa's six-year push to improve the response to the problem has reached tens of thousands of mothers and their caregivers.

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A couch is not a home: Where the hidden homeless get housing vouchers

Jingnan Peng

June 04, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston used vouchers to help "doubled-up families" – those with school-age children sharing crowded apartments with other families – jump the line of people waiting for subsidized housing and get their own homes. Schools identify children living in this limbo status that often isn't visible or recognized as homelessness. They referred families to FamilyAid Boston, which put about 300 families into their own homes. Doubling up, which often violates leases and can quickly put families on the streets, is the most common homeless status of public-school students.

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Some U.S. states have higher vaccination rates inside prisons than outside.

Ann Hinga Klein

June 01, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Three state prison systems have vaccinated incarcerated people at far greater rates than in the general public thanks in part to educational meetings with experts that helped overcome natural distrust. In California and North Dakota, town-hall-type meetings gave incarcerated people opportunities to ask questions about safety. Kansas prisons gave incarcerated people priority in the vaccination program, and provided them and their families with information. Other possible factors increasing compliance included peer pressure and the ease of getting vaccinated within the prisons.

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Both lost jobs. She got paid. He waits. Where they live may be the reason why.

Shannon Lilly

June 01, 2021 |

WTVR-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, South Carolina

Four years before the pandemic caused unemployment compensation claims to spike, South Carolina took advantage of a federal grant to modernize its claims processing systems. That upgrade saved thousands of hours of time once claims rose sharply, which meant that people making legitimate claims got paid relatively quickly. That stands in contrast with the Virginia Employment Commission's huge backlog, which must be run through a decades-old system. The state was finally upgrading its systems when the pandemic put that work on hold, leaving some laid-off people in financial limbo for several months.

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The 40-Year-Old System: How an upgrade could help the VEC solve payment problems

Caroline Coleburn

June 01, 2021 |

WTVR-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, South Carolina

If Virginia taxpayers who lost their jobs in the pandemic want to understand why their unemployment insurance payments lagged for months and why they couldn't get the Virginia Employment Commission on the phone, they could look to South Carolina. In 2017 that state took advantage of a grant to upgrade its computer systems. It was able to process payments much more quickly, needed many fewer call-center staff, and could help South Carolinians take advantage of enhanced pandemic benefits much sooner. Virginia has struggled to upgrade is decades-old systems, which were overwhelmed with calls and claims.

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