Institutions and individuals attempting to reinvigorate American democracy and promote more inclusive, transparent, and efficient government. From hyper-partisanship to disinformation, our democracy is under threat. These stories explore how communities across the country are responding to issues at the heart of our democracy through civic engagement, electoral and political reform, and government innovation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/qualified-immunity-police-lobbying-state-legislatures/2021/10/06/60e546bc-0cdf-11ec-aea1-42a8138f132a_story.html
Kimberly Kindy
The Washington Post
7 October 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Fifteen months after Colorado became the first state to strip law enforcement officers of their legal immunity from civil lawsuits for misconduct on the job, one lawsuit has been filed over a notorious incident while no real evidence has materialized that police department staffing will be gutted by resignations or recruiting problems. The 2020 social-justice protest movement inspired dozens of proposed laws to end the practice called qualified immunity. All but Colorado's bill failed, based on dire warnings from police unions. The Colorado law exposes officers to damages up to $25,000.
https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/why-bother-greater-clevelands-youth-rise-to-the-task-of-local-civic-engagement
Michael Indriolo
The Land
5 October 2021
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Cleveland high school students created votecle.com, a website that centralizes information about local elections. A “political alignment” survey on the site assesses users’ opinions on important political issues to match them with local candidates. The group focuses outreach on “drop-off voters,” people who reliably vote in national elections but not local ones. These voters tend to be younger, on average, and cite a lack of information about local candidates and issues as the main reason for not voting. After creating the website, the group got a grant from Cleveland Votes to continue engaging young voters.
https://www.wwno.org/news/2021-09-24/they-saw-me-and-thought-the-worst
Richard A. Webster
New Orleans Public Radio (WWNO)
24 September 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Comparing police accountability in Jefferson Parish, La., to neighboring New Orleans reveals a stark contrast because of federally imposed reforms in New Orleans. Jefferson's sheriff's office, one of the nation's largest police agencies not using body cameras, has a weak internal investigation process and lack of transparency for its uses of force, which are skewed by race. New Orleans had similar problems until a Justice Department report led to a package of reforms that have helped reduce the use of force and increased accountability and transparency.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/09/police-reform-consequences/620150
Russell Berman
The Atlantic
22 September 2021
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In the wake of 2020's social-justice protests and a controversial killing by Aurora police of a man in their custody, Colorado legislators passed the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, the first police-reform law of its kind in the nation. The law mandates several reforms aimed at improving transparency and accountability, including prompt release of body-cam videos and allowing people to sue police officers for violating their rights. The law has resulted already in a crackdown on misconduct in Aurora. What's less clear is whether it can change the culture of policing.
https://humanglemedia.com/endsars-impact-of-judicial-panels-in-facilitating-justice-for-victims-of-police-brutalities
Kehinde Ogunyale
HumAngle
4 September 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Protests against alleged brutality and extrajudicial killings by Nigeria's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) led to demands for judicial panels of inquiry to investigate the abuses and provide justice to victims. Of Nigeria's 36 states, 29 set up panels of inquiry, and seven of those submitted reports and recommendations. Some victims have been compensated for illegal arrests and beatings. While critics say these measures don't go far enough, they concede the reports and payments have provided at least some accountability.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/23/facebook-vaccine-talk-group
Gerrit De Vynck
Will Oremus
Elizabeth Dwoskin
The Washington Post
24 August 2021
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Vaccine Talk is a Facebook group for evidence-based discussion to help both pro- and anti-vaccine people wade through all of the conflicting, and oftentimes wrong, information about the COVID-19 vaccine. The group has a tough reputation because of its strict moderation system and rules of discourse. Each of the group’s 70,000 members was approved by an administrator to join and committed to a code of conduct. Users must be ready to provide citations within 24 hours of posting and the moderators don’t hesitate to kick out members who lack civility, misrepresent themselves, or make unsubstantiated claims.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-will-invest-30-million-in-strategies-recommended-by-panel-for-communities-of-color
Daniel Beekman
The Seattle Times
9 August 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
The Equitable Communities Initiative brought together representatives from a range of nonprofits serving people of color to make recommendations for investments that support communities of color. Each panelist brought distinct work and life experiences that informed their recommendations for 18 kinds of investments. The city has approved the $30 million budget to address long-standing disparities in the areas of business, education, health, and housing. The model relied on advocates with on-the-ground knowledge of community needs to take the lead, while city staffers provided logistic and technical support.
https://jaxtrib.org/2021/08/03/jacksonville-police-shootings
Uriel J. García
The Tributary (Jacksonville Journalism Collective)
3 August 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
A Florida constitutional amendment enacted in 2018 called Marsy's Law protects crime victims' rights, including the right to privacy when public-records laws would otherwise reveal victims' identity. But the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has interpreted a court decision to justify erasing from public records the names of police officers who shot or killed people, on the grounds that the police should legally be considered crime victims. Marsy's Law has been enacted in 14 states. Critics say it was not meant to undermine police accountability, but they have been unable to enact corrective legislation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/police-monitor-seattle-biden/2021/08/01/c3d9ebe2-e976-11eb-97a0-a09d10181e36_story.html
David Nakamura
The Washington Post
2 August 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Federal consent decrees install court-appointed monitors to oversee reforms agreed to by a police department and the U.S. Justice Department after federal officials have found a department violates people's civil rights. In Seattle, a long-running monitor program oversaw great improvement in the police department's use of force. But the project turned so acrimonious that the monitor called the department a failure and the department said the monitor lacked accountability and a sensible yardstick to measure success. The Biden administration has revived the program nationwide but is studying ways to fix it.
https://klcjournal.com/civic-engagement-academies
Stan Finger
The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal)
27 July 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Civic engagement academies throughout Kansas provide participants with behind-the-scenes views of how their local government operates. Participants meet with emergency responders, learn how city officials put together a budget and hear from those who maintain municipal utilities. Understanding the inner workings of city operations helps citizens become more engaged in bettering those operations and find ways to be involved outside of running for office. Participation often brings to light city resources they didn’t know existed, which they are quick to share with their fellow residents on social media.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/07/22/lake-view-high-school-students-participatory-budgeting-menu-money-outdoor-seating
Alex V. Hernandez
Block Club Chicago
22 July 2021
Text / Under 800 Words
Alderman Matt Martin worked with school leaders to involve students in determining how to spend discretionary funding for their school. After learning about local governance, participatory budgeting, and how infrastructure is funded, the students pitched ideas on how to improve their school. They eventually settled on adding outdoor seating as the best improvement within the $10,000 budget and surveyed the school to determine what type of seating. The voting process and having to navigate different bureaucratic hurdles gave the students an intimate look at how the city functions.
https://klcjournal.com/zoom-boom-civic-engagement
Stan Finger
The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal)
20 July 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
When courthouses and in-person government meetings shut down because of COVID-19, officials satisfied Kansas’ open meeting mandate by using pandemic relief aid to equip buildings with the technology needed to live stream proceedings and allow constituents to comment remotely. Crowds watching on platforms like Facebook Live were substantially higher than in-person attendance had ever been. Several cities linked agendas online and found creative ways to include public comments in meetings. Advocates are looking to maintain the public’s increased civic engagement as courts and government offices are reopening.
https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/east-lansing-okemos/what-can-east-lansing-expect-from-its-police-oversight-commission
Mikayla Temple
WSYM-TV
16 July 2021
Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes
When Ann Arbor created a citizen panel overseeing its police department, it chose the approach that research shows is the one best suited to having real authority, and thus the most likely to reduce racial disparities in arrests and police shootings. It's too soon to know if the agency's investigations of complaints against police and review of police budgets and policies will achieve the ultimate goal of improving community trust in the police. But its chair says it is in a position to press for more accountability and transparency. East Lansing has just adopted the same model.
https://www.wbez.org/stories/could-a-citizen-ward-map-end-gerrymandering-in-chicago/f7b459aa-13cc-4e57-bf2e-b7ba1fd7e129
Elly Fishman
WBEZ
12 July 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
California residents passed Proposition 11, a redistricting reform ballot initiative, in 2008 and in 2010, voters strengthened that reform by passing a bill to allow an independent commission to redraw state and congressional lines. Fourteen people, who were selected from 30,000 applicants, spent a year holding public hearings across the state to make informed decisions on how to fairly redraw district maps. As a result, more than a dozen Congressional incumbents lost their seats, which was not an intentional outcome but rather what resulted from decisions made based on the public testimony they heard.
https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/rethinking-policing/rethinking-policing-how-tempe-de-escalation-class-changes-officer-behavior
Melissa Blasius
KNXV-TV
2 July 2021
Broadcast TV News / 3-5 Minutes
A controversial police shooting and other fraught encounters between Tempe police and residents prompted police to devise their own retraining regimen focused on de-escalation. The department observed other cities' programs and learned from its own officers who are known for defusing potentially volatile situations. After training some officers with the new curriculum, the department invited researchers to compare body-cam footage of trained and untrained officers. Though the findings did not show fewer shootings or uses of force, they did show a less aggressive, more calming approach.
https://localnewsmatters.org/2021/06/30/police-reform-police-commission
John Glidden
Local News Matters
30 June 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Vallejo officials are studying which type of civilian oversight they want for their police department, following years of controversial shootings of residents. Nearby Oakland and San Francisco have some of the strongest models in the nation. In both cities, civilian oversight commissions can fire police chiefs while overseeing the integrity of investigations into alleged police misconduct. Such commissions come in three main types, with varying degrees of power and autonomy.
https://localnewsmatters.org/2021/06/30/police-reform-federal-monitor
John Glidden
Local News Matters
30 June 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
With a long string of questionable uses of force and huge payouts to settle brutality lawsuits, the Vallejo Police Department might look to nearby Oakland for one approach to achieving better, more accountable policing: a court-appointed monitor. In Oakland, a monitor since 2003 has had the authority of a judge's order behind him as he and a staff oversee the city's use of force, handling of complaints, training, and other operations. The costly process is not without critics, nor is the Oakland department trouble-free. But some see the monitor as a force for positive change after a period of corruption.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/post-derek-chauvin-police-are-training-to-intervene-when-they-witness-misconduct-11624874400
Zusha Elinson
Denise Blostein
Rob Alcaraz
Wall Street Journal
28 June 2021
Multi-Media / 800-1500 Words
After videos showed two Minneapolis police officers did nothing to stop Derek Chauvin from killing George Floyd, more than 130 police departments raced to sign up to train their officers on how to intervene to prevent fellow officers from using excessive force or committing other misconduct. A course called Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) trains officers who then take the training to the officers in their departments. The training seeks to overcome the insular culture of policing, teaching an escalating series of tactics to stop misconduct on the spot.
https://uclpimedia.com/online/heritage-and-survival-two-sides-of-the-same-coin-for-conflict-torn-iraq
Chen Wei Hannah
Pi Media
26 June 2021
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The Nahrein Network funds projects that strengthen Iraq’s cultural and heritage infrastructure. Many grantees have deep historical knowledge of cultural preservation but haven’t been able to access funding due to sanctions, international isolation, and civil war. The funded projects’ approach to cultural preservation must be rooted in local socio-economic interests and the Network provides mentoring and helps in other ways, like supporting visiting scholarships abroad. The Network’s solutions focus on a long-term relationship building as a way to push for an inclusive post-conflict cultural environments.
https://www.areweeurope.com/stories/queer-roma-romania-lgbtq-activism
Andrei Popoviciu
Are We Europe
24 June 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
MozaiQ provides support for the LGBTQ community and fosters stronger ties among queer Romanians. The group creates safe spaces and offers programming, from football championships to job fairs and professional skills building classes. It also helps with urgent needs, like finding emergency shelter, and fosters long-term relationships in the community, offering pro bono training to companies on the importance of inclusivity in the workplace. The group has particularly empowered queer Romas, whose intersectional identities compound issues of discrimination, increase their confidence to fight for their rights.
https://mlk50.com/2021/06/17/when-get-out-the-vote-becomes-get-out-the-vaccine
Hannah Grabenstein
MLK50
17 June 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
The Shelby County Voter Alliance, who was used to using publicly available information to run get-out-the-vote and voter registration drives, pivoted to door-knocking to increase vaccination rates. Using a grant from Civic Nation’s Made to Save initiative, SCVA went to people’s homes to answer questions about vaccines and let them know about community vaccination pop-ups. They worked with local churches and set up at a Juneteenth celebration, where vaccines were offered. While canvassing, volunteers use a “research-based script” from Made to Save that especially helps them talk with “hesitant people.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/police-reform-failure
John Sullivan
Robert Klemko
The Washington Post
10 June 2021
Text / Over 3000 Words
Three "historic firsts in policing reforms" show how attempts to root out systemic problems in policing can fail. In all three cases – federal intervention to curb civil rights abuses in Pittsburgh, a computerized early-warning system to spot abusive Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, and rules put in place to reduce racial profiling in New Jersey traffic stops – bureaucratic and leadership failures, plus cultural resistance to change in police ranks, undermined early successes or good intentions. In all three cases, the problems persist decades later.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/6/2/22465152/black-voters-matter-goal-greater-community-power
Haleluya Hadero
Associated Press
2 June 2021
Text / 1500-3000 Words
Black Voters Matter raises money to support organizations and initiatives that are often too small for institutional funders to notice. The group has given millions to community-based groups in 15 states, mostly in the South, to register voters, canvass neighborhoods with voting-related information, run phone banks, and even rent buses to drive people to the polls. They’ve raised tens of millions of dollars, mostly in small donations from about 90,000 unique donors. The group, who seeks to strengthen organizations for the long run, also funds activities like free grocery distribution for those in need.
https://whatsnextmagazine.com/stories/a-mexico-housing-community-with-no-police
Mayu Ruiz Rull
What's Next Magazine
31 May 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
On the outskirts of Mexico City, the self-governed Acapatzingo Housing Community prevents crime and resolves disputes without any involvement by the police. The community, founded at an abandoned mine to provide housing to people living in poverty, sits adjacent to a neighborhood that suffers thousands of violent crimes per year. But the housing community and its citizen-guard patrols, mediators, and network of walls and fences manage to limit the number of crimes and conflicts to about 60 per year. The police are viewed as unresponsive and corrupt, while the community's security is rooted in trust.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/nonprofit-eliminated-simple-barrier-keeping-new-orleans-teens-summer-intern
Emily Nonko
Next City
27 May 2021
Text / 800-1500 Words
Onerous paperwork and required legal documents keep many youth - especially those not living with legal guardians - from taking part in city internships, so YouthForce NOLA worked with the city to pilot an internship program with fewer barriers. The streamlined application included workarounds for common issues, like allowing public school records to certify residency, accepting approval from non-legal guardians, and providing a checklist with exactly what records they need and how they can get them. The added support reduced anxiety among the youth and significantly increased retention in the internships.
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