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  • Courts and Legal Services
  • Teacher Recruitment and Training
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April 10, 2008
New on our site
New Online Event: Combating International Sex Trafficking


Please join us on April 15 at 2 pm (EDT) for this free and interactive online discussion, in which the nation's leaders on sex trafficking issues highlight best practices for combating this international crisis and rising global health concern.

Entrepreneurship
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Federal program to nurture small inner city firms opens in Memphis, Tenn.

04/02/2008 | The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)

The US Small Business Administration has launched "Emerging 200" to spur business development in inner cities, especially in areas undergoing negative growth cycles. The program provides free management training, professional contacts, and financial guidance to about 200 small firms in 11 cities. Qualifying inner city firms that show strong potential for market growth may apply. In addition to supplying wages, growing inner city firms may lead to spillover improvements in the neighborhood.

Social Services
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Growing older but staying independent; New project helps seniors find ways to keep living at home

03/30/2008 | The Times Union (Albany, New York)

Faced with an aging population, government agencies across the United States are devising programs to help seniors stay in their homes. In one Albany, NY neighborhood, a state-funded pilot program works as a one-stop shop to enhance neighborliness among older property owners. In partnership with faith-based institutions and nonprofits, Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community offers seniors social activities and needed resources in areas as diverse as home maintenance, financial abuse prevention, and preventive medical care.

Justice and Security
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Police learn ways to help; The city of Riverside is training its officers to better deal with the mentally ill

04/02/2008 | The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)

More than 600 police departments across the country are training their officers to be more attuned to the needs of mentally ill citizens. In the city of Riverside, California, for example, officers are taught how to actively listen and utilize de-escalation techniques when dealing with disabled individuals. One training exercise includes a headphone simulation that reproduces the sensation of hearing other voices while trying to respond to issued orders.

 

Participation
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States help seniors cast their votes

03/25/2008 | Stateline.org

To guard against voter fraud or abuse, Vermont is testing a new "mobile voting" program aimed at ensuring that elderly residents in nursing facilities get a fair opportunity to vote. Under the plan, two specially trained voting officials—one from each political party—visit nursing facilities and personally assist residents who want to vote by helping them fill out ballots on site.

Policing and Crime Prevention
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Teenagers may soon be able text tips to OPD: Police view program as addition to arsenal in crime fighting

04/04/2008 | Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky)

In Kentucky, the Louisville Metro Police Department will launch a text-messaging system that teenagers can use anonymously to give crime tips. The initiative is in response to both the popularity of text messaging among youth and the falling calling rates for tipsters, who rely on increasingly rare pay phones to make anonymous calls.

Courts and Legal Services
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Legal aid for music downloaders

03/30/2008 | San Jose Mercury News (California)

A new intellectual-property law clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law will assist students accused by the record or film industries of violating copyright law by swapping multi-media files online. The clinic will give advice on how to respond to pre-litigation letters and walk students through the steps of bringing an effective defense should suit commence. 

Teacher Recruitment and Training
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Land, cash donations to support Teacher Renewal Center, youth program

03/27/2008 | US States News

In an effort to rekindle teachers' enthusiasm for their profession, Clemson University and the South Carolina Department of Education are partnering to create the Teacher Renewal Center. The facility, following nationally recognized programs in North Carolina and Washington, will use weeklong residential seminars organized around the interdisciplinary study of ideas, questions, or themes that teachers encounter during their practice.

Arts and Recreation
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Spreading art around town; Lafayette to hang students' work from lamp posts

03/23/2008 | Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado)

The city of Lafayette, Colorado, will hang banners with art created by youth in its schools on lampposts across the city. The art displays will serve to both promote the city and instill pride in the participating youth.

Higher Education
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The plot thickens; More colleges are turning to graphic novels and comics as legitimate literary forms, teaching tools

03/23/2008 | The San Diego Union-Tribune

A growing number of educators are using graphic novels and comics as instructional literary forms. The stories, which often can portray sophisticated and complex subjects through the arrangement of visuals and words, create a unique method of communication apart from film or prose. Award-winning titles such as Maus and Persepolis have led the way in legitimizing this art form.


Newsletter produced by: Vanessa Ruget and Brendan St. Amant, researchers and writers; Jessica Engelman, editor.

 
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