Impact Stories

Using solutions journalism principles to “complicate the narratives” (a process taught by the Solutions Journalism Network to counter polarization by adapting techniques used by professional mediators), the Richland Source, in partnership with a local barber, invited residents of Mansfield, Ohio, to an open, honest discussion called “Shop Talk.” Richland Source publisher Jay Allred led the first discussion on May 31. “The conversation was honest, vulnerable and woven through with deep empathy and respect,” Allred said. “It was also astonishing in its healing power.”

Resolve Philly in Philadelphia was one of the initial recipients of the Philadelphia COVID-19 Community Information Fund, created by the Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF), the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund. Resolve, which leads a collaborative of 24 Philadelphia-area news organizations, received $1 million to serve as “the backbone for a coordinated citywide crisis response plan that provides news and information access, and is powered by its partners and other local organizations and institutions.” Plans called for gathering and disseminating information on COVID-19 in several languages, including Spanish. Solutions journalism will be a significant part of this project.

In 2020, the Alabama Legislature voted to appropriate funding for a Maternal Mortality Review Committee, in charge of investigating the causes behind maternal deaths in the state. Beginning in 2019, reporter Anna Claire Vollers, then at AL.com, the largest statewide news site, had brought increasing public attention and awareness to the issue through a series of articles on motherhood, co-published by Reckon, a sister publication. Her work contributed to growing calls by physicians, academics and advocacy groups to support the committee financially. Following the series’ publication, the state medical association launched a maternal health awareness campaign using information uncovered in her reporting.

The Journal-Constitution replaced its lineup of national opinion columnists with more solutions-focused coverage, and that resonated with its audience. One reader wrote, “Thanks for pausing the polarizing ‘both sides’ discussions, especially during this time where we all need to come together to provide care and assistance to our neighbors.” Another said: “I appreciate the effort to improve and will look forward to seeing how it works out.” Managing Editor Mark Waligore said the solutions lens has made him and his readers feel smarter and more hopeful, and has helped his editorial team reframe some of its news coverage.

Eric Cortellessa of the Washington Monthly wrote a solutions story about Utah’s vote-by-mail system, followed by an opinion piece (published in The Washington Post) that focused on Maryland (“Maryland can save its election by letting
people vote at home” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/local-opinions/maryland-can-save-its-election-by-letting-people-vote-at-home/2020/03/19/0c7afe6e-68a3-11ea-9923-57073adce27c_story.html). Maryland then adopted the approach, starting with a small special election. Cortellessa followed up to see what happened, and found that the switch had some success, with turnout increasing 10 percentage points compared with a primary election a few months before (https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/05/14/can-vote-by-mail-work-in-low-income-minority-neighborhoods/).

A story about a Louisiana sheriff’s lieutenant who created an inventive program to protect women from domestic violence led several other localities to consider replicating the model. The lieutenant, Valerie Martinez-Jordan, also was invited to develop a domestic violence curriculum for police departments across the state, which often ranks in the top three for rates of women murdered by men (https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.112.150/bk4.85e.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/Violence-Policy-Center-2019-Press-Release.pdf). Martinez-Jordan, herself a survivor of domestic abuse, put her small Lafourche Parish sheriff’s office in the vanguard when she created the firearms retrieval program, which takes guns away from domestic abusers. The federal Department of Justice’s community policing publication featured Lafourche Parish’s system in its newsletter (https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/10-2020/spotlight_on_the_field.html).