When Will Aliva got out of prison, he’d paid his debt to society - but that didn’t help him pay his bills. Like many ex-cons, he struggled to find companies that would take a chance on hiring him. Too often, this roadblock results in ex-cons winding up back behind bars as they turn to old illegal activities to make ends meet. He decided to tackle the problem head on and founded a landscaping company, Clean Decisions, that clears a path for returning citizens to a successful life on the outside. Not only do they provide employment, they help train people for successful careers - and provide a strong, positive community where people can share their struggles and help support each other. It’s made a huge impact on the lives of those who participate in it, and it’s also helping clean up Washington, DC: they’re fast becoming a leading contractor for landscape work in DC.
Up Next
Isolation can be especially difficult for recovering addicts, so this sober active community is hosting virtual fitness classes for free.
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing more teams to figure out how to collaborate while working from home. This team-building tool helps people with different communication styles get on the same page.
At a growing number of “dementia villages,” staff members use reminiscence therapy to help seniors return to a time when they felt happy and safe.
London’s National Theatre made performances more accessible to patrons with hearing loss by creating a smart set of glasses that recognizes spoken words and adapts to stage cues to provide real-time captions.
Emily Bazelon's new book Charged: The New Movement To Transform American Prosecution And End Mass Incarceration is an incredible tour de force that guides readers through America's broken criminal justice system through the eyes of two young people as they go through the system. The book reveals the breathtaking amount of power prosecutors wield in our modern legal system and highlights the ways that some reform-minded...
Our hyper-connected world might be protecting us against devastating plagues.
The evidence suggests that most murderers get away with it. Here's what we can do about that.
Democratizing microscopes, how we heal our political divisions, and BBC's Planet Earth returns. These are our favorite stories of the week.