What are some of the "WOW" social experiments happening now?

February 16, 2020 10:57 AM

Every now and then, I see a news article or headline about a community that is trying something radically different. Free college tuition, or UBI, or purchasing medical debt. What else is out there? What other projects are under way, where a community or organization is trying something radically beneficial, and radically pro-human?
posted by rebent to Society & Culture (21 answers total)

Maybe Vedic City, Iowa counts.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:15 AM on February 16, 2020

Giving money to residents, no strings attached (Politico)

Newark, Milwaukee and Stockton, Calif., are among the cities testing versions of what’s known as universal basic income, a program under which residents receive a set amount of money, regardless of their income level. [...] The pilot programs in the three cities are in various stages of implementation, and it’s possible more cities will join the effort. The 18-month experiment in Stockton is more than halfway complete, while Newark and Milwaukee plan to launch their pilots later this year. Chicago is also considering a universal basic income program.

Voting Rights Restoration (Brennan Center for Justice)

In 2018, Florida voters passed a ballot measure that re-enfranchised about 1.4 million Floridians — an outcome we have worked on for nearly two decades. Other states are considering similar reforms. And we’re urging Congress to pass federal legislation that would re-enfranchise in federal elections the millions of Americans who are no longer incarcerated but still can’t vote.

Orange County Police Will Not Help ICE With Immigration Arrests as Trump Admin Puts Pressure on Sanctuary Cities (Newsweek)

Law enforcement agencies in Orange County, California said they would not help enforce federal immigration laws after it was reported that the Trump administration plans to send specially trained agents into sanctuary cities. The Santa Ana Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's Department told Fox 11 Los Angeles that they did not support immigration enforcement actions, with Orange County spokesperson Carrie Braun saying they had a duty to protect people "regardless of citizenship."

posted by katra at 11:39 AM on February 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

Seattle Public Libraries just eliminated late fees.
posted by oxisos at 11:42 AM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

You might find more examples in Yes! Magazine.
posted by Botanizer at 11:47 AM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Give Directly is a charity that simply gives cash to some of the world's poorest. Like any such experiment, it's not without its critics.

I think automatic voter registration is one of the most interesting voting rights reform movements in the U.S. today. The principle is simple: You interact with a government agency (renew a driver's license, apply for benefits, etc.), you get automatically added to the voter rolls if you aren't already (with the chance to later opt out). This helps put the onus of registering voters on the government instead of on voters themselves. Studies so far indicate AVR helps boost voter turnout.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 12:16 PM on February 16, 2020 [4 favorites]

Four states hold all elections entirely by mail.

In New Mexico:
* Bail reform -- "Voters in 2016 approved a constitutional amendment that cleared the way for judges to deny bail before trial for the most high-risk, dangerous defendants."
* Lottery scholarships -- I think it used to cover all tuition for qualified students. But there is not enough revenue for that, so it has gotten tighter since implementation in 1996.
* Expungement of criminal records -- "“one of the broadest record-closing authorities in the nation."
* Felon voting rights -- "If you have been convicted of a felony, you can register to vote once you have completed the court-ordered sentence of imprisonment, including any term of parole or probation for the conviction. This provision includes federal, state and out-of-state convictions."
posted by NotLost at 12:32 PM on February 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

PS, and the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County library system doesn't use late fees, either.
posted by NotLost at 12:32 PM on February 16, 2020

Want Less Car Accidents? Remove Traffic Signals and Road Signs

The Case for Allowing the Homeless to Drink
posted by alex1965 at 12:40 PM on February 16, 2020

Free IUDs in Colorado
posted by Violet Hour at 1:00 PM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Utah sends employees to Mexico for lower prescription prices (AP / ABC News, via Superpunch)

Lovell is one of about 10 state workers participating in a year-old program to lower prescription drug costs by having public employees buy their medication in Mexico at a steep discount compared to U.S. prices. The program appears to be the first of its kind, and is a dramatic example of steps states are taking to alleviate the high cost of prescription drugs.

In one long, exhausting day, Lovell flies from Salt Lake City to San Diego. There, an escort picks her up and takes her across the border to a Tijuana hospital, where she gets a refill on her prescription. After that, she’s shuttled back to the airport and heads home.

Lovell had been paying $450 in co-pays every few months for her medication, though she said it would have increased to some $2,400 if she had not started traveling to Mexico. Without the program, she would not be able to afford the medicine she needs.

[...] Just over a year after the program began, the state has saved about $225,000, Loftis said.

Who Benefits from Repealing Tampon Taxes? Empirical Evidence from New Jersey (SSRN)

Many state and local governments exclude some medical products from the sales tax base, including some that are primarily used by men such as hair growth products. However, tampons and other menstrual hygiene products are subject to sales taxes in most states. A recent social movement advocates for the repeal of these “tampon taxes” and several class action lawsuits have been filed against states citing Equal Protection violations. In this article, we use the 2005 elimination of menstrual hygiene products from the sales tax base in New Jersey as a natural experiment to study who benefits from the repeal of tampon taxes. We find that the tax break is fully shifted to consumers, but that the tax break is not distributed equally. Low-income consumers enjoy a benefit from the repeal of the tax by more than the size of the repealed tax. For high-income consumers, the tax break is shared equally with producers. The results suggest that repealing tampon taxes removes an unequal tax burden and could make menstrual hygiene products more accessible for low-income consumers.

posted by katra at 1:16 PM on February 16, 2020 [4 favorites]

Culdesac intends to be a deliberately car-free neighborhood with 1000 residents.

And probably more on the straight-up movement-toward-reform side of things than a social experiment: New Jersey, California, and New York have essentially eliminated cash bail over the past couple years.
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:45 PM on February 16, 2020

Bail reform everywhere is HUGE. Felon voting rights restoration is way up there as well.
posted by rhizome at 1:46 PM on February 16, 2020

I realized I made a mistake. I should have written about bail reform -- "Voters in 2016 approved a constitutional amendment that cleared the way for judges to deny bail before trial (except) for the most high-risk, dangerous defendants."
posted by NotLost at 2:19 PM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

The podcast The Impact is all about local policy experiments that aim to improve people’s lives.
posted by bluloo at 2:48 PM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Workplace democracy, worker-owned businesses , worker-owned collectives .. Not new at all, but alive and well and growing (and gaining important policy support !) in many places in the US as we speak ..

https://nycworker.coop/home/

https://usworker.coop
posted by elgee at 3:23 PM on February 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Calling the cops on someone with mental illness can go terribly wrong. Here’s a better idea. (Vox)

According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a Virginia-based nonprofit working to improve access to mental health treatment, at least one in four people killed by the police in the US has a serious mental health problem. Stories of these police killings have been in the headlines over the past few months, with anguished family members decrying officers’ violence toward their loved ones.

There’s got to be a better way to handle 911 calls.

Some people say there is: Instead of sending police to deal with non-criminal emergencies, why not send mental health experts?

Oakland, California, last week became the newest city to explore this approach, which has already been tried to good effect in Oregon and, farther afield, in Sweden.

[...] In 2015, Stockholm started test-driving an ambulance devoted entirely to mental health care. It looks like a regular ambulance on the outside, but instead of stretchers, it’s got cozy seats — perfect for a therapy session on wheels. Two mental health nurses and one paramedic travel on board. [...] In Eugene, Oregon, the group handling such calls is called Cahoots (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On the Street). This nonprofit was founded by social activists way back in 1989, but it’s been garnering more attention in recent years as the police’s sometimes violent and even lethal treatment of people with mental illness has sparked a public outcry.

posted by katra at 9:25 PM on February 16, 2020 [7 favorites]

Reducing homelessness in Utah by building no-strings-attached housing (Housing First)

rhizome: Bail reform everywhere is HUGE. Felon voting rights restoration is way up there as well.

DC eliminated cash bail in the 90s
posted by capricorn at 6:42 AM on February 17, 2020

Poundbury, UK, an experimental new town
posted by atlantica at 7:56 AM on February 17, 2020

St. Paul school district is going to start providing rent subsidies to families of homeless students.

And I wish ending cash bail wasn't considered "radical", as opposed to just the ending of a brutal dystopian policy.

The state's attorney in Chicago, Kim Foxx, has made major improvements by reducing prosecutions for petty crimes - for example, not prosecuting homeless folks doing survival shoplifting. Again, shouldn't be considered radical, but it is.
posted by thelastpolarbear at 11:14 AM on February 17, 2020 [3 favorites]

Many winter residential evictions banned in pricey Seattle (AP, Feb. 11, 2020)

Many residential evictions in pricey Seattle have been banned for the city’s coldest and wettest months of December, January and February but city leaders decided against invoking the ban for November and March.

The move aimed at helping low- and moderate-income tenants from being ousted from their homes in a city with a widespread homelessness problem was enacted Monday night with a 7-0 vote by the Seattle City Council despite opposition from Mayor Jenny Durkan, The Seattle Times reported.

[...] Some other U.S. jurisdictions restrict evictions during bad weather but Seattle is the first U.S. city to adopt such a broad ban, city councilors said.

posted by katra at 7:25 AM on February 18, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: These are awesome everyone, thank you!

I'm also interested in little programs that might not be "change the world" but might be "change our town."
posted by rebent at 10:30 AM on February 22, 2020