Elizabeth Hewitt

The Spark: How to Keep Your Community Cool During Heat Waves In the July edition of our new newsletter about people creating positive change, we explore three ways to help your neighbors beat the heat.

Sacramento community members are helping their neighbors weather extreme heat by hosting free cooling stations.

Read about this and other ways people making positive changes in my first for The Spark, a new newsletter from @reasonstobecheerful.world reasonstobecheerful.world/the-spark-ho...

The Bright Future of the All-Electric Neighborhood A growing number of housing developments are foregoing conventional fuel technology — and building climate resilience.

These new neighborhoods are going all-electric.

They're not only reducing emissions that contribute to climate change — they're also proving to be more resilient in the face of new extremes

My latest @rtbcheerful.bsky.social
reasonstobecheerful.world/all-electric...

Around the world, a number of projects and initiatives are helping people with dementia to get around their communities with ease. ow.ly/U4bn50V4Ev0

How Street Art in Singapore Is Helping People With Dementia Get Around A growing movement seeks to make communities more physically accessible for the more than 55 million people worldwide living with dementia.

Navigating communities becomes harder for people with dementia. But cities from Singapore to Calgary are finding ways to be more dementia-inclusive, through colorful murals, public parks & more. My latest @rtbcheerful.bsky.social reasonstobecheerful.world/dementia-inc...

I just heard from one of my journo students that she can't complete a textbook research assignment.

The Census Bureau datasets tracking race and gender population changes by state appear to be blocked.

According to the Wayback Machine, it was still available on 1/26

A Free-Transit Prescription for Healthier Communities From physical activity to access to medical care, how people get around is interconnected with their physical and mental health.

Easy access to public transit is linked with direct health impacts, like increased levels of physical activity, and as well as other health factors, like better access to healthy food, medical appointments & more. My latest for @rtbcheerful.bsky.social reasonstobecheerful.world/free-transit...

How DC Grandparents Are Improving Community Mental Health A volunteer-led group in Washington D.C. is adapting a successful community-based therapy approach pioneered in Zimbabwe

Amid the mental health crisis, DC grandparents are getting trained to help people deal with depression & other MH pressures.

This model of mobilizing older adults to support mental health—Friendship Bench—was pioneered in Zimbabwe. My last of 2024 for Next Avenue:
www.nextavenue.org/dc-grandpare...

Breaking Down Barriers for Travelers With Disabilities From specialized excursions to accessible trails, travel experiences are increasingly geared toward meeting a broader range of needs.

Brand new here, and happy to share my latest story for @rtbcheerful.bsky.social & Rotary Magazine:

From new accessible nature trails, to an app that arms travelers with vital planning info, a range of new initiatives are making travel easier for everyone.
reasonstobecheerful.world/travel-disab...