Archive for September 2025

Until recently, I worked at a feminist nonprofit. The founders were so assured in their politics that they placed the word “feminism” in the organization’s name. This was when the work was a project—with no executive director, no board, no bylaws, and no expectation or even reason to uphold worker protections. Everybody was in it for the love of the mission, and it was wildly successful. As opportunities rolled in, the founders decided to institutionalize their feminist project by establishing a 501c3.

The University of Birmingham has launched a new pilot programme, ‘Grow Well’, in partnership with gardening for health charity Thrive, to support students who are experiencing mental health difficulties, loneliness or social isolation. Grow Well aims to provide a space for students to form positive social connections, participate in gardening activities and engage with nature.

We saw that change was coming, and we acted. We wanted to transform our service to deliver the best outcomes for every child and young person in the city. So, we took a fresh look at everything from how our teams were structured, how we work together and how we work with our partners, and we improved.

Current lawsuits involving chatbots and suicide victims show that the door of liability is opening for ChatGPT and other bots. A case involving Google’s Character.AI bots is a prime example. Character.AI allows users to chat with characters created by users, from anime figures to a prototypical grandmother. Users could even have virtual phone calls with some characters, talking to a supportive virtual nanna as if it were their own. In one case in Florida, a character in the “Game of Thrones” Daenerys Targaryen persona allegedly asked the young victim to “come home” to the bot in heaven before the teen shot himself. The family of the victim sued Google.

Over the years, the promises of H-2A — such as humane working conditions, free housing and far better wages than back home — have been undermined by the relative ease of exploiting workers due to scant oversight of the program.

Oscaterin Bautista speaks with Assistant Professor Roxanna Ast during the Child Welfare Research and Evaluation class. Bautista noted “After I graduate, I want to get my master’s in social work and create a nonprofit that makes sure no family falls through the cracks.”