North & Central America

This archive covers progress stories from North and Central America, spanning the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the nations of Central America. Readers will find reporting on health, environment, community resilience, and policy advances across the region.

New York City park, for article on urban forest plan

New York City’s first urban forest plan targets its hottest, least-shaded blocks

By / / Good News For Humankind

New York City’s first Urban Forest Plan aims to grow tree canopy from 23.4% to 30% of the city’s surface by 2040, with a focus on neighborhoods that have been left in the sun for too long. Right now, environmental justice communities sit under about 19% canopy cover, while wealthier areas enjoy 26% — a gap you can feel on a hot summer afternoon. The plan protects existing trees, expands planting on streets and private land, and trains residents, including NYCHA tenants, to care for the urban forest. It’s a hopeful reminder that shade, cooler air, and cleaner streets are infrastructure every neighborhood deserves.

Depiction of DNA, for article on gene therapy for inherited deafness

U.S. FDA approves first-ever gene therapy for inherited deafness, free to patients

By / / Good News For Humankind

The FDA has approved the first-ever gene therapy for inherited deafness. In its 20-child trial, 16 saw their hearing improve within months — and some could make out whispers for the first time.
Called Otarmeni, the one-time treatment uses two harmless viruses to deliver working copies of the OTOF gene deep into the inner ear, restoring otoferlin, the protein the cochlea needs to turn sound into signals the brain can read. Its maker, Regeneron, says it will offer the therapy free to patients in the U.S. Doctors who ran the trial described children responding to their parents’ voices, and to music, for the first time.
This particular genetic form of deafness is rare, affecting roughly 50 babies born in the U.S. each year. But researchers believe the breakthrough cracks open the door to gene therapies for many other inherited conditions worldwide.

Finger prick insulin injection, for article on once-weekly insulin

Once-weekly insulin wins U.S. approval, cutting 365 injections a year to 52

By / / Good News For Humankind

Once-weekly insulin just became reality in the U.S., dropping the routine for many adults with type 2 diabetes from 365 shots a year to about 52. The FDA approved Awiqli after four phase 3 trials, covering 2,680 adults, found it matched or outperformed daily basal insulin in lowering blood glucose. For people already taking a weekly GLP-1 medication, pairing the two could mean far fewer injection days and one less thing to remember. Doctors are urging thoughtful, individualized use, especially around hypoglycemia risk and affordability. Still, with more than 500 million adults living with diabetes worldwide, treatments that make daily life easier are a quietly powerful step forward for global health.

Child getting hearing test, for article on gene therapy for deafness

U.S. FDA approves first gene therapy for inherited deafness, offered free to U.S. patients

By / / Good News For Humankind

Gene therapy can now restore hearing to children born deaf — and Regeneron is giving it away free to U.S. families. In a trial of 20 children with rare OTOF mutations, 16 gained meaningful hearing within about five months, and several were brought to essentially normal hearing. One toddler covered his ears when an ambulance siren passed — his first sign of sound. Instead of charging up to $4 million per child, as is common for rare-disease therapies, Regeneron chose a different path entirely. Beyond the families it directly helps, the decision hints at a quietly radical idea: that breakthrough medicine for rare conditions doesn’t have to come with a breathtaking price tag.

Seabird, for article on PFAS levels in Canadian seabird eggs

Banned ‘forever chemicals’ fell up to 74% in Canadian seabird eggs over 55 years

By / / Good News For Humankind

Toxic “forever chemical” levels in northern gannet eggs from Canada’s largest seabird colony have dropped 74% from their peak, according to a new peer-reviewed study tracking 55 years of data. Researchers on Bonaventure Island watched PFOS concentrations climb through the late 1990s, cross the threshold considered dangerous to the birds themselves, and then steadily fall as governments and manufacturers began phasing the chemicals out. Because gannets sit near the top of the marine food chain, their eggs essentially record the chemical health of an entire ecosystem — and what they’re recording now is recovery. It’s a rare, clearly documented case of environmental regulation working on a timescale humans can actually see, offering a hopeful blueprint as countries weigh broader PFAS restrictions today.

Baby in diaper, for article on California free diaper program

California becomes first state to give every newborn 400 free diapers

By / / Good News For Humankind

California’s free diaper program will send 400 diapers home with every newborn — about five to six weeks’ supply — making it the first universal benefit of its kind in the country. Governor Newsom’s initiative skips income tests entirely, handing the diapers over at hospital discharge so no family gets lost in paperwork during those bleary first days. A partnership with nonprofit Baby2Baby, which built its own production line, keeps costs down by producing diapers at roughly 80% below retail. The first year reaches 65 to 75 hospitals serving about a quarter of California births, with statewide expansion to follow. It’s a quietly powerful idea: ease one real financial pressure at the most tender moment of a child’s life, and let other states see how it’s done.

University of Chicago campus, for article on University of Chicago free tuition

University of Chicago expands free tuition to families earning under $250k

By / / Good News For Humankind

Free tuition at the University of Chicago will soon reach families earning up to $250,000 a year — a ceiling roughly two to three times higher than most peer programs. Starting in autumn 2027, qualifying students pay nothing toward tuition, and those from households under $125,000 also get room, board, and fees covered. The move directly addresses the middle-income squeeze, where families often earn too much for traditional aid but too little to absorb a tuition bill north of $65,000 without serious debt. UChicago says it will also simplify the aid process itself, which trips up many families. As elite universities face growing pressure on access, commitments like this one reshape what affordability can look like at the top of American higher education.

Little Free Pantry, for article on little free pantry app

University of Washington researchers map little free pantries with new app

By / / Good News For Humankind

Little free pantries across Seattle quietly move an estimated 4 million pounds of food a year — more than the state’s largest food bank — and a new University of Washington app called PantryMap is helping that grassroots web run smarter. Users can check stock levels, post wish lists, and log donations in real time, while four pilot pantries now use privacy-preserving sensors that track weight and door activity without any cameras. Volunteers are already putting it to work, recently distributing 25,000 pounds of donated food to micropantries by bicycle. It’s a hopeful glimpse of how neighbor-to-neighbor sharing, paired with thoughtful technology, can tackle hunger and food waste together — one cupboard at a time.

Female protester with megaphone, for article on rape kit reform

All 50 U.S. states now have rape kit reform laws after 16-year campaign

By / / Good News For Humankind

Rape kit reform just hit a milestone 16 years in the making: with Maine’s new law on May 1, 2026, all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico now have at least one pillar of reform on the books. The campaign began when survivors started writing letters to actress Mariska Hargitay, whose Joyful Heart Foundation later built a research-grounded framework called the Six Pillars — covering mandatory testing, dedicated funding, and a survivor’s right to know what happened to their own kit. Before this wave, a person could endure an hours-long exam and never learn if the evidence was tested. Laws on paper aren’t justice in practice yet, but the distance covered shows what survivor-led advocacy can accomplish when it refuses to quit.

Inside independent bookstore, for article on independent bookstores

U.S. independent bookstores have grown 70% since 2020

By / / Good News For Humankind

Independent bookstores are staging a comeback few saw coming: U.S. membership in the American Booksellers Association has climbed from about 1,900 stores in 2019 to roughly 3,200 today. A big part of that turnaround is Bookshop.org, an online alternative to Amazon launched in January 2020 that has funneled nearly $47 million back to local shops, with more than 80 cents of every profit dollar going to stores. Founder Andy Hunter calls bookselling “a high-love business,” and readers seem to agree, increasingly choosing where they buy a book as carefully as what they read. It’s a hopeful reminder that intentional spending and a little shared infrastructure can rebuild what big platforms once seemed destined to erase.